In setting up my want lists & record sheets, I use S/S for souvenir sheets and the M/S for the miniature sheets. Is there a name and a code for issues that contain several stamp issues, but have no print or wording around the edges? Is it nothing more than just a sheet of stamps? I'm working on the Central African Republic and there are more than just a few of these type of issues. Secondly, Am I better off to list such issues as a,b,c,d,e,f with their printed values, rather than hope to find a dealer with these issues in tact as one Scott's catalog number. Looking at the Red Cross and sailing ship issues mostly.
"What is the difference between a S/S and a M/S ?"
It can be confusing sometimes, but generally the distinction is that a souvenir sheet will have one copy of the stamp, or set of stamps, on a sheet with wide margins that carry inscriptions describing the subject or event depicted. It may also have additional art in the selvage that complements the stamp art.
A miniature sheet is usually just a smaller version of a regular sheet or pane of stamps. Instead of, let's say, a regular pane of 50 stamps, it might be a scaled down version of the sheet, with, maybe 12 or fewer stamps. The confusion arises when they add inscriptions and art in the selvage. Here is an example of a miniature sheet issued by Switzerland, in 1981. While it has the wide margins and inscription you expect on a souvenir sheet, the fact that it contains 8 copies of the same stamp is the major tell that this is not a souvenir sheet.
Here is another example, Penrhyn Island, from 1978, commemorating the 400th birthday of Peter Paul and Mary Rubens. It is a set of 3 stamps, with each denomination printed in mini sheets of 6. At first glance, they seem to fit the description of a souvenir sheet -- wide margins with commemorative inscription and margin art matching the theme of the stamps -- but, again, the sheet contains 6 copies of the same stamp, and there are 3 stamps in the set. There are 2 similar miniature sheets for each of the other 2 denominations.
Now look at the following image. This is the souvenir sheet that was issued for this set. Notice it has the inscriptions and the selvage art, but it has only 1 example of each stamp in the set.
Here are 2 examples from Costa Rica. Are they souvenir sheets or miniature sheets?
At first these may appear to be souvenir sheets, as they are smaller than a full sheet (or pane), contain one example of each stamp in the set, carry inscriptions describing the theme, and (in the lower one, anyway), has artwork in the selvage to complement the stamp art. However, these are not souvenir sheets. These are just the format of the sheet in which these stamps were issued.
Costa Rica has a conservative stamp issuing program, where they produce only a few issues each year, and they are printed in low quantities, in keeping with the relatively low demand for postage stamps in that country. They still put out an occasional stamp in the standard sheet format, but, for the most part, their stamps are issued in mini-sheets of as few as 2 stamps.
I guess, what it comes down to, with Costa Rica, is that they would not be considered souvenir sheets, as small-format sheets are the standard now, and anybody who needs postage for a letter is expected (required, really) to use a stamp from one. Souvenir sheets are usually issued as an adjunct to the regular sheet, and are meant to be saved.
Stanley Gibbons tends to prefix all 'sheets' with MS, which leaves it up to the individual to decide whether s/he has a sheet, a sheetlet, a miniature sheet or a souvenir sheet. Since, as has been said, these productions are for the collector rather than the postal user, I'd be inclined to lump the last three as 'souvenir sheets', whatever their size and configuration of stamps, reserving 'sheet' as what comes out of the printers and gets sent to the Post Office.
Here, in ascending order of size, are three you might like to typify:
This is fairly 'miniature', so SG's 'MS1516' is accurate, as well as pragmatic.
I'd be inclined to call this a 'sheetlet'. It is SG459 'issued in sheets of ten', but obviously, given the decoration, not just for postage.
This is surely too big for a sheetlet, and too much of a production for a solely postal sheet, so I'd say it was a 'souvenir sheet', referencing the Red Cross Fund, SG53. (Incidentally, does anyone know whether this Croatian 'Red Cross Fund' was what it claimed to be, or was it a similar scam to 'Hitler's Culture Fund'?)
"Stanley Gibbons tends to prefix all 'sheets' with MS, which leaves it up to the individual to decide whether s/he has a sheet, a sheetlet, a miniature sheet or a souvenir sheet."
My Australian Comprehensive appears to do the same as S/G which is the reason for my original question..
"I'm still not sure ...... Scott lists it as a Souvenir Sheet .. #1008"
That's because it is an adjunct to the main set #1005-1007. Although (just from what I can see illustrated in the Scott catalogue) it appears to have different designs, and all the stamps are of the same denomination, Scott apparently deems this a souvenir sheet because, aside from being an adjunct to the main set, it is produced in a format that is meant for saving, rather than using.
As with most things "Scott," inconsistencies abound in their terminology. You will be able to find contradictions and exceptions for everything I've said, so far. In the end, just as I don't care a whit if someone calls a pane of stamps a sheet, or calls a pressure-sensitive adhesive self-sticking, it makes not a difference in the world to me how anyone chooses to refer to these sheets.