Mascot stamp: Austria Offices in the Turkish Empire
1908 Scott 49 1 Piaster deep blue/blue "Franz Josef I"
The Big Blue PictureOn February 12, 2011, "Aden", the first country blog post and checklist, was published. Now, six plus years and 400 country posts and checklists later, the primary goal has been reached- The checklist for Big Blue (Scott International Part I 1840-1940) is complete!
< Author dancing a triple time jig, while Larme de Rouge (red port) awaits. >
Truthfully, this became a larger project than was anticipated at the outset. I elected to do a more thorough review, with historical and philatelic information added for each country. And it was as fun as it appeared!
This might be a good time to download a copy of the checklist(s) for your personal use.
For comments about the use of the checklists and further links about the checklist, see the appendix at the end of this section.
And one more thing...
Wait! There is more! An Excel Spreadsheet Big Blue Country Collection Inventory!
Chris Whitehouse, a reader of this blog, and a user of the checklists, has graciously let myself and all readers have access to his compact checklist, and Excel BB Collection Inventory.
In his words...
And one more thing...
Author's copy of Big Blue Checklist
Spiral bound, 107 double-sided pages
Formatted by Chris Whitehouse
A special bonus for those that would like a compact BB checklist for their own use!Wait! There is more! An Excel Spreadsheet Big Blue Country Collection Inventory!
Chris Whitehouse, a reader of this blog, and a user of the checklists, has graciously let myself and all readers have access to his compact checklist, and Excel BB Collection Inventory.
In his words...
Well, as promised, I wanted to provide you with a couple of "Big Blue Inventory" projects I have been working on. I made these for my own use with my collection, but would be happy if you wanted to share them with your readers.
Big Blue Checklist Page - Formatted into three columns
Printed from a PDF File
First, is a consolidated Big Blue Checklist I put together in a PDF book format. It is basically your checklist in a 3-column format that is 215 pages including the title page I made. Of course, folks can do with it what they want, but it would be reasonable to send it to a printer and have it printed out and bound into a single volume book with plastic spiral binding. Then one could simply use a pen/pencil or highlighter to mark off the stamps they own and easily see what they need, etc. Would be nice and compact to carry to stamp shows, dealers, clubs, etc.
Big Blue Country Inventory 1997 Edition
Joe Lill & Chris Whitehouse Enhanced Spreadsheet
Second, is an Excel spreadsheet Big Blue collection inventory. Now, full disclosure, I started with the 1997 BB edition spreadsheet made by Joe Lill and provided by him on your blog some years ago. So all the counts for the possible stamps for each country are his. However, I modified it in several ways. I wanted to be able to capture all the "extra" stamps that we put either in the margins of the pages or on added blank pages, so I added a column for "Extras" that will be incorporated into the total count. I also added a column that will give you the % completion for each country in addition to the total % completion. Also, I "programmed in" a red/yellow/green color scheme to each % completion cell so that if you are below 20% = red; above 80% = green; between 20-80% = yellow. That way, you can at a glance see the overall stasis of each country and the total collection. I also added a "Summary Statistics" table at the end that will summarize all your data.I plan on starting to use these for my general WW collection in Big Blue and hope they might be useful for others too.
Chris Whitehouse
The compact BB checklist in PDF format is available here.
The addendum compact BB checklist in PDF format for U.S.A. & Confederate States is available here.
The Index (from Axel-thanks!) for the BB compact checklist in PDF format is available here.
(Errata update for The Index:
Bolivia is found on page 20.)
The addendum compact BB checklist in PDF format for U.S.A. & Confederate States is available here.
The Index (from Axel-thanks!) for the BB compact checklist in PDF format is available here.
(Errata update for The Index:
Bolivia is found on page 20.)
The compact BB checklist in Word format is available here.
(Errata Update on compact BB checklist:
For British Guiana, page 25, add..
1931
1934
1935 Silver Jubilee
223,224,225,226,
1937 Coronation
227,228,229,
(Errata Update on compact BB checklist:
For British Guiana, page 25, add..
1931
205,206,207,208,
1934
210,211,,212,213),214,
223,224,225,226,
1937 Coronation
227,228,229,
1938
230,234,
231,232,233,
The Excel Spreadsheet Big Blue Country Collection Inventory is available here.
(Errata Update on Excel BB Country Inventory spreadsheet: after downloading, change the total number of spaces for Philippines to 217, Southern Nigeria to 14, Southern Rhodesia to 51, and Wurttemberg to 180. Total should be 33933. Thanks to Joe Lill for checking.)
Wow! I am blown away - and I'm sure the readers are too - with the fine work and generosity of Chris! We are deeply grateful.
(Errata Update on Excel BB Country Inventory spreadsheet: after downloading, change the total number of spaces for Philippines to 217, Southern Nigeria to 14, Southern Rhodesia to 51, and Wurttemberg to 180. Total should be 33933. Thanks to Joe Lill for checking.)
Wow! I am blown away - and I'm sure the readers are too - with the fine work and generosity of Chris! We are deeply grateful.
Canada 1929 Scott 158 50c dark blue
Schooner "Bluenose"
Valedictory observations....* I'm more convinced than ever that continuing with the BB checklist, even after I decided to use the Steiner PDF pages (Deep Blue) for my collection, was a good idea. It gave me and gives me a tangible and reachable goal for a country, and I feel better about leaving expensive spaces empty in Steiner.
* And a most grateful thanks to the blog and website authors listed along the left column, - I learn a lot from them. And thanks specifically to Bob of "Filling Spaces" blog fame, who gave me the Big Blue checklist idea,.... Bob, look what you caused!
* Where to go from here? Well, check the "Out of the Blue" section below!
USA 1847 Scott 2 10c black/bluish
"George Washington"
AppendixBB Checklist Comments....
* The checklist is intended for personal use only- no commercial use, or further publication by third parties. This is my work solely, and I have author rights.
* The Scott numbers are clearly copyrighted by Scott/Amos. and all Scott catalogue number rights- and restrictions - in terms of use of the Scott catalogue numbers- reside with them.
* The Scott numbers are clearly copyrighted by Scott/Amos. and all Scott catalogue number rights- and restrictions - in terms of use of the Scott catalogue numbers- reside with them.
* The general checklist(s) are stripped of all comments and specific valuations. Comments and observations regarding the checklist are found in the "Big Blue" section of each country post. And all valuations $10 or greater are noted there.
* Recall the checklist almost always follows the actual '69 edition BB exactly, So some Scott numbers do not appear sequential, if in fact that is how the spaces are presented on the page. The advantage is the album page and the checklist should have a 1:1 correlation- very easy to check what you have or don't have.
* The later BB editions (example:1997) also follow the checklist without major problems, except the edition may start a new page for a category. The '41/'43/'47 editions follow about 90% of the time - But the first page and the end of category sections may be different.
* This is not a spreadsheet, but a checklist with spatial clues.
However, there is a project afoot to put the BB checklist into an Excel format. For current information on that see..
http://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-big-blue-checklist-excel.html
And, as a "teaser", there will be an announcement regarding more BB checklist spreadsheets available by another contributor soon. !
* The checklist is "living", that is I actively correct the (fortunately few!) mistakes that have crept in as they are discovered, or are brought to my attention by readers. I have also gone back and added new active numbers (example: the Portuguese colonies "Ceres" issue Scott catalogue revision).
And, as a "teaser", there will be an announcement regarding more BB checklist spreadsheets available by another contributor soon. !
* The checklist is "living", that is I actively correct the (fortunately few!) mistakes that have crept in as they are discovered, or are brought to my attention by readers. I have also gone back and added new active numbers (example: the Portuguese colonies "Ceres" issue Scott catalogue revision).
* For further information on the checklists see:
Big Blue Checklist- How it is Done
Colombia States - 1880 Bolivar Scott 27
"Bolivar"; Bluish Laid Paper
Out of the BlueWell, where do I- and the blog- go from here?
Admittedly, the primary goal - the reason for beginning the blog posts- is finished. The BB checklist(s) have been published for all the countries and spaces in Big Blue 1840-1940.
Here is what I have in mind...
* Bud's Big Blue - a scan of all the pages of Bud's completed! Big Blue album - will continue at least for several more years. Thanks Bud for sharing your wonderful full pages of BB!
* My internal standards for blog country posts have become a bit more exacting. I plan to return to the first one-third of countries in BB and expand the initial post, probably with an auxiliary post focusing on the country's stamp issues themselves. And I will substitute/improve the stamp scans for a number of posts.
* I have had to be single minded (goal oriented and time aware) with the blog, as I needed to publish some 400 posts to finish the BB checklist. That has been accomplished. I can now afford to wander in terms of topic, country, stamp issue, or contemporary observations about the current state of our hobby.
* Already in the hopper, ready to be published, are more in-depth articles. As "teaser" examples, there is a post about the myriad Argentina watermarks seen during the classical era, and five posts looking at the early issues of Austria. !
* I plan to keep it simple and fun for myself and the readers. Frankly, I see this as a hobby- nothing more, nothing less.
Comments about all of this are welcome!
Jim
Admittedly, the primary goal - the reason for beginning the blog posts- is finished. The BB checklist(s) have been published for all the countries and spaces in Big Blue 1840-1940.
Here is what I have in mind...
* Bud's Big Blue - a scan of all the pages of Bud's completed! Big Blue album - will continue at least for several more years. Thanks Bud for sharing your wonderful full pages of BB!
* My internal standards for blog country posts have become a bit more exacting. I plan to return to the first one-third of countries in BB and expand the initial post, probably with an auxiliary post focusing on the country's stamp issues themselves. And I will substitute/improve the stamp scans for a number of posts.
* I have had to be single minded (goal oriented and time aware) with the blog, as I needed to publish some 400 posts to finish the BB checklist. That has been accomplished. I can now afford to wander in terms of topic, country, stamp issue, or contemporary observations about the current state of our hobby.
* Already in the hopper, ready to be published, are more in-depth articles. As "teaser" examples, there is a post about the myriad Argentina watermarks seen during the classical era, and five posts looking at the early issues of Austria. !
* I plan to keep it simple and fun for myself and the readers. Frankly, I see this as a hobby- nothing more, nothing less.
Comments about all of this are welcome!
Jim