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Collecting Discworld stamps

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elmstead View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote elmstead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 June 2021 at 04:28
I'm not an expert  (I've only been collecting for 2 years) but this is my understanding of the Koom Valley issue

there is a long answer (If your are asking how the numbering system of the catalogue is structured) the catalogue number for a stamp always begins SHS and a sheet of stamps begins SHE
then there some letters to show which part of Discworld printed the stamp (eg AM for Ankh-Morpork) 
next, a number which increases as each new stamp its published 
the Stamps catalogue number is
followed by a letter which shows whether it is  the Common stamp (a) or a sport/variant (b, c, d etc)
and lastly a letter show the perforation (eg w is Wincanton)
However, the Sport/Variant/Common stamps are usually all printed on the same sheet and so the catalogue number for a sheet will always end with an A

and a slightly shorter answer (if you are asking why there isn't a sheet 33B) 
A sheet could contain only Common stamps
or it could contain lots of Common stamps and one Sport
sometimes (rarely) it may have lots of common stamps and two different sports

So, there is one sheet from 2005 (SHE-0033A) which contains both the Koom Valley 10p Trolls attack and Koom Valley 10p Dwarves attack stamps. 
These are two different (common) stamps and so they are catalogued as SHS-AM0033-Aw and SHS-AM0034-Aw. (if one was a sport (33b) and the other the common (33a) there would be loads of 33a and only one33b on the sheet)




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Steve View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Steve Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 June 2021 at 04:44
Hi Roast and welcome.

You are correct, the experts are here

The problem with the Emporium being involved with the cataloging is that insufficient proper records were kept in the old days. If they got involved we would be at the mercy of them making things up to fit!!
Somehow it's best if the collectors take the reins on this and make discoveries in doing so,

I am not a fan of the numbering system so any inconsistencies there are irrelevant to me

I cannot detect any difference in the the two Koom Valley sheets. Hence it may be an error caused by the two stamps being listed, each being given a sheet by mistake.
You can find shade varieties of these stamps, but those do not get catalogue status for some reason

As for the tall hat $5, that artwork was only used on a proof sheet, and never as an individual stamp. To call it imperforate gives the wrong message

You may find my Discworld Stamps web pages useful as much there covers the early years
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Post Options Post Options   Quote elmstead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 June 2021 at 04:44
As for the Merchants Guild $5 Special ..
The sheet SHE-0024-A contains only one type of stamp SHS-AM0024-Aw

If you look in the Proof Sheet listings for 2005 you will find the Merchants Guild $5 Proof Sheet (SHP-0003-A) which was on sale from the Emporium for £6 in a limited issue of 250/500 (?) Confusingly it shows the image of three stamps but on closer veiwing they are all the same stamp.

You will also find in 2005 the Merchants’ Guild Proof of Artwork (SHP-0004-A) which was only available as a Stanley Howler Journal prize. This depicts one Merchants Guild $5 stamp but it is not the same image as the stamp that was issued. (The driver has a Top hat). 

So this is an image of a "Sport" which was never issued as a perforated stamp.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote elmstead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 June 2021 at 04:49
The problem with the numbering system is that the Koom Valley Sheet contains two different Common Stamps. instead of labelling the image as  as SHE033A and SHE034A (which gives the impression that each stamp has its own sheet) it could have been numbered SHE033&34A
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Post Options Post Options   Quote roastchicken Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 June 2021 at 05:36
Thank you Steve and Elmstead, that helps solve my queries a lot.

I will get into the habit of jotting down queries as I go through the Catalogue and then adding them on to the thread here. 

And I will definitely look at your Facbook pages Steve. I am not a member at Facebook but this looks like a very good excuse to join!
...

:-)
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Post Options Post Options   Quote doormatt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 June 2021 at 05:48
Originally posted by roastchicken roastchicken wrote:


I am new to collecting these stamps but I am only collecting the first five years and I have been told that the expers for the first stamps are on this forum and not the Discworld shop one. 

In the interests of transparency I should point out that I have inherited a complete collection of the stamps sold after 2008 and I am trying to fill out the missing years. 

Any help appreciated , but there is no urgency I intend to take my time to fnish off the collection .


I too prefer to collect the first years of the stamps, the ones that Terry would have been personally involved with.  Back then ethey were called 'artefacts' but now I see the shop calls their stamps 'merchandise'.  ;-)

You may think that because they are older they will be more difficult to find but I have not found this to be the case. I think perhaps collectors hang on to them longer than the new ones but they are still to be found on ebay and such auction sites as well as here occasionally. I know some collectors who are still waiting to go through unopened LBEs from 2004/5 so who really knows what is out there.

One thing I would definitely encourage you to do is buy the whole sheets. This might seem more expensive at first but you get a much better impression of how the stamps look when there are a lot on a big sheet. The modern minisheets were introduced to try to make the sheets more pocket money friendly but they just do not look as good when displayed. Spotting the sports on a big sheet makes you realise why Terry wanted sports in the first place, something to torture the avid collector! On the little sheets the sports jump out and there is little fun in just mentally ticking it off before you have even got a magnifying glass out!

It is always good to find that there are new collectors out there and you are clearly hooked now, so comiserations, but good luck with the collection and you know where to come if you have any more queries.

Welcome to the forum, interesting username btw
New to cinderellas, but learning fast!
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Murgatroyd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 June 2021 at 08:58
Hello roastchicken, I'll have to leave the thorny question of any differences between shs0033 and shs0034 to someone else to answer, as I'm not convinced there's any difference either. 
However the issue of the Tall hat / Top hat variant of the £5 Merchant is easily resolved. This variant only ever appeared on the cardstock $5 Merchant proof sheet, never as a perforated stamp. 
I hope that helps.
:)
"I've got twenty minutes to save the world and I've got a Post Office, and it's shut." The Raggedy Doctor.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote roastchicken Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 June 2021 at 23:23
Thank you again everyone. 

One more small query. 

In the early years of the stamps when new issues bridged across the years it seems that the sheets were renamed according to the year they were printed yet in later years this does not happen. So for the Assassins sheets there are versions with the Year of the Prawn and also for Year of the Signifying Frog. Yet after that it seems the sheets following only show the original year they were issued. Is that correct? Are there other examples of this? And was it deliberate or an error that this has happened?

Thanks again.
...

:-)
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Post Options Post Options   Quote elmstead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 June 2021 at 00:30
Some of the Merchants guild stamps (penny farthing, three pence and fifty pence) from 2005 also have issues for the Year of the Prawn and the Year of the signifying frog.


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Post Options Post Options   Quote elmstead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 June 2021 at 00:38
The later stamps have the year they were originally printed on the sheet (regardless of whether the stamp was only printed in that year or whether there were reprints in subsequent years)
.
but some of the later stamps have the "wrong" year printed on the sheet.
eg the Hogswatch delivery 1p 2016 has the Year of the Spinning Mouse printed on the sheet (2015) but wasn't issued until Jan 2016 (the Year of the Sneezing Panda)
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