Difficulty On Finding Stanley Gibbons

I'm looking for the Stanley Gibbons world albums but am finding it difficult in acquiring one locally, even my central library doesn't have it. Does anyone have a source on these World Catalog by S&G?

Also whats the difference between Simplified and their normal ones? I saw a couple that were just for the UK but were simplified.

The simplified and concise versions only list the major types. For instance, the multi-volume SG simplified catalog of the world is less exhaustive than then Scott standard world-wide. The SG "parts of the world" series is very very detailed. But they don't update it every year.

It all depends on how broad your collection is and how deep you want to go in certain specialty areas.

Hmm, So not really meant for world wide but it gets better with selected areas. Thanks for the info.

If you have an interest in all or any of the British Commonwealth up to 1970, then the SG British Empire all-in-one volume is practically mandatory. (If 1840-1952 is good enough for you, then you can save a few bucks and pick up an older one...they extended the cutoff from 1952 out to 1970 a couple years ago.)

Excellent suggestion, Collin.

I might add, if you specialize in a particular reign, and are not too concerned about up to date catalog values, get the SG GB Specialised Stamp Catalog for the specific reign (or time period). It is chock full of info (more than you'll ever need), a truly fantastic compact reference.

Can anyone comment on the SG India and Russia catalogs?

AFAIK, the India catalogue is simply an updated offprint of the India etc section of the Part 1, with the disadvantage that the prices are now well out of date. I have to say, I don't have any interest in India per se, only the Indian States, so my views may not be wholly reliable.

Thanks for the info tony. Would it have issues that Scott wouldn't have?

Edit: Tony, there is a 2009 India catalog, is that the one you're refering to as out of date?

Ok, I hope someone can explain this to me as well. I looked at the Russian catalog and it says Part 10. Part 10 of what? I don't get that part. China is PArt 17 and I assume India is part 1. What do these parts mean?

And the China volume, is it useful or old now?

Couldn't comment on Russia, and the prices in any print catalogue of China are going to be wildly out of date before it leaves the presses.

If you're going to take the India region seriously, you'll have to have Gibbons' India catalogue or the Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps 1840-1970 ('Part 1' in old Gibbons users' shorthand). There's a vast amount of detail available, and you may be missing out on any number of valuable varieties and postmarks if you rely on Scott. Scott on the Indian States is a joke. As much use as the Gibbons USA catalogue for collecting USA.

Why would the prices be out of date? 2009 isn't that old, well for prices it might be but I doubt they fluctuate that much?

Thanks for the info about the India catalog, I might have to get that, just for my India collection.

There is a tremendous amount of speculation occurring over a broad range of stamp issues from PRC. Despite what you might have heard, the market is currently dominated by speculators, NOT collectors; it is new speculators entering into the fray, not new collectors (i.e., they are not buying to keep, they are buying to resell for a quick profit). From a speculation point of view, the prices are wildly inaccurate. Speculator prices can swing wildly from month to month, as much as 25% or more up/down within a single month. However, the general movement of speculation issues is up, and up in big jumps. Because PRC issued many different stamps, the speculation will continue for a while as the speculators begin targeting other issues.

If you purchase a PRC catalog today, you are buying it for the listing info, not the catalog prices.

There is also a fair deal of speculation in modern (post-Independence) India as well, though nothing like what's going on in China. And I've heard stories of funny business with old stocks of superseded issues. There was a rumour of the theft of a large number of sheets of the 15 Rupees of the 1949 Archaeological set from the archives, for example, and some overprints on India for the Convention States seem to be suspiciously easy to find - again, there were rumours of thefts from the archives.

Gibbons won't tell you about these things, but it will still show you a lot more detail on what is actually out there.