The World's Commonest Stamp.

Not design, individual stamp.
Going by my stamp den, it would be something from Romania,
but no...........

It may be:
Over four billion of the 2-cent George Washington:
4,222,198,300.
(Scott #707)

How about US #C39?

Print quantity of 5,070,095,200.

I'm proud to say I own 0.000004% of all the ones printed.

I'm well on my way to cornering the market on this stamp!

k

hahahaha
I have 60 in my drawer, they are yours for $5
so you can really dry up the market.

I bow to your greater knowledge, so it's the C39
thus far.

Common by numbers printed or common by number seen/in your pssession !??????
The Penny Black is common....but not cheap ! Over 68,000,000 copies but you will almost never find one in that mixed bag of off-paper assortment. Compared to most of todays new issues, it is extremely common.
Common as muck as they would say in the UK !
But much more valuable.

But I think I side with Rod. I seem to come across more Rumanian defins than any others.

Londonbus1

my avatar is really common

Aha! I spy another who buys the cheap lots at auction

SShhhhhh!! Do you want me to lose my reputation ?!

Londonbus1....What reputation?

Like these ?


LOL

Not that long ago, I went through hundreds of dead circuit books that remained between five to thirty percent full. Who knows how many people had combed through them since retirement; I know I was at least the third to do so...maybe the thirtieth?

It gave me some insight into what must be truly common, because even collectors who weren't paying for them left them in place.

Lots and lots of early Russia, especially the small-format eagles, classic-era Austria, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Hungary, inflation-era Germany, DDR, post WWII occupations. There were certain categories that were plentiful, or certain sets that were well represented by one or another example, but I don't think I could say that any one stamp was particularly overrepresented.

There must be tremendous variability in the answer to what is the commonest stamp based not only on where we live, but how we look for stamps.

My 2d, but barely on point.

Collin

There are 2 points that were mentioned/alluded to after the initial few posts.

Print quantity means what was originally produced.

One other thing we have to consider is loss and retention. Loss refers to quantity no longer available to the general public. This would include incomplete distribution (lost/damaged in transit, quality control reject, taken off sale...), stamps purchased but lost, stamps used in the mailstream but not retained, stamps lost due to disasters... Retention is what is kept by collectors, accumulators, pack rats... Retention is what determines the upper limit of what is available on the market today. Some stamps were printed in high quantities, but have low retention. Some stamps were printed in relatively low quantities, but have very high retention.

Why do you see so many Romanian definitives even though they weren't printed in the quantity of billions (I haven't verified this, but I'm pretty certain they were not printed in that high quantity)? Simple. The great majority of them were CTO and never saw postal usage. They were produced for the express intent of distribution directly to dealers/wholesalers. Therefore, the loss rate is very low (i.e., retention rate is extremely high). They are still everywhere, and will forever be minimum catalog value stamps. Ironically, it is this reputation that hurts the catalog value of the MNH stamps, even though the MNH stamp may have low retention.

The other factor to consider is simple demand. Penny Blacks were printed in large quantities, with a pretty respectable retention rate. They aren't rare at all, just high priced. I agree with Londonbus1, that you won't find Penny Blacks in large off-paper mixes. However, you CAN find them in large wholesale lots/collections that are bulk priced per stamp. Trust me . Demand and reputation are what keep the price of the Penny Black up. If it were any other stamp, the used catalog value would probably be a few 10s of dollars.

k

Interesting interpretation khj,
supported by comments made to me by the volunteers at the Red Cross Stamp Shop. When I request the stock book for Romania, the rejoinder often is "Oh! I have never had anyone request that before"

I have seen few collections, including the most basic, without this stamp, so it is my submission for the most common stamp. France 1900

I remember as a young collector in the late 60's-early 70's buying those cloth bags of world-wide mixtures at Woolworth's. My older sister and younger brother also collected, and we used to dread getting these "orange espanas" as we called them. There were so many back then...

I guess I should point out that the Scott US Specialized catalog only lists the print quantities for commemoratives and airmails. The print quantities for some of the US definitives which were in print for over a decade or two are pretty astronomical. However, I do not know of a single source that lists all the print quantities.

A modern Australian decimal stamp called, Tourist Precinct,is a Definite, the 55c x 4 stamp set is as common as in recent kiloware.

But there is some interest in them as there are 2 different perforations,one rare in the gummed stamps! There is more interest as the coil and self adhesive stamps have different perfs or die cuts as well totaling 4 different types.

This has me looking for larger kiloware off paper buys that are not searched through of these mention stamps. I have had some success in finding the rare perforation and hope to find more!

One of the very common modern stamps that has a bit of spice to it! I am enjoying looking for these stamps!

Need help!
I made a post once,
something like
"The world's rarest common stamp"
No I cannot find it

I have found another

Germany SG1106 (1954) 6pf president heuss

In 12 years, and after a humungous German gift lot from Dianne
still no stamp in evidence.
CV=20c