Sunday, February 22, 2009

Scott Brown International 1939-40

This is a revised followup to airpostman's comment on the Brown Internationals (February 21, 2009 8:28 PM). I remember reading somewhere that Scott never published a Brown International for 1939-40 and it was Vintage Reproductions, the company that brought the Brown Internationals back in print, that was responsible for filling in the missing two years.

According to an email, Vintage Reproductions believes they were "the first to compile the years 1937 1/2 through the relatively ragged interface with Scott International (blue) II (1940-45). The [company] found some hints that supplements to the Brown series were published by Scott, but [being unable to locate them, built their own]."

I had forgotten I had an image off of eBay displaying the title page for 1939-1940 (click the image to enlarge):


The title page states: "Contains spaces for every major variety of Postage Stamp issued by any Government in the World during the years 1939-1940, which have been listed for the first time in the 1941 Edition of the Standard Postage Stamp Catalog."

In any event, Subway now owns the rights for these reproductions and sells the pages for 1939-1940 for $164.80.

[Update 3/23/09: The 1941 Scott catalog contains an advertisement for "Annual Albums." According to the ad, "these annual albums are complete units providing spaces for all new stamps issued during the corresponding catalogue years." The ones listed are 1934-35, 1935-36, 1936-37, 1937-38, and 1938-39. On another page is an ad for the "Brown" International series. The last volume listed was No. 5, 20th Century section, part IV, and covers September 1934 through August 1938.]

[Update 6/2011: I have a copy of the 20th Century Part Four volume, copyright 1942, which I believe was the last printing. The title page states "Contains spaces for every variety of Postage Stmp, (omitting differences of perforations) issued by any Government in the world, during the years 1934 to 1939 as listed in the 1942 Edition of the Standard Catalogue." Interestingly, even though the title page says 1939 there are no stamps later than 1938. I don't have a copy of the 1942 Scott Catalogue, but the 1941 edition does include many stamps from 1940 if not all. So there is no obvious reason why the Brown Volume Four stopped somewhere in 1938, the title page to the contrary.]

No comments: