Mintage Of Classic British Commonwealth Stamps

When collecting classic US issues we have a reasonable idea as to the mintage of most issues and I would suppose that information is also avavilable for classic issues of other countries, possibly Gibbons. However,I only have the Scott catalog and was wondering if any of you on the board know or have access to the quantities minted of the following issues:

British East Africa Scott#102-109
Rhoesia---Doubleheads and Admiral Issues
Austria 127,144, B110
Belgium Railway issues Q82-Q131

thank you

This information isn't generally set out in Scott Classic or Stanley Gibbons Commonwealth and Empire. I can check Michel tomorrow if I get a minute...I have a few at the office. The only place I can recall seeing this information reliably is Sanabria's airmail catalog.

Collin

Michel lists quantities for almost all issues, both classic and modern. Here is what I could find:

Austria 127 = Mi.156: 107,000
Austria 144 = Mi.177: 25,600
Austria B110 = Mi.555A: 40,000
Austria B110a = Mi.556A: 20,000

No information however in either Michel or the COB (Specialized Belgium catalogue) about the number of stamps produced for those Belgian railway issues.

Jan-Simon

thank you for those figures. I have never owned a Michel catalogue but I might look into it. It is interesting to see how quantities produced compare with US issues. 25,600 for Austria 144 doesn't sound like very much, and in fact it is less than US Scott 101 which would be considered a scarce unused US issue. And yet I don't get the feeling that for Austrian collectors the 144 is looked upon as scarce. Maybe I'm incorrect in that assumption.

Perhaps it is because the absolute number of USA collectors is much higher than that of Austria collectors. In the end it is a matter of demand. On the other hand, it is difficult to understand why stamps are considered rare. The amount of stamps produced alone is not enough. For instance, the Dollfuss memorial stamp of 1936 (Sc. 380) was printed 100,000 stamps, yet its catalogue value is much higher than that of B110 or 144.

no question that the word "rare" is an elixir to some. I've been guilty of it as well. For long time collectors of anything, conjuring up in your mind what you have NOT seen in the past 25 or 30 years, whether you own it or not, constitutes what I consider to be truly rare. Items that make an appearance in single digits over that period of time I would consider "scarce." The rest would to me be varying degrees of "uncommon."

Jan-----I've just noticed your profile where you list one of your interests as the middle ages. Have you collected in that era?

<off topic mode on>Well, I collect books, movies (on dvd) and music (on cd) on the theme, and as a diversion (or perhaps rather a combination of interests) I also have a small collection of medieval-themed stamps.<off topic mode off>

Its true the amount of an issue printed does not make it valuable..i have higher denomination Guatemala airmails of which only 3,000 were printed and they are readily available on the internet for a few bucks