New uncut press sheet coming

I have heard from several sources that there will be a new uncut press sheet released this year from the philatelic service. I have had it confirmed from the philatelic service that it will be for the Children's Games mini sheets, and details will be released "very soon". As soon as I hear more, I will let you know. The first sheet sold out quickly, and people were selling pieces of the sheet on E-bay for astronomical prices. I don't think many of these sold, and my offer to trade my full sheet for a set of 7-9 with tabs has had no takers (but, is still open if anyone should want to trade). It will be interesting to see what happens with this sheet.

Scott catalog anomolies

In today's Linn's the Scott catalog numbers for some Israel stamps were finally updated. The last time catalog numbers were updated for Israel was in March, so there have been lots of new stamps issued, but the new update only covers stamps issued through February.

The first entry has been given Scott number 1472a. The description is Hakhel Le Yisrael type of 2002 and shows an issue date of 11/21/10. I had no idea what this stamp was referring to. I looked at Scott 1472 to try and figure out what this was referring to. 1472 is pictured here on the left. Was there a reprint in 2010 I missed? Nope. Looking through my FDC's, I found what this entry is referring to. It is from the Jerusalem prestige booklet. There are 11 different stamps in the booklet, and they are now listed in Scott as separate stamps. 4 of them have minor numbers (1472a, 1610a, 1827a, and 1830a) and 7 are given major numbers (1861-7). Why the difference? According to the new issues editor at the Scott catalog, the ones given new major numbers are different in size from the originals, while the ones with minor numbers just have perf differences. In checking the prior prestige booklets, I found this is the only one listed in Scott at all. The reason? Previous booklets sold for more than 50% above face value, while this one carried only a 35% premium, so it merits inclusion. How is it listed in my database? As Prestige Booklet #8.

In another head-scratcher, the animation sheet is listed as 1845, with the individual stamps each getting a letter (a-o), So, you would assume the animation booklet would be treated the same, right? Apparently not. The booklet panes are each given their own number, from 1846-1860. Why? I think the booklet should be counted as a whole, so it is Prestige Booklet #7 for me. Why a prestige booklet and not a normal booklet? It was sold at a premium over face, and while valid for postage, was not really intended to be used.

E-bay success

Well, all of my E-bay lots from last week sold. I was pleasantly surprised. The Mejujaim lots went for a lot more than I had hoped for. As a result of my initial success, I posted another 23 lots. Included in this batch are a bunch of souvenir leafs, as well as a few of the special souvenir sheets Israel has issued in the past few years. I had managed to acquire duplicates of both the Israel 98 imperf sheets (mint and FDC) as well as the Parting of the Red Sea issue form this past year (again, Mint and FDC). Hopefully, my success continues.

What next?

After doing the in-depth series on the generic sheets of Israel, I was wondering what topic would interest people next? I have the material to do in depth studies of the following:

1. Tete-Beche Stamps
2. Showcards
3. Vending stamps
4. Computer Vended postage

Do any of these interest anyone out there? Are there other topics you would like to see me talk about?

Been a long time

Wow, it has been over 2 months since my last post. In that time, I haven't really done much with my collection. E-bay has been slow, I think I purchased a total of 3 items in the last 2 months, and those were mostly to use the E-bay bucks that I had earned over the summer. I used to track 40-50 items on E-bay, my list is down to 20, with almost all of these being store items rather than auction listings. I did receive my 2010 white ace supplement finally, although I never did get the corrected pages for the 2009 supplement that they promised. I had hoped they would be included in the 2010 supplement, but no such luck. I also listed 8 separate items on E-bay this week for sale. If you are interested, take a look here. So far, 4 of the 8 have bidders.

Definitive Plate blocks needed

It has been 18 months since I blogged about the plate blocks I was missing. Since then, I have had a fair amount of success in filling in my want list. I am down to 84 dates (from 237). Of course, some of the remaining ones are the most expensive of all, but most are reasonably priced in the catalogs, but I have just not been able to find them.

1. Provisionals-3 needed of 42. I am missing PR16, 24, and 26.
2. Zodiac - COMPLETE!
3. Town Emblems - 2 needed of 161. Just missing TE35 and TE125.
4. Landscapes - 4 needed of 169. Missing LS6, 7, 27, and 113a.
5. Town Airmails - 4 needed of 22. Unchanged, these don't seem to be listed on E-bay often at all.
6. Bird Airmails - 5 needed of 18. All 5 from the January, 1967 printings
7. Shekels - COMPLETE!
8. Standby (Star of David)- COMPLETE!
9. Olive branch - 1 needed of 27. Looking for ND21
10. Herzl - 5 needed of 47
11. Archaeology - 7 needed of 37
12. Sunflower - 2 needed of 6
13. Good Wishes - 19 needed of 41
14. Architecture - 2 needed of 14
15. Anemone - 7 needed of 23
16. Songbirds - 4 needed of 34
17. Sports - 10 needed of 37
18. Shrulik - 1 needed of 9
19. Hyacinth - 1 needed of 11
20. Historic Buildings - 1 needed of 15
21. Menorah - 1 needed of 13
22. Greetings - 4 needed of 10
23. Gagea Commutate - 1 needed of 9

Another new generic sheet

I have recently seen this on E-bay. This is a July 18th, 2011 printing date of the Happy Holidays stamp. It is being issued for the high holidays. I have not yet seen a day of issue for this.