Souvenir Sheets - Redux

We've been here before, but try as I may, I simply do not understand
exactly what it is that makes a souvenir sheet!

I've consulted four different Ouija boards, 6 different packs of Tarot
cards and even had a heart-to-heart talk with Leroy down the road.
Leroy is the one that everybody consults about the coming winter - he
can tell by counting the rings on a wolley worm as it crawls across
hickory bark. He says "Nobody knows!"

I depend on Scott - so that may be a problem.

There are what appear to be Souvenir sheets - but they are shown in no
catalog and therefore have no catalog number or value assigned.

There are Souvenir sheets that appear only as S/S in my catalog, and
they are assigned a number and a catalog value.

There are a series of stamps issued and then a souvenir sheet of one
of them is printed - Scott assigns that sheet an 'a' designation and
they are assigned a value.

There are Souvenir sheets printed that Scott does not assign a number
to - but Scott does mention them and does assign a value.

There must be some mysterious little 'switch' that gets thrown that
elevates these from one rank to the other - but I can't figure it out.

Does anyone know what the magic formula is that make these a
recognized souvenir sheet? What keeps them from being recognized?
What moves them from major to minor to recognized but un-numbered to
unrecognized?

Maybe Leroy is right??????

Handshakes,

Dakota

I know I've been a bit 'fey' here and could probably have toned it
down, but this is extremely important to me - can anybody help?
Please!!!!

On 26 Sep 2003 17:56:17 -0700, (Dakota) wrote:

We've been here before, but try as I may, I simply do not understand
exactly what it is that makes a souvenir sheet!

I've consulted four different Ouija boards, 6 different packs of Tarot
cards and even had a heart-to-heart talk with Leroy down the road.
Leroy is the one that everybody consults about the coming winter - he
can tell by counting the rings on a wolley worm as it crawls across
hickory bark. He says "Nobody knows!"

I depend on Scott - so that may be a problem.

There are what appear to be Souvenir sheets - but they are shown in no
catalog and therefore have no catalog number or value assigned.

There are Souvenir sheets that appear only as S/S in my catalog, and
they are assigned a number and a catalog value.

There are a series of stamps issued and then a souvenir sheet of one
of them is printed - Scott assigns that sheet an 'a' designation and
they are assigned a value.

There are Souvenir sheets printed that Scott does not assign a number
to - but Scott does mention them and does assign a value.

There must be some mysterious little 'switch' that gets thrown that
elevates these from one rank to the other - but I can't figure it out.

Does anyone know what the magic formula is that make these a
recognized souvenir sheet? What keeps them from being recognized?
What moves them from major to minor to recognized but un-numbered to
unrecognized?

Maybe Leroy is right??????

Handshakes,

Dakota

I know I've been a bit 'fey' here and could probably have toned it
down, but this is extremely important to me - can anybody help?
Please!!!!

There's a few different types of S/S.

1) The post office, officially released S/S. These are usually
recognized by catalogs and issued the infamous "number" wherein those
of us who partake may check off said number and mount said S/S. :^)
Souvenir sheets issued today are totally absurd. Just about every
issue or every other issue, from some countries, has a S/S associated
with it. New Zealand has been one of the "culprits". French
community countries have fallen into that since the 60s / 70s. The
stamps, are, though, useable on mail.

P.O. issued S/S are totally about and beyond the duty of the post
office, unless that is the only format that a stamp was issued in.
These are $ (cha-ching) speculations, for those completists to chase
after. I'm still hedging my bets on collecting them, because they
don't carry the mail - directly. They are usually non-mail income.

2) Exhibition S/S are the real culprits. These are mostly
cinderellas, but some of them have made their way into catalogs and
have been used on mail - also sanctioned by some P.Os. These are
usually printed by outside sources (other than P.O.) and distributed
on the days of the Exhbition. There must be countless 1000s of these.
For the most part, these stamps are not useable on mail. These are
the real tricky ones.

3) Benefit / Charity S/S. Spain is notorious for some of these. Some
other countries as well. Edifil keeps track of some of these S/S,
especially for Barcelona.

4) Complete cinderella S/S. This goes with the territory. Anything
can be assumed here. Maybe Art can shed light on the cindie side of
S/S sheets.

Tracy Barber

When I was a boy and therefore a novice collector I loved the souvenir
sheets. They were odd, they were different, they were not that common.
Time passes and more than four decades later I can't stand the sight
of "souvenir sheets". Souvenirs of what? They take up far too much space,
most are trashy-looking, there are piles of them, few are worth saving,
cheaper than wallpaper, often silly & inconseqiential subjects, post office
money grubbing ploys.... oh, I could go on and on. What was once a novelty
to collect is now the bane of collectors. As if these so-called souvenir
sheets aren't enough, now we are bothered with uncut press sheets and the
big picture type sheets that have a dozen or fewer stamps in it (the US has
gotten in the habit of issuing one a year).
Souvenir sheets? Souvenirs of nothing and hoped that they never get
used for postage (if that is even practical).
Dave
"Dakota" wrote in message
m...
We've been here before, but try as I may, I simply do not understand
exactly what it is that makes a souvenir sheet!

GB recently issued a souvenir sheet with reprints of the 1953 wilding
definitive stamps but with new decimal values. Call me a phillistine
if you must but I bought some of these, slit them up and used the
constituent stamps on mail to my stamp contacts in my constant search
for something different in the continual lack of availability of
commemorative stamps at my local post office. I hope the recipients
appreciated the thought. I have no idea what the ultimate value of
these will be but my guess is that far fewer of these stamps were used
on mail than exist in mint miniature sheets in collections. It is also
one in the eye for the post office as they thought that none of these
would be used to pay postage and that was a little bit less profit for
no usage for them.

Regards
Malcolm

"Dave" wrote in message ...
When I was a boy and therefore a novice collector I loved the souvenir
sheets. They were odd, they were different, they were not that common.
Time passes and more than four decades later I can't stand the sight
of "souvenir sheets". Souvenirs of what? They take up far too much space,
most are trashy-looking, there are piles of them, few are worth saving,
cheaper than wallpaper, often silly & inconseqiential subjects, post office
money grubbing ploys.... oh, I could go on and on. What was once a novelty
to collect is now the bane of collectors. As if these so-called souvenir
sheets aren't enough, now we are bothered with uncut press sheets and the
big picture type sheets that have a dozen or fewer stamps in it (the US has
gotten in the habit of issuing one a year).
Souvenir sheets? Souvenirs of nothing and hoped that they never get
used for postage (if that is even practical).
Dave
"Dakota" wrote in message
m...
We've been here before, but try as I may, I simply do not understand
exactly what it is that makes a souvenir sheet!