Mascot stamp: Austria Offices in the Turkish Empire
1908 Scott 49 1 Piaster deep blue/blue "Franz Josef I"
Big Blue PictureA milestone has been reached. The checklist for Big Blue is finished for half of the countries in the album.
(Author doing a prolonged jig ;-)
Therefore...
Part IA1 Aden-Ethiopia checklist
Part IA2 Falkland Islands-Latvia checklist
...are finished. This might be a good time to download a personal copy for your own uses. A quick link is also available in the left column of the blog.
A new Part IB1 checklist for Lebanon-Quelimane will begin with the upcoming Lebanon post, and will be "in progress" until the Quelimane post is reached. The Lebanon-Quelimane "in progress" checklist link will also be placed along the left column of the blog.
Comments....
• The "simple" checklist, begun with the Falkland Islands, is working well in my opinion, and will continue.
• Remember, the general checklist is stripped of all comments and 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 given a ball park value (binned) there also.
• Also 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 '97 edition should also follow the checklist without problems, except the '97 will start a new page for a category. The '41/'43/'47 editions should 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. ;-) One is welcome to convert it to a spreadsheet for one's own personal use.
• For more information on the checklists see:
http://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2012/02/big-blue-checklist-is-back.html
http://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2012/02/big-blue-checklist-how-it-is-done.html
General observations.....
• No doubt it will take several more years to complete the checklist. But the half way point is quite encouraging! And I am still very much enjoying the process. ;-)
• This blog receives a lot of "hit" traffic ~ 15,000/ month; 300-900/ day- and from 158 countries as of today. Very gratifying. And it can't help but promote classical era collecting.
• I very much appreciate the comments that have been engendered. It feels like a community. And thanks to the blog and website authors listed along the left column. I learn a lot from them too. Thanks specifically to Bob of "Filling Spaces" blog fame, who gave me the Big Blue checklist idea, and I ran with it. ;-)
Jim
Congrats for the accomplishment.... Looking forward to next 'few years' of interesting philatelic tidbits.
ReplyDeleteThanks Keijo.
ReplyDeleteNice work on this great checklist. You've inspired me to get better organized with my albums and stamps. I've saved your work so far and think it'[s going to be very helpful as I get more involved in my collection.
ReplyDeleteAs I said once before I do hope you find a way to make the listing -- along with your comments and images for each country -- available for purchase somehow as a lot of the value is in looking at the stamp images themselves and not just the listing. I say this in case the website/blog eventually ends someday. I'd hate to see the work lost. But, in any case, this is a great service, and I'm looking forward to the second half. Well done.
Thanks Drew-appreciate the comment. No plans at the moment to publish in some format other than a blog, but who knows? :-)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I am only now posting congrats. In my defense I was still on the road from a Florida to Maine driving trip, but that's a poor excuse. I had at one time thought of doing a Big Blue checklist and decided I couldn't be trusted to keep it up. I know realize that no matter what I might have done, it would never have been with the thoroughness of your blog. So once again, procrastination/indecision has paid off for me and worldwide collectors everywhere are the better for it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob!
ReplyDeleteIt means a lot to me, as you were the inspiration for the checklist that morphed into this runaway Big Blue blog. LOL
I'm more convinced than ever that continuing with the BB checklist, even after I decided to use the Steiner, was a good idea. It gives me a tangible and reachable goal for a country, and I feel better about leaving expensive spaces empty in Steiner. ;-)