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From what I've observed so far, North America seems heavily centered around the Scott catalog and numeric grading/slabs (like PSE 1100), whereas European collectors seem to rely much more on Michel / NVPH / Stanley Gibbons, paper certificates (BPP, NVPH), and subtle varieties like watermarks, perforations, and back-of-stamp expertizer marks (Prüfzeichen).
As an experienced collector (and fellow Dutch member!), how does that fundamental difference affect the way you personally track your collection compared to US collectors? Are there specific parameters or workflows where North American-oriented software completely misses the mark for European material?
Catalogues are regional. And there will be differences. Because most members here are from North America (European members are few and most disappear quit quickly) there is a strong orientation on Scott. Consequently, I noticed references to Scott for European stamps that are incorrect. But you will find that Michel, Yvert, and Stanley Gibbons, frequently, will not coincide.
European collectors tend to focus on countries, sometimes including their colonies. Worldwide collecting is much more popular in North America. In Europe, it is more common for people to use local catalogues. But even worldwide collectors in Europe use other catalogues: the UK uses Stanley Gibbons, Belgium, France and Southwest Europe Yvert and most of Europe uses Michel. When I was a child, Yvert was more common than Michel in the Netherlands. That changed.
Issue dates may not coincide. But colours are a plague. Even Scott and Stanley Gibbons use different colours.
Grading is something that is mostly an American hobby. However, something similar but less numerical like Fine / Vey Fine / Superb is highly common in the UK. Edifil will quote prices for well-centred stamp sets in addition to the standard prices that tend to be for "very fine" stamps or better. Encapsulating is considered hilarious in Europe, but is not much of a thing with serious US collectors either.
Perforation gauges are another issue. It could be because one catalogue uses quarter perforations, when another uses half perforations. And sometimes, a single catalogue will not update older listings.
If you look at LastDodo, you will see the utter mess with many variaties that never have existed, just because everyone uses another catalogue. I collect permanent stamps of the Estado Espaņol era. This mess is a reason I will not use that site for my collection. In fact, I never use any site or app, as none caters for my specialised collections.
Another point is the definition of stamp and postage stamp. Strictly speaking, postage due labels and telegraph stamps are not postage stamps. Very few catalogues ignore postage due labels. In some countries, telegraph stamps could, even if temporary, be used to prepay postage. Fiscal stamps are another such area.
What do you do with local carriage labels? I mean the real ones, not the fantasy stamps. And how about the sand dunes, where nudity is a taboo and people should not be depicted in any way, but that issued many stamps with people, scarcely dressed women and nude paintings, but that never saw any use or at least not in the country itself?
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Posted Today 1 Hr 47 Min ago
