Souvenir sheets and miniature sheets

Several items included in this blog are not common stamps taken from larger panes (sheets of 20 or more stamps for example). Often times stamps related to organs are issued in smaller groupings. These go go by a couple of different names (or more), and are imprecisely delineated even by professional collectors and tradespersons. I tend to use the terms "souvenir sheet" and "miniature sheet" or "mini-sheet" rather interchangeably. As this is cropping up more in recent months, I decided to investigate a bit. I was gladdened to learn I am not alone in my uncertainty about the differences, and my tendency to be indiscriminate in my use of the terms. This article attempts to clarify. In the US most stamps are issued in panes of 20, though commemoratives that are featuring multiple visual examples on a specific theme may use fewer stamps in a pane (10, 12, 15, 16, etc). Recent examples might include 12 different works by an artist, or 15 different examples of energy conservation. These might include a top banner that identifies the stamps or the set. Those are all still "panes" in my estimation. The 2018 Art of Magic pane of 3 lenticular stamps is a recent example of a souvenir sheet: small number of stamps in the grouping, decorative selvage. Also the 2016 Classics forever sheet of six Washington-Franklin stamps would be a souvenir sheet of 6, and it includes a somewhat decorative selvage.