Andy Pastuszak
Member 
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,576 
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Jan 1, 2022 16:44:26 GMT
MICHEL was kind enough to grant me a license to their numbering system for my stamp pages. Though Scott is the most popular numbering system here in the US, MICHEL is the standard numbering system for Russian and ex-Soviet republics, such as Ukraine, that is used in Eastern Europe. When Ukrposhta set up their website in 1992, they used MICHEL numbers right on their website.
So, MICHEL has this concept of labeling souvenir sheets as BLOCK. So each souvenir sheet gets a sequential BLOCK number and the stamps in the souvenir sheet each get a standard sequential number.
For example, this the 2020 miniature sheet for the Kherson Oblast (state):
It has a MICHEL catalog number of Block167 (1871-1874). So this is the 167s miniature sheet and it contains stamp numbers 1871-1874.
Having dealt with this numbering system for close to a decade now, it's been my experience that sheets only get the BLOCK designation if they have stamps that are "trapped" inside the sheet, meaning that there are no perforations to the edge of the sheet to make the stamps easy to remove.
So, 2021 surprised me.
This is BLOCK 174 (1948-1955) .
This stamp clearly has stamps that are easy to remove, with perfs going well into the selvage to the edge of the sheet.
And this is 1863-1864:
This is clearly a miniature sheet that fits all the criteria that I think MICHEL uses for giving something a BLOCK designation.
What's even more odd is that every year Ukraine releases two EUROPA stamps. And almost every year those stamps are released in a booklet with a sheet similar to this in it. The booklets stamps are always a different size, and have a different perforation, so MICHEL gives them unique catalog numbers. And every year they give them a BLOCK number.
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,576
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Jan 1, 2022 21:01:17 GMT
Never to proud to admit I was wrong... Previous Europa booklets do not have BLOCK numbers assigned. Booklets get assigned an MH number, not a BLOCK number.
So I was wrong. And I spent all this time making that post. Well, at least you got some good pictures of some cool Ukrainian Stamps.
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Post by dgdecker on Jan 2, 2022 5:48:25 GMT
They are cool stamps.
David
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salentin
Member
collecting Germany,where I live and about 20 more countries,half of them in Asia east of the Indus
Posts: 6,126
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Post by salentin on Jan 2, 2022 10:00:06 GMT
The assumption,that souvenir sheets listed "Block" (plural: Blöcke) by Michel should not have perforated selvages is wrong. Probably the most prominent example is USA Block 1 (New York Exhibition,1926). But there are others more,like f.i. Chinese New Year souvenir sheets from Ireland. Some years ago there was a statement from Michel about the problem souvenir sheet (Block) versus sheetlet (Kleinbogen). They said,they usually follow the classification given by the postal authority,who had issued the item. As there is no objective destinction possible,that might be a prudent way.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,568
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Jan 2, 2022 12:16:09 GMT
Good to hear. If I may ask, what terms did Michel require?
With any numbering system, one has to work it to understand the rationale. I more or less understand Scott but find SG less easy to understand. I have used Michel for "Sand Dunes" and made sense to me.
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salentin
Member
collecting Germany,where I live and about 20 more countries,half of them in Asia east of the Indus
Posts: 6,126
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Post by salentin on Jan 2, 2022 12:35:51 GMT
I do not really understand,what is meant with: "what terms did Michel require"
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,568
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Jan 2, 2022 12:38:19 GMT
When one gets approval to use a numbering system, they often require acknowledgement or other conditions.
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salentin
Member
collecting Germany,where I live and about 20 more countries,half of them in Asia east of the Indus
Posts: 6,126
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Post by salentin on Jan 2, 2022 12:43:06 GMT
Ah,O.K. That´s a question for Andy Pastuszak.
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,576
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Jan 2, 2022 14:35:07 GMT
When one gets approval to use a numbering system, they often require acknowledgement or other conditions. I had to sign a 2 page contract that was pretty boilerplate. I had to add the following to each stamp supplement I release, both in German and in English:
„Die Verwendung der MICHEL-Nummerierung erfolgt mit freundlicher Genehmigung des Schwaneberger Verlages, Unterschleißheim. Dieser behält sich sämtliche urheberrechtlichen, wettbewerbsrechtlichen und sonstigen Rechte der Vervielfältigung, Verbreitung und öffebtlichen Zugänglichmachung ausdrücklich vor.”
“The MICHEL numbering system is used by kind permission of the publishers Schwaneberger Verlages, Unterschleißheim. Schwaneberger Verlages, Unterschleißheim expressly reserves all rights under copyright and comptetion law and all other rights whatsoever of reproduction, distribution and publication.”
I had to send them a supplement with that included for their approval and that was it.
But I don't charge for my pages, so that may have made things easier.
Went I asked Scott/Amos for a license to use their numbers on my US pages, they told me no. I offered to pay and they still told me no. They considered my free album pages to be a direct competitor to their line of albums. Sigh...
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,576
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Jan 2, 2022 14:46:30 GMT
The assumption,that souvenir sheets listed "Block" (plural: Blöcke) by Michel should not have perforated selvages is wrong. Probably the most prominent example is USA Block 1 (New York Exhibition,1926). But there are others more,like f.i. Chinese New Year souvenir sheets from Ireland. Some years ago there was a statement from Michel about the problem souvenir sheet (Block) versus sheetlet (Kleinbogen). They said,they usually follow the classification given by the postal authority,who had issued the item. As there is no objective destinction possible,that might be a prudent way.
That's interesting. When the Ukraine gained independence is 1992, their post office used the MICHEL numbering system.
They eventually switched to their own numbering system, which is based on MICHEL. They use sequential numbers, BLOCK numbers and even use the A and B designations for perforate vs imperforate stamps.
The 2021 Europa booklet stamps are given a BLOCK number by Ukrposhta (Block 184), but not by MICHEL. I wonder if this is because they're booklet stamps and not sheets.
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