Online Resources: All Things "Colnect"

Here is a mockup I have made to illustrate how a small variant group might look under the different scenarios proposed for determining minor variants.



colnect.com/en/stamps/list/variant/1587 This group currently has 7 items in it. It's not complete, based on a look at Gibbons and Scott another 6 variants could be added



If we have only 1 listing for the most common variant - this is what we would have :





In the minor variants we would currently have six items listed, plus there are 6 variants that could be added based on my quick review of the listings in Gibbons and Scott.



Now if we use the All 4 rule for major variant the view would be this :







A second listing appears that has catalogue numbers for all four main catalogues, as the first watermark variety is recognized by all catalogues as creating a major number listing. I have noted the minor listings that each major variant would carry (8 in one, 3 in the other)



There are no examples here where 3 of the 4 catalogues list the variant, so under that rule the image would be the same as the above. If we drop the threshold down to requiring only 2 of the big 4 we will end up with this display







The result would be to have six listings visible in thumbnail. When the missing variants are added they would increase the total on display to ten, as four of the current missing six variants are listed in both Scott and Gibbons.



In the end, the issue is really one of personal preference in how these things are displayed. My personal preference would be for the List all Big 4 - it condenses the display down to the two principal groupings for this design, and does not hide what all four of the big four catalogues regard as major listing stamps.



Now this is jus a small variant group, at max it will have 13 items total. But when you get into variant groups with 30, 50, even over 100 items, then the question of organization I do think really comes into play in how the data for these stamp issues is displayed.

At some point before I became coordinator, a contributor provided variants for this and other Machins based on the Michel GB Spezial - which goes into more detail than even the main Gibbons Specialized Catalogue GB Concise. And unfortuantely, much of the terminology and dating used by Michel to describe variants for the Machins does not seem to correlate to Gibbons listings based on first glance (I have GB Concise, but do not have a Michel GB Spezial so verification by myself is not going well - I will need to get a Michel Spezial myself to try and untangle things). Also, the contributor only seems to have contributed for the first fully-perforated Machins, not for any of the syncopated issues, so we have a very specialized presentation for the fully-perforated Machins, but not for the Syncopated Perforation ones.



So here is my analysis based on what we have with the current catalogue codes assigned - with the caveat that these numbers would change (except for the one display only variant) and I can almost guarantee we do NOT have all of the variants of this stamp that could be added - we are definitely missing Gibbons items, but whether they are here and just have not been equated to what Michel has, or whether there are more variants beyond the Michel ones, at present I can not say. Having said that, in the end Scott provides the most basic coverage, and even here I think we may be missing a few items. But based on what is current in the catalogue - this is how things stand on this variant group :



One Listing only based on most common variant :






with listing only the most common version as the single visible listing in the catalogue - you get the one stamp from the first issue in 1971, and all 29 variants will be listed within. So if your Machin does not match the technical details listed in the one image above, you will need to start digging through all of the minor variant listings to find the one you have (including the syncopated perforation variants)



For those who trade, it is important to note that in the minor variant system as it is used in other collectibles, unless you SPECIFICALLY mark a minor variant as the one you are looking for, all trades will assume you are simply looking for "the most common variant" as illustrated.



Only the Big-4 Listings






At present this only expands out to three listings, with most of the minors remaining with the first group. Here at least the syncopated-perforation versions are separated out and become visible from the start, which to my mind makes more sense for collectors rather than having them buried within the main single listing - a clear example here of why I would favor having major variant visibility be based on having numbers in all of the Big 4 - you see these KEY technical change differences from the start rather than having to go into the one listing and search through the list of minor variants to find the syncopated perforation variants. Again here this three is based only on what we currently list and have assigned - Scott lists six versions between the fully perforated and the syncopate perforations so that would be the "maximum" number of listings in this view once all the missing variants are either added or equated to what is already in the catalouge.



3 of the big 4







Now is when things start to get more complicated. Scott has what are really quite basic listings - six total. Yvert would be next and if we had all Yvert versions in the catalogue we would likely have 20 or so listings in a 3 of the 4 variant. The big first listing is further reduced in terms of number of minor variants listed as more come out due to meeting the 3 of 4 listing requirement, and would likely be even less were more of the Yvert and Gibbons numbers worked out for the Michel listings already in the catalogue. But even here, you can see that the fewer catalogues required to be considered major variant, the more listings become visible.



I have not made a 2 of the big 4 listing because i do not have another hour to spend making an image, but at present it would add three more listings to the visible presentation and reduce the number of minor variants in the first listing to 12. However, because there are so few Gibbons numbers from GB Concise added to the listings at this point, I would expect the number of visible listings to rise to being almost every single variant, since we would then have the Michel Spezial numbers and the GB Concise numbers included, thus meeting the 2 of the Big 4 catalogue requirement.



Even though the data we have is incomplete at present, I think the general idea of what each option means would be :



Only the most common variant : 1 version always visible in catalog - all other variants listed as minor (29 at present, plus any additional ones that are added not currently in catalogue)

All Big 4 Catalogues to be major variant : maximum 6 visible listings based on Scott's limited listings for the designs - the remaining variants distributed among the six listings

3 of the Big 4 catalogues to be major variant : currently 9 visible listings, likely around 15-20 total based on Yvert's coverage of this stamp once all Yvert listings added

2 of the Big 4 catalogues to be major variant : currently 12 visible listings, likely almost every variant visible because of Michel and Gibbons deep coverage.