Is Scott Doing A Disservice?

Good point, Larry. Either way, they are one and the same now (although technically, I guess Scott is a product division of Amos).

Kim, yes. When you consider that most of the cost in producing and printing a big, heavy, color volume is eliminated when transformed into digital format, 10% off is a pittance.

Maybe they consider themselves to be selling the "rights" to use it, as with software which can get quite pricey even though it may be on a single CD. Seems the 2010 wasn't even published on CD.

By the way, Kim, would you know if the 2010 Scott's were the first to be printed in color? (I know the U.S. Specialized has been in color for a while.)

The following were the first editions for Scott to be printed in color:

2006 Worldwide
2005 US Specialized

In general, avoid the first year color catalogs. Lots of new errors were introduced during the process.

Not sure when the first year of color for the Classic is. The earliest color Classic I have is 2004. My 1999 Classic is b/w.

The earliest color Scott catalog that I have is a 1982 Scott Canada Specialized.

Thanks for the info, Kim.

I have a 2003 Classic in color. The editor's foreword implies that 2003 was the first in color, and claims 90%+ illustrations in color. The paper on the first Classics was a matte finish, which to my eyes is nicer to work with than the glossier finish of the later Classics.

My 2d.

Collin

Thanks for the info on the 2003, Collin!

Yes, the 2004 has the same matte finish. Really easy on the eyes, and you can write notes in pencil fairly easily.

Thank you very much khj for answering my questions. Now I can sort of understand Scotts & the contents of this thread. It sounds like a big issue. In Oz I think we are much better off with our choices of cattle dogs [catalogues]. Aussie. Aussie. Aussie. Oi. Oi. Oi. Winter Olympics; we are all practising our chant. We need it bad. KGV

Compared to prices of SG, Michel or Yvert, Scott catalogues are dirt cheap... A complete worldwide set of Michel catalogues costs about 1,500US$. But there is about 4 times more pages and information as well :)




I don't know how Scott does it, but most catalogue publishers I know (in Europe) get new issue information (sample stamps as well as technical details) directly from postal offices worldwide. In addition lots of philatelic study groups etc. share details of new findings to editors of the catalogues. And price/market information is usually collected from set of dealers and heavily specialized collectors.

Good choice of countries - I collect Tuvalu (the older issues, not the wallpaper) and I just go to the library and make photocopies .

The reality is that I will not pay all that money for catalogs when 90% of your money goes for printing the listings the Grenadines of Grenada, Guyana, and yes, Tuvalu.

Scott (oops Amos) should keep producing it's Classic Edition, then regionalize the rest of the world - North America, South America, South Pacific, etc. (and perhaps a singee catalog for the Grenadines of St. Vincent (it would be about 5" thick)

Great post/commentary Puzzler

Thanks scb, for your information posted on Feb. 13. I missed reading it until today.

marty

There are a lot of good points to ponder in this thread.

I once stated in another thread that I like to get an example of different foreign catalogues so that I can go beyond the scope of just the Scott catalogues.

Since I have now, or am in the process of, downsizing my collection, I do not see a need to buy a complete set of the Scotts anymore. There is one remedy I have though and that was, oddly enough, from a seller on ebay who auctions 'sections' cut out of the Scott catalogues. I am sure he must be making a nice profit on them because the need for a whole set is not necessary for 'any' of his buyers as they would be specializing in certain countries. That, plus it must pay for him to cut up several sets and sell countries individually.

I once got a 2009 Scott section for Belgium for a fraction of what I would have had to pay for the volume that normally has Belgium in it.

Cheers

Bujutsu