ACSC
|
ACSC |
|
|
The ACSC (Australian Commonwealth Specialists Catalogue) otherwise known as 'Brusden White' (BW) the publisher, is the very best, all-encompassing, encyclopaedia of Australian issues. The extensive information it contains will never be rivalled, beaten or equalled. And, there is no reason to do so. The genesis of the ACSC was Rosenblum's 1966 edition of 'The Stamps of the Commonwealth of Australia', with addenda. At that time, it, was the encyclopaedia, and it is simply the beginning of the ACSC by a different name. 'ACSC' is simply a convenient term to refer to this encyclopaedic volume, regardless of who publishes or edits or amends it. Now, and in the future. As good as Stanley Gibbons might be, or Scott, or Michelin, nothing can, or will, exceed the encyclopaedia, they are not detailed sufficiently to do so, and never will be. No serious collector, or dealer, of Australian Issues refers to their stamps by any other 'convention' than ACSC numbering. As illogical as that numbering can sometimes be. BW naming conventions can be illogical and inconsistent. This is no 'fault'. Of necessity, as more information and discoveries and research came about, more numbers and letters needed assigning. These are always inconsistent with identical issues but different paper or color. An example would be 'discovering' orange 2d KGV also existed on nowmk paper. The flaws discovered, and the imprints were assigned with no general reference overall to the 2d plate. That said, in the age of computers, where the general public is familiar with them, classifying stamps varieties arbitrarily with values 'a' to 'm' is now silly. Almost all KGV (eg) are consistently 2 panes of 60 units. Two different denominations however have entirely different stamp locations for letter 'a' and letter 'a' ! High time for a revision. With the also - accepted - by - philatelists. #114(1)R23, 2L48 etc for complete consistency in all values. Easy then, to locate THE variety. Monograms and imprints are another mess with 'z' and 'za' currently meaning (alternatively) the imprint strip of three, or, a harrison single line, or, a ca monogram or a jbc 2 units in. below are the conventions used in this book
#z single plate
|
|
|
