Michel Just Granted Me A License To Use Their Catalog Number

Michel just granted me a license to use their catalog numbers on my Ukrainian stamp pages!

I guess now I need to get a Michel catalog for Ukraine. :-)

Awesome! Michel is a fantastic catalog. Good to hear they are more 'liberal' about using their number-system than a certain competitor

Well, as far as I know, Michel doesn't make stamp albums. So I guess I would not be competing against them. Either way, I need to learn more about Michel.

Does anyone use Michel either in print or online, and would be willing to answer a few questions?

I rely on Michel (print) for most of my basic cataloging.

Perhaps I can answer your questions

Ok, how often are Michel catalogs numbers updated? How are the updates released? Scott puts new numbers in a monthly issue of Linn's Stamp News. Does Michel have a similar publication?

How often is the online subscription updated?

And how do catalog numbers work? I'm looking at a 2013 Ukrainian stamp. I see two different numbers: BL116A and BL116B. Are these two major numbers, or simply minor varieties?

If you have access to Michel and can tell me the difference between 116A and 116B?

What kind of license did you obtain? That is, did you obtained a license to distribute, sell or simply use the catalog numbers for your own purposes?

To use the catalog numbers on pages that are to be freely distributed on the website www.stamphacks.com.

Andy,

I'm fluent in Michel, so fire away with any questions. First, if you don't have it yet, download their guide for English speakers (1MB PDF).

Michel's basic number/letter system is as follows (quoting from their English-language catalogs):

Prefixes
D = Official stamp
H-Bl. = Stamp Booklet page
Hz = Center piece (block of 4 to 9) of a booklet sheet
K = Tete-beche (from stamp booklet sheet)
KZ = Tete-beche with gutter (from stamp booklet sheet)
MH = Stamp Booklet
MHB = Stamp Booklet sheet
P = Postage Due stamp
S = vertical se-tenant(from stamp booklet sheet)
SZ = vertical se-tenant with gutter (from stamp booklet sheet)
SZd = vertical se-tenant (from counter sheet)
W = horizontal se-tenant (from stamp booklet sheet)
WZ = horizontal se-tenant with gutter (from stamp booklet sheet)
WZd = horizontal se-tenant (from counter sheet)

Suffixes
A, B, C, D, E... (the first upper case letters of the alphabet) after the number indicate the perforation type of the stamp.
a, b, c, d, e... (the first lower case letters of the alphabet) after the number indicate important color differences.
...V, W, X, Y, Z (the last upper case letters of the alphabet) after the number indicate the watermark varieties.
...v, w, x, y, z (the last lower case letters of the alphabet) after the number indicate differences in paper and gum.
I, II, III, IV, V... (Roman numerals after Arabic numerals) indicate printing and type differences.
L = Empty field in same size as stamp
P = Flat Plate printing (sheet printing) or Proof
R = Coil stamp
W = Rotary Press printing (Roller printing)
Zf = empty spaces (sometimes with ornamentation) in same size as stamp
ZS = vertical gutter pair
ZW = horizontal gutter pair
DD = double (-image) -print or double overprint
DK = double overprint, one inverted
F = printing error or color error
G = printed on the gummed side
K = Tete-beche or inverted overprint
Pa = on glued paper web (two pieces of paper glued together to form continuous printing process)
U = imperforate (subtypes indicate which sides, if less than all four - ex. Ur = imperf at right)
I, II, III, IV, V... (Roman numerals at the end of the MICHEL Number) can also be used to indicate plate flaws.

Stamps that were not issued for whatever reason, receive Roman numerals without a Michel number preceding and without suffixes.

For example:
Bavaria MiNr. 25 X b U: 25 (major listing number) X (watermark) b (color) you (imperforate).

WRT your questions about updates, I couldn't tell you for sure when and how, since I don't collect modern stuff. Looking at their online catalog (which is far worse than the print catalog, BTW), Ukraine is up to date thru MiNr 1427, issued 22 August 2014. The photos in the online catalog are a little behind. They're only current through MiNr 1421 (25 July 2014).



WRT Block 116, the online catalog isn't that specialized. It only lists Block 116. The capital letter suffix would indicate a perf variety.

If you're looking for a Michel that covers modern Ukraine, you're looking for their Osteuropa. The current edition is 2013/2014, but judging by their recent releases, 2014/2015 may not be far off. I'm not sure where the coverage starts.

If you're looking for a source for Michel catalogs, I use Werner Zielniewicz. He speaks English well enough to answer your questions, and he ships quickly.

Thanks for all the Michel info. I'm sure I'll have some more questions in a little bit.

So, it pays to read things in the original Ukrainian!

I was reading the UKRPOSHTA webpage on the stamp in question and Google Translate said the following:

"Circulation Unit - 50 000 copies. (Including punch - 500 copies., To be implemented philatelic movement activists during the XIV National Philatelic Exhibition in Kiev). "

Well, this made no sense to me. Then I have one of those "Doh!" moments and realize and I completely fluent in Ukrainian and decide to read the page in it's native language. And it says:



The word here is which means imperforate.

So, it looks like 116A is a standard sheet of stamps, and 116B is an imperforate sheet issued for the 14th National Philatelic Exhibition in Kyiv. There were only 500 of these made, so I don't expect them to be an easy find.

Well, it appears this stamp forum does not support unicode. All the Cyrillic letters up top are garbage.

I'll post screenshots in a few.

Congrats apastuszak. It's great to know that at least one catalog publisher has some level of sense in their heads.




Michel publishes a magazine called Michel Rundschau. If I recall properly, it comes out about once a month + few special numbers. The contents is new issues, presentation of new Michel products, one or more in-depth philatelic articles + some shorter news from the stamp world. Very little ads or similar. About 100 pages per issue.

-k-

My question now is, how do I use the catalog numbers. I know Scott displays them inside the box the stamps goes in, so they're not visible once the stamp is mounted. Should I do that, or should I display the catalog numbers on the page above or below the stamp?

I put catalog numbers and variation notes below the box, but that's largely because I often need that info to remind me of how two identical-looking stamps are different.

You should do a sample with both and let us see!

The problem I face is that I have pages from 1992-2013 WITHOUT catalog numbers on them. So, I'd probably have to redo all the pages with catalog numbers, so that there is a set with and without catalog numbers. Let me go tinker.