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In my opinion one of the hardest (but also the most interesting) challenges of stamp collecting are long definitive sets that span into all possible directions. The most notorious ones, like UK Machin stamps and Norwegian posthorns feature hundreds of major types scattered all across the stamp catalog timeline, and the varieties easily double or triple the number of items to collect. These are a huge challenge to keep track for anyone.
My personal approach to this problem is to build and print out an Excel worksheet that lists all the known stamps in series – including all major varieties. Yes, my method requires a lot of manual typing. And yes, it duplicates data found on the catalogs. But the advantage is that instead of browsing back and forth catalog (or in worst cases, several catalogs) pages, I can simply look up details from single place.
Below is a small example about Hungarian Castle (Kastélyok) definitive series issued between 1986-1992. The first series (Castles I) contains 15 different stamps issued in several stages, the second series (Castles II) contains only 2 different designs…Sounds easy, but don’t be mistaken. With all perforation varieties listed the number of stamps grows up to nearly 60 items, and with all paper types included it’s around 100 items.
Example: Hungarian Castles (Kastélyok) definitive series issued between 1986-1992
Castles I series contains 15 different stamps designs:
Hungarian Castle definitive stamp series issued in 1986-1991 contains 15 different designs.
According to Michel, four different perforations have been used in making of the series. The original print is either 12¼:11½ or imperf, later prints add two more perforation varieties (11½:12¼ and 12¾:12½) for many values. These variations included the entire series grows to contain 54 stamps.
Update: I’ve received scans from specialized Hungarian catalog (”Magyar Posta- és Illetékbélyeg Katalógus”, 2009 and 2010 editions), and they add plenty of details not listed in Michel (at least yet). Michel omits D perf for 7,8,12 and 70ft stamps for now (but I’m sure they will be included in future editions). These are included to my summary table below… So to make it simple: Any stamp in the series can be found in A,B,C or D perf, with the exception of values of 3 and 12ft that exist only in A,B or D. So the series has 58 items to collect on this level.
So far my Excel sheet for this series looks like this:
A summary of major designs and varieties of Hungarian Castles I definitive stamp series. Items with green background or X-mark I have, the ones with red background I still need.
Besides different perforations, the prints seem to differ otherwise as well (though not mentioned on Michel):
Original prints appear to have clear, apart lines with vivid colors. Later prints seem to carry more blurred print output (with some areas filled with solid color instead of lines) and duller colors.
Update: Once again relying the special catalog scan I received… There exists 3 paper types (glossy, semi-glossy, mat) for most stamps having either A and C perf . In addition there are stamps with fluorescent fibres – these are mentioned in Michel too.
The second series of Castle definitive stamps is very easy to handle, as it contains only two different values featuring only perf (12:12) and imperf versions. These are not listed in the above Excel table.
Hungarian Castle II definitive stamp series issued in 1989-1992 contains only 2 designs.
In addition the 12ft stamp from the 1st series has been overprinted as commemorative stamp in 1991.
Closing words
I’d definitely wish I had a specialized catalog of Hungarian stamps to see what it tells about this series. As I’m about to sort trough nearly 500 grams of Hungarian definitive stamps kiloware this weekend, I’d hope to fill up many of the holes on my list. And who knows… Maybe I’ll find out some new minor variations, LOL.
Anyway… I’d be interested to know if / how other worldwide collectors keep track of long definitive stamp series like this.
Status update 6th August 2010
Well, it’s a funny world as 24 hours later I’m writing an update to this entry…
My original article stated that D perf for these stamps was 12:12½. Well, it seems my edition of Michel catalog had an errata / false information in form of omitted “¾”. This explained all the unlisted 12¾:12½ copies I was wondering first place. My thanks to Adrian for Your assistance.
Anyway, now I’ve got a new mystery… I have a 12ft stamp in D perforation, and my edition of Michel says no such thing does not exist… I’m pretty confident this is an errata on my edition too, and will update as soon as I get some kind of further information on subject.
Status update 7th August 2010
And another day later I’ve got two scans from specialized Hungarian catalogs. My thanks to Jay and Tamás for helping out…
I’ve updated the above entry to include essential information from specialized catalog (such as the fact that all the stamps exist in D perforation).
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