Preface

The first 3 pages of the Regular Issues album are shown below. I start out with a Preface and Introduction that describes the collecting philosophy, provide an example of an 1836 stampless cover from Greensburgh to Franklin County, Kentucky, and then provide examples of a Postmaster's Provisional, Carrier Stamp, Local Delivery Stamp, and Independant Mail Route Stamp.

You can click on any of the images below to view them full screen.

page i	page ii	page iii

Regular Issues - 1847-1972

Highlights

See philosophy for details on what is, and what is not, included. 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 tried to get a Plate Number Coil (PNC) strip in SNO for coils of se-tenant issues and full panes of booklet panes with se-tenant issues. (Se-tenant issues are stamps issued in panes, coils, or booklets with more than one design).

First Bureau

The watermark of each relevant stamp was printed on the album page before the stamp was mounted. An image of the blank album page is made available so you can see the watermark (or lack thereof) on pages 7 and 8.

Second Bureau

This is, without a doubt, the single most difficult era to define what belongs in the collection according to the philosophy. There were a few test marketed coils and a few sheets of 4c stamps sent imperforate to Schermack for a very limited use (314A). It was a painful decision to exclude the experimental government coils of the Second Bureau.

Third Bureau

Although with the Second Bureau it was hard to define what belonged in the collection according to the philosophy, the Third Bureau was also a challenge because of the sheer volume of catalog numbers.Click here for link to spreadsheet I used for Third Bureau .

• Kansas City Roulettes were imperforate sheets of #408 and #409 rouletted (scored with dashed lines) to make the stamps more salable in the Kansas City Post Office. Although difficult to categorize, my initial reaction was they don't warrant inclusion because:
  • If they are considered imperforates, there are already examples of these issues imperforate (481 and 482) on page 11a.
  • If they are considered perforation variations, there are already examples of these issues perforated (498 and 499) on page 10.
  • If they are considered a third-party perforation - those are excluded from this collection anyway.
    
  But I finally did decide to include them because of their historic relevance and because they were approved by the Post Office Department (albeit after the fact, in some cases). It was that approval that swung the pedulum in favor of approval. For that reason, these will be the only Post Office applied roulettes to be included.
  
  
• #505 (5c red error - perf 11) is included because it fits the collection philosophy. #467 (perf 10) isn't needed because it's a perforation variety. #485 is an imperforate of the 5c red error, but is not included in this collection because it's the plate error being documented, not the perf/imperf variations. This is consistent with the treatment of type varieties that are issued both perforated and imperforate from the same plates.

Missing

• #356

A Note on Catalog Numbers

The following catalog numbers are not even referenced as an option to fill a space:

1. SPECIAL PRINTINGS:
1. SPECIAL PRINTINGS OF 1875
1. Reprints of demonetized issues
        3, 4, 40-47, 102-111 – not valid for postage when printed – CV $50K
2. Reprints of 1869 issue: Catalog # 123-132 – CV $14K
3. Reprints of 1873 issue: Catalog # 167-177 – CV $168K
4. Reprints of 1875 issue: Catalog # 180-181 – CV $500K
   
2. SPECIAL PRINTINGS OF 1880-1885
1. Reprint of 1869 issue: Catalog # 133
2. Reprints of 1880 issue: Catalog # 192-204 – CV $850K
3. Other: Catalog # 205C, 211B, 211D – CV $125K
   
2. MISSING CATALOG NUMBERS:  Catalog #48-62, 66, 74 – not listed in catalog
   
3. EXOTIC GRILLS (all but F GRILLS): Catalog # 79-91 – CV $7M+
   
4. H GRILLS: Catalog # 134-144 – very faint and heavily faked
   
5. I GRILLS: Catalog # 134A-144A – very faint and heavily faked
   
6. SECOND BUREAU RARITIES:
1. 4c Schermack: Catalog # 314A – never issued over the counter – CV $50K
2. Experimental coils: Catalog # 316-318, 321-322 – CV $300K
   
7. 1914 Compound Perforations: Catalog # 423A-423E – CV $65K+
   
8. OTHER PERFORATION ODDITIES (see COMMEMORATIVES):
1. Harding Memorial sheet waste: Catalog #613 – CV $45K
2. John Paul Jones third perf variety: Catalog #1789B – CV $3,500
   
9. Catalog # 1590A is not missing. It’s part of booklet pane 1623Bc on page R28a

Click on any thumbnail image below to view the page full screen.

	Click here: #1 cert #2 cert #12 cert Page 1 other		Click here: Page 1a details		Click here: #37 cert #38 cert #39 cert Page 1b other
page 1		page 1a		page 1b
		Click here: #67 cert Page 2 details		Click here: #122 cert Page 3 details
page 1c	page 2		page 3		page 4
		Click here: Banknote details 1¢ to 6¢ Banknote details 7¢ to 15¢	Click here: 10¢ NBN #150 cert 30¢ #190 cert 90¢ #166 cert 1¢ CBN #156 cert 2¢ CBN #178 cert 3¢ CBN #158 cert 5¢ ABN #185 cert 6¢ CBN #159 cert 10¢ ABN #188 cert 15¢ ABN #189 cert
page 4a	page 4b			page 5	page 6
	Click here: Page 7 watermarks		Click here: Page 8 watermarks
page 7	page 7 blank	page 8	page 8 blank	page 8a	page 8b
			Click here: Description of 3rd Bureau Flat Plate Identification.
page 9	page 9a	page 9b	page 10	page 10a	page 10b
page 10c	page 10d	page 10e	page 10f	page 10g	page 10h
			Click here: Description of 3rd Bureau Offset and Rotary Press Plate Numbers.
page 10i	page 10j	page 10k	page 11	page 11a	page 11b
					Click here: Description of 4th Bureau Plate numbers.
page 11c	page 11d	page 11e	page 11f	page 11g	page 12
page 12a	page 12b	page 12c	page 12d	page 13	page 13a
page 13b	page 13c	page 13d	page 13e	page 14	page 15
page 16	page 17	page 17a	page 17b	page 17c	page 18
page 19	page 19a	page 19b	page 19c	page 20	page 20a
page 21	page 22	page 23	page 24	page 25	page 25a
page 26

Regular Issues - 1973 - 1999

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page 27	page 28	page 28a	page 29	page 29a	page 29b
page 30	page 30a	page 30b	page 30c	page 31	page 32
page 33	page 33a	page 34	page 34a	page 35	page 35a
page 36	page 36a	page 37	page 37a	page 37b	page 38
page 38a	page 39	page 39a	page 39b	page 40	page 40a
page 41	page 41a	page 42	page 43	page 44	page 45
page 46	page 47	page 48	page 49	page 50	page 51
page 52	page 53	page 54	page 55	page 56	page 57
page 58	page 58a	page 59	page 60	page 60a	page 61
page 62	page 63	page 64	page 65

Regular Issues - 2000 - 2014 (end of collection)

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page 66	page 67	page 68	page 69	page 70	page 70a
page 71	page 72	page 73	page 74	page 75	page 76
page 77	page 78	page 79	page 80	page 81	page 82
page 83	page 84	page 85	page 86	page 87	page 88
page 89	page 90	page 91	page 92	page 93	page 94
page 95	page 96	page 97	page 98	page 99	page 100
page 101	page 102	page 103	page 104	page 105	page 106
page 107	page 108	page 109	page 110	page 111	page 112
page 113	page 114	page 115	page 116	page 117	page 118
page 119	page 120	page 121	page 122	page 123	page 124
page 125	page 126	page 127	page 128	page 129

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 were 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.