Linn’s recently released their count of new issues for 2012, or, more accurately, those stamps that appeared in the Linn’s "New Issues Updates" from January-December 2013. This count consists of two parts. First is an article by Martin J. Frankevicz, new issues editor for Scott catalogs, “Listing policies and items that didn’t make the cut” in the December 16, 2013 issue of Linn’s Stamp News, pages 44, 46, and 48. (This is only available to subscribers.) And second, the table itself which is available online at http://linns.com/yearlycost. This url also contains links for previous tables back to 2002.
The article proper is largely devoted to criticizing the increasing number of stamps being issued that do not meet Scott’s listing policy, with emphasis on the US uninverted inverted Jenny pane.
For the actual details you need to consult the online table. By my tally, there were 6676 stamps that will make it into the Scott catalog (i.e., assigned major numbers), not counting those from the United States. (I do not know why the US isn’t included in the table.) The total value of the stamps for which catalog values were assigned is just shy of $25,800.
The countries that released the most catalog-worthy stamps are Mozambique with 243, followed by Australia, France, Great Britain, Burundi, Canada, Japan, and Portugal in that order. Forty-seven countries that have produced stamps recently issued none in 2013.
Just to clarify, none of these stamps are in the Blue International Volume One, although I may try to sneak a $2 inverted Jenny into my album.
The famous stamp collector Josiah Lilly said that there were 100,000 postage stamps he wanted for his collection and he succeeded in acquiring 77,000. My considerably easier target is 35,000 of the more common stamps from 1840-1940 contained in the Scott Blue International Album Volume 1. This blog will record my progress, provide general information about Classic era philately and hopefully encourage other "Blue" collectors.
