Nyassa - Which Catalogues Cover It?

I'm in the midst of compiling a website cataloguing all the stamps issued by Nyassa and the Nyassa Company (1898 - 1925). I'm referencing the SG numbers for the stamps - at least, for those that have them, as a small handful don't.

My question is this - what other catalogue details would one expect to see on such a site? I've only ever used SG, as I originally started out solely focussed on GB stamps, so used their Concise GB. Since I branched out a bit I've used www.allworldstamps.com to track down rough values and the like, but have never needed to invest in another catalogue.

I know that Scott cover Nyassa / Nyassa Company, and have tracked down most of the numbers here and there from various sites for another site that I've compiled, but wonder if there's any one location where they're viewable online, or if I'd have to invest in a copy to find out their numbers, or if people on this board own copies and would be able to let me have details of the numbers?

What other catalogues do people think would be useful - do Michel cover Nyssa? Any others?

GS

The Yvert Classic would cover Nyassa, as would the larger, full Yvert. Michel would also cover Nyassa. I would be shocked if there isn't a specialized Portugal catalogue, but I don't have it.

I'd be willing to scan and email a small selection out of Scott Classic to let you see how they do things, under the guise of fair use, but you're on your own with what you do with it after you receive it. Scott would object to listing the numbers on a website without specific authorization. They are very protective of their numbering.

Hope this helps.

Thank you - I may well take you up on your offer, but are none of Scott, Michel or Yvert available in any shape or form online? SG have pretty much everything available for all to see (for free) at allworldstamps - do none of the other big ones do that?

I don't think any of them are free, online. (I know Scott isn't.) In defense of the others, allworldstamps is a simplified listing, and a bit out of date, I believe. (And I don't know that any of the others have any actual stamps for sale, which may make a difference, too...not intending to stir the pot.)

Edfil is a Spanish catalogue, I believe they also have a Portugal & Colonies catalogue.

Portugal and Portuguese colonies are covered in specialized Afinsa catalogues. I don't have a colonies catalogue - the main Portugal catalogue includes listings for Madeira and Azores only (it used to also include listings for Macau but those have disappeared since Macau was returned to China). I see your Brazilian giraffe colleague quotes Afinsa numbers in his Nyassa listings online.

Afinsa was involved in the Escala group investment scandal around 2006 or so - search on "Afinsa Ponzi scheme" if you want all the sordid details. Similar to SG, Afinsa is both a catalogue publisher and a stamp dealer, so there's always the risk that the catalogue values are set high so they can sell their stamps for higher prices when quoting their own catalogue values. Be that as it may, Afinsa is the primary catalogue for specialized Portugal and colonies. (I have no idea if they are still operating since the investment scandal, however - a quick check on their website bogged down when they insisted I needed to upgrade my Macromedia Flash, which is already up to date enough for every other website I've ever visited.)

Ryan

Try this. http://www.picktorrent.com/download...al-colonies/

Michel does offer an online catalogue, but it's paid members only. Though it's somewhat simplified (if compared to print catalogues), it still provides a whole lot more details than allworldstamps.com.

Ryan - thanks for the info - I get the same issue with their website, which is strange as I'm definitely running the latest version of Flash. Whilst the Brazilian site does quote some numbers, Nyassa giraffe stamps are a subset of Nyassa stamps - not all Nyassa stamps had giraffes, so there are some that I'd be missing anyway!

Scb - agreed - I should have added the words "that I need" after the words "pretty much everything" in my post, as I appreciate that what's online from SG is very brief...but since I only need catalogue numbers, that's pretty much all I need!

This is not a catalogue, but gives interesting background information on the Nyassa stamp issues:

http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/a...e-1898-1911/

BeeSee - I've seen that, and whilst it gives an interesting insight, one or two of the conclusions that it draws are (with the benefit of 100 years of hindsight, admittedly) wrong. For example, it puts the 1910 issue down to the printers trying to clear surplus stock that otherwise wouldn't be useable, whereas in fact the issue, as with a large number of Nyassa's issues, were simply put out by Waterlows solely for the philatelic market, rather than ever actually being for postal usage in Nyassa itself.

GS

When people talk about Scott, from a Nyassa perspective, just to double check that means the 2010 Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue 1840-1940?

Nyassa also appears in the regular 6-volume full catalogue.

Classic often has more detail/information/varieties than the regular catalogue, but I haven't compared the two in regard to Nyassa, so I can't say if the Classic listings are more comprehensive.

The full 6-volume catalogue and the Classic each come out every year, over the course of months, with the Classic bringing up the rear.

Collin

I'm only really worried about catalogue numbers, which I presume are unchanging. Do Classic and the regular catalogue have the same numbering system for a particular country?

Scott's numbers are largely unchanging...both use the same basic numbering system.

Unless it has changed recently, the Classic catalogue listings for Nyassa are exactly the same as those in the full 6-volume Scott catalogue. In the Classic catalogue, the listings for many countries are augmented by prices of stamps on covers, but Nyassa is a minor country and doesn't warrant the extra info, I guess.

Ryan