Do You Track Catalogue Values For Your Stamps?

The question is, do you make a notation in your album, stockbook, or stockpage about the catalogue value of your stamps?

I have a spreadsheet that tracks the catalog value of my stamps and I do update the spreadsheet when I get a new catalog.

Having said that, we all know that catalog values are only a guide and no one will likely get anything near that value for them on the resale market, but by the same token, it does give me a trend to see if any of my stamps have significantly increased in catalog value over previous years. It's more for my personal information than for any intent to market the items, as most catalog values have not moved or have only moved modestly at best over the past several years.

I enjoy stamp collecting for the hobby; there are much better options to consider if a return on my initial investment was the goal.

I track the catalog values of stamps I NEED, not the ones I have. I'm not planning to get rid of the ones I have, so I don't care what they are worth. I guess if you're worried about replacement value in the case of a fire or natural disaster, it would be worthwhile to track the catalog value of your stamps so you have something to give to the insurance company.

I worry if I don't start making notes and something happens to me my wife will sell it all on a garage sale or (gulp!) give them away to some forum member!

I keep my high priced stamps in one album and one stock book. I have a scan of each page with the value written beside the stamp image. The value is at 15% of catalog value this way if my wife needs to sell the collection she will get prices that are realistic. She knows that most items sells for far less then CV .
Last thing I want is someone ending up with my stamps and thinking that they are going to get full CV .
There is also a few too many boxes of stock sheets old albums and shoe boxes with stamps. That will take years to go through ,I told here they are really worth very little and I get great value digging into them so they are for pleasure not a investment.

I keep diligent records so that (1) if my estate needs to dispose of the collection, they're not completely clueless as to what they should expect, and (2) for insurance purposes.

Hi

I have a Stamp Inventory system that I wrote in VBA for WORD. There are 2 parts; an inventory which has all catalog numbers and a table of catalog values, Mint and Used. Each year I buy a new catalog section and via an input form update all catalog values. This sounds extreme but for only 3 countries it is really not that bad as most values do not change. The inventory catalog items are color coded by highlighting and when I get a new stamp I just update the catalog number highlight. I can then run a program that goes through the inventory and applies the appropriate highlight to the Value table catalog number. If I want the relative cost I push a button and all the highlighted items are added up.

Jerry B

I am using Excell.

Regards,
Rodolfo

It seems that I am the first one to admit that I don't keep a written record of stamp values. I think the process is too labour intensive and I would rather spend the time enjoying all of my stamps.

I put tags with the SG Nos. against the better items in my stockbooks, but I keep records of their catalogue values in Excel files. For the Indian States I collect, prices are rising regularly. It's much more convenient, and instructive, to have them in spreadsheets.

My partner has instructions on how to use the spreadsheets and file scans of the items, when I drop off the twig.

I follow much the same strategy as apastuszak. I have used Excel to create a checklist based on my reference, the 2007 Scott Catalogue. I use this when shopping at stamp shows. This gives me a rough idea of value as well as what I need. I don't collect high value, so I haven't paid much attention to the "value" of my collection.

I have complete listing with values for some of my collections. All made with Excel. Last one I made was for my Brazil collection with Scott 2007 and 2011 values for stamps before 1970.

For the worldwide stuff that I "accumulate", no. But for my main collection, U.S. revenues, you betcha. It's incorporated into my website. I have a central file that contains the current year Scott reference values, which I update anually. Every time I regenerate the site, it recalculates the total value of my revenue holdings based on these values. It also tabulates what I have spent on the collection. Oy vey!

It's nominally useful for insurance/estate purposes, but not more than that.

It doesn't take into account (1) condition issues and corresponding reductions or increases in real-world values based on those conditions, (2) Scott-unlisted and unpriced items, and (3)... and this is the biggie for a cancel collector... items where the Scott value is meaningless in determining the value. An item that catalogs 50 cents but has a $250 cancel still shows up as 50 cents. Illegal usages of postage or revenues show up as the base catalog value...

I could put in my "estimates" of real value, but then I would have to MANUALLY update thousands of entries. No thanks. For now I'll use the automated values (what I've paid is more critical for insurance coverage anyway), and I really only need values when it ultimately comes time to sell the collection... which hopefully is a good 30-40 years off.

P.S. No matter how accurate of a system I might have, it really wouldn't make a difference, given the thousand or more items I've obtained but haven't had time to add to my website... as time passes, I get farther behind.

I'm with apastuszak. I keep up with values on my want list but not in my collection.

I keep track of my costs for each stamp on each page of my Lindner Canadian album in an Excel spreadsheet. No one in my family has any interest in my stamp collection so when I get the big cancel I hope that
someone will be able to make an informed decision as to the collections potential value and not use my MNH Bluenose #158 to mail a letter.

Like mhc99, I don't make notes or keep a record of the values. I look up values, to get a general idea. And when purchasing, especially classic (read older) stamps I'll look them up to make sure I'm not paying too much, especially if going to an auction.
But, really, it kind of sounds too much like work.