A Stamp Collector's Journey To Completing US Section Of Scott International Part I (1947 Edition)

I didn't see any topic similar to this, so I thought I would start one and use it to show what I am doing / have been doing as I attempt to complete the U.S. section of the 1947 Scott International Part I.

I don't actually have the stamps mounted on Part I pages, but I do have images of the Part I pages where I can overlay the spaces with images of my actual stamps. Some images were captured while the stamps were in dealer 102 cards with black backgrounds, while others are from scans of my Steiner pages on cream card stock.

For the regular issues, my collection prior to Scott #548 is almost exclusively used stamps, but after that the goal is to have MNH for everything through 1940. For air mail, I have some used, but most are MNH, and I am still missing the zeppelins. I have all of the special delivery stamps. For the remainder of the back of the book, coverage is scattered at the moment.

Here is Page 1 as of right now. I am awaiting a #96 to fill the blank between #94 and #97. The last blank space for a stamp yet to be determined. I think there is a suggestion out there that it should be #88, but I'd prefer to have another with the same grill even though the ones I don't have are somewhat expensive.



I'll post more pages as I get them created. It takes some effort, but this is lots of fun.

If anyone else wants to post their similar pages, please do so!

Good Luck Nicholas! Nice page.

My Big Blue was much later in my collecting life, and I wanted it to be my World collection. I'm sure there are others who removed the U.S. section altogether like I did.

BTW, I'm almost 31,500 and climbing! Ray

I have two copies of the 1947 International. One of them I got a long time ago and the U.S. pages were either not included or I removed them and have no idea what happened to them. The rest of the album is fully intact and in decent condition, but all stamps were removed. The other one I got 5 years ago. The U.S. pages were there, but in very terrible condition compared to the rest of the album. What I did was take those pages and cut them down to 8.5 x 11 in size (trying to center as well as possible) and then I made copies of them (on white copy paper). I scanned the white pages back into my computer. I am able to make copies, if I want, on to the 65 lb cream card stock that I use for my Steiner pages. I have not done that because the frames on the 1947 pages are not big enough for using mounts effectively. That's why I came up with the idea of loading the scanned pages into Paint and then overlying with scans I have of the individual stamps. I may redo all of the scans so that black backgrounds are used, for consistency of look.

Here's the 2nd page. I'm kind of ashamed of all the blank spaces. The stamps that are missing are not expensive. I just can't find them at a reasonable cost. Note that the #157 that I have is very damaged, so need to upgrade that as well.

The #96 has arrived:

Now you just need a #95 to complete that second row and have a beautiful full page. Looking at a the eBay sold listings, a decent looking copy can occasionally be had for about $60 (with some faults). In the mean time the other 3c E or F grill will complete the spirit of the album to only include the lesser expensive varieties, but for aesthetics, I'd be on the hunt for an affordable #95. Nice looking page.

Yeah, I thought about the #95 because then the denominations would match with the non grills. However, and you touched on it, the spirit was to go after the representative collection which is definitely the cheaper stamp. The more recent International, per my understanding, assigns the spaces as 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, and then a final unassigned. The #95 and many other pricey classic stamps are on my bucket list. I have some of them already, but no spaces on these pages I am showing.

I like the color and centering of those 1869 issues... very nice

Great topic and thanks for sharing. I also collect 1947 Big Blue and USA being the only country I collect separately and in more depth, it is quite interesting to see what USA stamps were chosen as 'representative' (for Page 1). I think they made excellent choices and it makes a great looking page. Makes me wonder if completed first pages for other countries are as impressive. BTW I believe later editions include SC#2 (Washington 10c)?

Interestingly, the 1847 Big Blue contains ~11 pages for revenue stamps in addition to Hunting Permits, and Confederate States. Not to mention currently out of vogue envelopes (cut squares). Contains C18 (Chicago Zeppelin) but not the main ones (C13-C15). It would be quite a challenge to fill out the whole thing. I'm not sure if the collectors who have completed it are including USA.

I echo landoquakes comment about the 1869 pictorials. I have been thinking about buying a nice copy of that set specifically for this page. As of yet, have not even one USA stamp in my Big Blue but posts like this make me think about changing that.

Hey tstmax, yes, the later editions do include #2. The later edition page 1 also lists out the #96 #97 and #98 instead of blank spaces. That's why the sequence of stamps I have above don't leave room for the #95 which is much pricier than some of the other grill options.

You can see a picture of the later edition page 1 here: https://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.c...bum-for.html

I have #2, but I don't have an image of that page to simulate what I did here.

Very nice NicholasC, thanks for sharing

Here's page 3 right now. Missing some really inexpensive items. But just cannot find them at the right quality and price. I have a better 8c Columbian on the way and I've also been on the hunt for a $1 Columbian.

Here's page 4. Also missing a few inexpensive items. As with others I am missing, I just cannot find the quality and price point combination. Won't be too long though.

Uh oh .. looks like my page 1 isn't quite right .. as I was reviewing stamps, it seems that my #97 is actually #90. I count 14 x 17 points on this grill. I'm not a grill fan, so I didn't think twice to double check this one.

What was the criteria for stamps getting a spot in that album? Was it based on rarity/value?

I'm filling the spaces based on what Scott numbers are listed in the the space. For the 1867 grills, the 1947 edition lists 92, 93, 94 and four blank spaces. The newer editions list 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, and one blank space. For the blank spaces, of which there aren't very many, I am going with the usual suspect (cheaper stamp in the same set). The big blue blogspot suggests #88 for the last empty grill space. I have #88, but really wanted all the grills to be the same. That's why I'm on the lookout for a #95. That has the added benefit of being 1-1 match with the non-grills above. It's not that I don't collect stamps outside of what's on the page, I am just trying to complete the original intent of the 1947 (mixed with later edition).