"All Different" Stamps: What Counts

While variations do intrigue me, I don't actively seek everyone of them to complete my collection

I hope we all understand and agree that there is not one right answer to this question...(because, if there is, I'm going to have to insist that I'm right. ).

I completely understand that some are happy with a face-different collection (which is similar to a major-number collection). I am in that camp when I start out on a new area. As an example, I would rather have a few of each local post I can track down than an encyclopedic collection of a few. I get as many revenues as I can, but I will go across countries and series before I try to build out a complete collection of one.

To each their own. There is no cash prize, so we don't have to really worry about a "rule."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall that when I started collecting (1968ish) the large, comprehensive albums of the time were oriented towards "major numbers? collecting? Do current International albums/pages reserve spaces for minor numbers?

I think the discussion has gotten sidetracked...

It's not asking what you collect. It's asking "what do you include/exclude when you say the collection is something like 92K all different stamps"

These are two very different questions. For example I've likely got around 150K stamps in my collection (including all sorts of varieties), but only about 92K of them I count as different (based on the criteria of 'being of different major catalog number').


-k-

Hi scb, I think you just hit the nail on the head. For me, major varieties are the starting point for adding minor varieties (shades, perf. varieties, plate varieties, etc.). This will be a real pain for those whol collect using printed album pages, unless you customise them. I keep my stamps in Hagner mounts so it's easy to add annotation and move stamps around.

I never ear that for a WW collection, all different is a term use by seller for their 1000, 2000, 10 000 packs of stamps.

For me it's simple, at the base someone design a stamp, the rest; paper varieties, color shades, error, are production related. I collect stamp for their different design. No one as no one as completed a WW collection of all the stamps issues in the world, adding all the production related difference will make it even less possible.

I don't keep a count, so perhaps I should leave well enough alone, but...

if I was counting, I would count each Penny Red that has been plated and put on a page as a different stamp; I wouldn't say that since they are either Sc#3 or Sc#33 I only have 2 different stamps. An acquaintance who reconstructed a Penny Red plate has 240 different stamps, not 1.

I guess if I ever do count them up and share a number, you can put an asterisk behind it.

My 2d.