Introduction

Unlike Regular Issues, there were a limited amount of perforation and other variations in Commemorative Issues, so I elected to collect ALL major Scott numbers for Commemoratives with these exceptions:

• 613 (see note )
• 1789B (see note )

Doing so provided illustrative examples of many of the slight variations that overwhelm Regular Issues:

• Scott # 369 on page 6 ("bluish" paper variety of Lincoln Memorial issue)
• Scott # 401-404 on page 7 (perf 10 versions of Panama Pacific Expo)
• Scott # 1580B on page 154 (perf variety of 1975 Christmas issue)
• Scott # 1789A on page 185 (perf variation of John Paul Jones issue), although 1789B excluded -see note 
• Scott # 1795A-1798A on page 188 (perf 11 version of Olympic block of 4)

Starting with the 21st Century issues, I have amended this policy somewhat to exclude self-adhesive die-cut variations on the same sheet or booklet pane. After including 3483g, 3484Ak, and 3619h, all of which are booklet panes from 2001-2003 with side-by-side stamps of different die-cuts significant enough to warrant a major catalog number, I decided to no longer recognize such differences. It's not hard to imagine a die-cutting process that would create several major varieties of otherwise identical stamps. Catalog numbers that differentiate different printers and/or processes will still be collected. It's only stamps with different die-cuts from the same sheet or booklet pane that will no longer be collected separately if that is the only distinction.

I have also gone beyond the minimum requirement of the smallest intact se-tenant block in the case of booklets and typically collect the entire booklet for se-tenant issues.

Commemoratives - 1893 - 1949

Highlights

• Lincoln Memorial bluish paper (369) is verified by viewing on an orange background:
  
• Flat Plate / Rotary Press differentiated by plate number on Harding Memorial, Edison Lights, and Whistler's Mother
• Edison coil (#656) is a line pair
• Added a common "reverse" printing in the Overrun Nations series (Yugoslavia) and the two "normal" printings of Greece and Korea to provide an overview of the opportunity to specialize in that issue.

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Commemoratives - 1950 - 1969

Highlights

• The Dag invert is included on page 93. For more info see the Dag page in Beyond BOB.
• The first US se-tenant block is shown on page 99. Then a se-tenant pair is shown on page 109. White Ace didn't show singles for either the 1964 Christmas block of 4 or the 1967 Space twins. I agree that singles are unneccesary for the Christmas issue, but the Space twin issue is unique in that the design spreads across both stamps or the twins. Furthermore, the way the panes were laid out, there were also "orphan" stamps that were not printed with their twins. If ever there was a reason to show singles, too, this would be it! Things get complicated with the Colonial Flags issue. There are two different se-tenant patterns (one pattern at the top of the printed sheet and the other at the bottom), so White Ace provided a place for both strips and also for the singles. If this had been an isolated instance, it would be OK, but White Ace then started providing spaces for ALL se-tenant blocks AND their singles (see pages 116 and 118).
• Both strips of Colonial flags are from plate #30028.
• All se-tenant blocks and coil strips are in Scott Number Order (SNO). Many times when the blocks and singles are both shown on a White Ace page, the singles are not in SNO, but I didn't bother correcting those pages. It is sufficient that the block itself is in SNO. I generally try to get Plate Number Coil (PNC) strips in SNO for all se-tenant coils.

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Commemoratives - 1970 - 1979

Weeds

I left several airmail stamps on these Commemorative pages since they went with a Commemorative series. These stamps can also be found in the Airmail album:

• C85 on page 131 makes sense as part of the Olympics series.
• C84 on page 132 makes sense as part of the National Parks series.
• C86 on page 140 makes sense as part of the Electronics series.
• C97 on page 184 makes sense as part of the Olympics series.

Notes

• Type difference of 1414 shown on p 124a.
• One example of 1552 with adhesive removed is stored on page 148.
• 3 perf types of 1580 are shown on pp 154a-b.
• Full sheet of State Flags (pages 156-161) is stored in the Sheet Album.
• Added singles of Bicentennial Souvenir sheets.
• Two different versions of 1976 "Winter Passtime" are differentiated by plate number.
• 1757 can also be collected as se-tenant block of 8 - see page 177.
• Two perforation varieties of the John Paul Jones stamp are shown on page 185. The third variety, 1789B, is not shown(see note ).

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Commemoratives - 1980 - 1986

Weeds

Several airmail stamps are again included in the pages:

• C101-C112 on page 220 makes sense as part of the Olympics series.

Notes

• 1795-1798 (Electric Eye Perf) and 1795A-1798A (Bull's Eye Perf) easy to differentiate with selvage.
• 1951 (Bull's Eye Perf) and 1951A (Electric Eye Perf) also differentiated with selvage.
• Full sheets of State Birds and Flowers (pages 202-206) in two perforation varieties are stored in the Sheet Album.
• C105-108 has two perforation varieties, but that block is displayed in both the Airmail section and the Commemorative section, so one perferation variety is shown here and the other is shown in the Airmail album.

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Commemoratives - 1987 - 1991

Highlights

Booklet singles added on pages:

• 274 - both 1989 Christmas stamps.
• 277 - 1990 Lovebirds.
• 283 - both 1990 Christmas stamps.

I made my own pages to accomodate:

• 284 - booklet and both perf varieties of 1991 Love stamp. The selvage on 2535 and 2535A can be used to easily identify them. 2535 is Bull's Eye Perf 13 on the right side with 14 complete holes between the corner holes, while 2535A is L-Perf 10.9 on the right side with no more than 12 complete holes between the corners.
• 286 - booklet single of Desert Storm stamp.
• 293 - booklet single of Traditional 1991 Christmas stamp.

Weeds

Several airmail stamps are again included in the pages:

• C121 on page 271 makes sense as part of the America Issue.
• C122-C126 on page 276 makes sense as part of the 20th UPC issue.
• C127 on page 282 makes sense as part of the America Issue.
• C131 on page 292 makes sense as part of the America Issue.

Notes

• Even though White Ace and Scott spread out the World War II series, I put them all together.
• Pages 293a-c - Booklet panes not necessary to collect smallest se-tenant blocks in most instances since each pane is just one stamp, but many future Christmas issues were se-tenant, so complete panes are displayed to illustrate how these Christmas stamps were NOT issued se-tenant. Also, 2580 and 2581 (type variations) are se-tenant, so that pane is required and it didn't make sense to include just the one pane.
• Full sheet of American Wildlife (pages 249- 253) stored in the Sheet Album.

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Commemoratives - 1992 - 1994

Highlights

Booklet singles added on pages:

• 314 - Traditional 1992 Christmas stamp.
• 335 - 1993 AIDS Awareness.

Coil single added on page:

• 337 - 1994 Love stamp.

I made my own page to accomodate:

• 356 - both 1994 Christmas booklet singles.

Notes

• Full sheet of American Wildflowers (pages 304-308) stored in the Sheet Album.
• Added block of 10 for Rock 'n' Roll to get a block in Scott Number Order (SNO).
• Leaving a little piece of selvage on the Hank Williams singles (2723 and 2723A on page 327) makes it easy to differentiate these two. 2723 has 15 complete holes on the right and 2723A has 17 complete holes.
• Left selvage on sheet singles of World Cup stamps (page 341), so no need to check tagging to be sure they aren't souvenir sheet singles instead. (Really didn't need selvage on 2836 single since the Souvenir Sheet single has a yellow border at bottom right).

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Commemoratives - 1995 - 1998

Highlights

Commemorative page numbers starting with 1996 are numbered sequentially, when I began using Simplified pages. White Ace has not released Simplified pages for prior years, yet.

Notes

• Added booklet singles to pages 358, 383, 387, and 390.
• Eddie Rickenbacker small date / large date can be settled with a plate number (see page 380).
• White Ace did not put the Celebrate the Century sheets together but Scott did, and so did I.
• A pair of Mars Pathfinder Souvenir sheets is shown with the perforations at left and right as issued in Press Sheets of 18. Single Souvenir Sheets were issued with the perforations cut away.
• Full sheet of Dinosaurs (pages 393-394) is stored in the Sheet Album.
• Singles are included from any se-tenant issue where the design flows from one stamp to another or the stamp is embedded in a larger design so it is clear what the single stamp looks like. If it is easy to see what a single would look like, the se-tenant block is all that is needed (see Dinosaurs, Futuristic Space).

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Commemoratives - 1999 - 2002

Notes

• Singles are included from any se-tenant issue where the design flows from one stamp to another or the stamp is embedded in a larger design so it is clear what the single stamp looks like. If it is easy to see what a single would look like, the se-tenant block is all that is needed (see Nature of America Series, Tropical Flowers, Aquarium Fish, Louise Nevelson, Deep Sea Creatures, Carnivorous Plants). Singles from the Achievements in Space Exploration sheets are displayed in the BOB album with Priority/Express stamps.
• Both selvages are shown for the Submarine booklet panes and a plate block of the Los Angeles class sub is shown to clearly demonstrate that this denomination was also issued in sheet form. This was the last time I showed all selvages of a souvenir sheet and never did I include selvage from single issues (such as Legends of Hollywood) with the notable exceptions of Stamp Expo Souvenir Sheets and certain space and flight issues, solely at my discretion.
• Full sheets of Greetings from America 34c (pages 472-476) and 37c (pages 484-488) are stored in the Sheet Album.

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Commemoratives - 2003 - 2006

Notes

• Singles are included from any se-tenant issue where the design flows from one stamp to another or the stamp is embedded in a larger design so it is clear what the single stamp looks like. If it is easy to see what a single would look like, the se-tenant block is all that is needed (see Nature of America Series, Filmmaking, Distinguished American Diplomats).
• The 37c Ronald Reagan stamp is illustrated with all 4 varieties (due to misplaced plate position diagrams).
• Full sheet of Wonders of America (pages 528-532) is stored in the Sheet Album.

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Commemoratives - 2007 - 2010

Notes

• Singles are included from any se-tenant issue where the design flows from one stamp to another or the stamp is embedded in a larger design so it is clear what the single stamp looks like. If it is easy to see what a single would look like, the se-tenant block is all that is needed (see Nature of America Series, Star Wars, Pollination, American Scientists, Civil Rights Pioneers, Supreme Court Justices, Thanksgiving Parade).
• White Ace did not put the Flags of Our Nation together, but Scott did, and so did I.
• Complete se-tenant strips of Flags of Our Nation are mounted in a picture frame since they are too long for the sheet album.
• I had to print my own pages for Flags of Our Nation. The White Ace pages were not in Scott Number Order. They were in an order usually reserved for PNC coils even though they were divided into two parts to fit in the album. I think that was a mistake, so I made my own pages.

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Commemoratives - 2011 - 2012

Notes

• Singles are included from any se-tenant issue where the design flows from one stamp to another or the stamp is embedded in a larger design so it is clear what the single stamp looks like. If it is easy to see what a single would look like, the se-tenant block is all that is needed (see Garden of Love, Send A Hello, Cherry Blossom Centennial, Mail A Smile, and Bicycling).
  
  
• Beginning with the Major League Baseball Stars issue, USPS began offering Press Sheets with the die-cuts omitted on some issues. For now, these stamps do not have a separate Scott catalog number. These "imperforate" stamps create a need to define what, if anything, to collect.

  I decided on the following collecting strategy for Commemoratives:

  1. For single design issues (all of the stamps are the same design)
     
     a) If the stamps are in booklet form, collect a complete booklet without die-cuts
     (even though I only collect a single of the die-cut version).
     
     b) If the stamps are in sheet form, collect a horizonal imperf. pair (typically with left margin)
     and a vertical gutter imperf. pair (typically with left margin).
     
     
  2. For multiple designs (there are two or more different design on the pane)
     
     a) If the stamps are in booklet form, collect a complete booklet without die-cuts.
     
     b) If the stamps are in sheet form:
     
     

     i) If all of the stamp designs are different, collect a complete pane without die-cuts.
     
     ii) If there are multiple repeating designs, obtain the smallest intact SNO (Scott Number order) imperf. block or strip and an SNO gutter imperf. block or strip.

  The Major League Baseball Stars were issued in a pane with all four designs and also individually, so I added a horizontal pair of the die-cut versions of the single issues since the single issue stamps are currently indistinguishable from the stamps on the four-design panes.

  For definitives, I will simply collect a horizontal pair of single issues. In some cases I seem to be inconsistent, but I am not in agreement with White Ace about what a Commemorative is. They call the Wedding Cake a Commemorative and the Purple Heart a Definitive. I think they have them both wrong, and collect accordingly.

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Commemoratives - 2013 - 2014

Notes

• Singles are included from any se-tenant issue where the design flows from one stamp to another or the stamp is embedded in a larger design so it is clear what the single stamp looks like. If it is easy to see what a single would look like, the se-tenant block is all that is needed (see La Florida, Farmers Markets).
• This is the END of my Commemorative stamp collection. I have decided to stop at 12-31-14.

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END OF COLLECTION (12-31-2014)

Beginning in 2015 I only collect modern U.S. in a limited way by purchasing the annual USPS Stamp Yearbook supplemented with the "Mail Use" and "High Value Mail" stamp packets. Prior to 2023 there we several issues with perforations trimmed off so I replaced those with intact examples. I also replaced several examples from USPS with ones I created making sure the stamps were in SNO (Scott Number Order). Finally, in 2023, I replaced the example provided by USPS for "Tulip Blossoms". USPS sent two coil strips of 5. I bought a booklet and used that instead.