I wrote about “The Most Affordable Classic Stamps to Collect” by Michel Bégin in an article I did for the International Worldwide Stamp Collector's journal some years back. As impressive as Bégin's effort was, the concept has been revisited on an even grander scale by PostmasterGS for his GermanStamps.net site. The new study includes all worldwide stamps in the 2015-2016 Michel catalogs (except for Germany which uses Michel’s 2015 Deutschland-Spezial and which means that the coverage for Germany is more detailed than for other countries).
For every issuing authority in Michel, PostmasterGS has determined the total number of issues broken down by ranges of catalog value (for example, under 10€ or more than 100€) separating out mint and used. The information is presented in tables that you can filter and sort in several different ways. He has also calculated both numbers and percentages.
PostmasterGS points out that as not all stamps are given a catalog value, or are only priced either mint or used but not both, summary calculations based on this data can be unreliable. Definitely read his notes before drawing any conclusions.
A fun idea he borrowed from Bégin was the affordability of one area to another. For example, after sorting from high to low, it appears that the following are the five most difficult to complete:
Italy - Italian States - Parma (24 stamps)
United Kingdom - Officials (103)
Malay States - Straits Settlement - Bangkok (25)
Italy - Italian States - Tuscany (39)
Mauritius (1563).
But there are lots of nuances. Eighty-six percent of Mauritius catalogs under 10 euros. And those "Post Office" stamps were mistakes anyway, so surely you can leave them out.
My original interest in such projects focused on two areas. How many stamps have been issued? And what would it cost to acquire them? Based on this latest study, the answer is 1,013,620 stamps including varieties with a catalog value of 7,670,304 Euros. So now we know!
[PostmasterGS says there are 829,992 individual stamp issues in the database, with a total CV of €48,387,679 (mint) or €26,485,722 (used).]
The tables are here: http://www.germanstamps.net/ia_cost_comparison_ww/
There is an ongoing discussion on Stampboards: http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=74738
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.
