My Dream: The Complete Scott Catalog On-Line

I was wondering what consideration has been given to publishing the complete Scott catalog on-line?

While I imagine it would involve time, money and effort, I also imagine it would pay for itself quickly.

Many of us do not purchase the complete catalogs because of the cost. Also, all those volumes take up a lot of room and can be tedious to navigate.

Offering on-line access by subscription would not only be helpful to collectors world wide, but would assure cash flow to Amos while greatly decreasing the many expenses associated with printing, publishing, etc.. The catalog values could be updated as often as required and the use of high resolution stamp images in true color would make the catalog far more useful to collectors. Personally, I envision an interface that allows searching by country name and number as well as by topic description or year. How about a zoom feature that allows small text to be enlarged and for greater detail of stamp images. Plate varieties could be seen for real, not just by illustration. The possibilities are all but endless!

Here's hoping that "the powers that be" at Amos are thinking 21st century. To keep our hobby alive, we need to evolve.

If you agree, contact Amos Publishing and tell them how you feel

Grayslate,

First, welcome to the forum.

As for your suggestion, I'm all for it.

Older versions of the Scott catalog have periodically been made available in PDF form.

I have the full 2008 version in PDF form and the fact that it's searchable makes it immensely valuable to me, even though its a few years outdated. They take up about 4.5GB of space (which today is hardly noticeable) and I carry them with me on my Android Tablet, which weighs about a fraction of a single Scott Volume, where-ever I go.

I've heard rumors that the 2011 catalog is also available in PDF form but I've been unable to find it.

Since (I can only hope) all of the latest iterations of the Scott Catalog are paginated in digital, I can hardly see how digital distribution would be a problem. Certainly it would be a great incentive to subscribing to Linn's, if for instance they provided access to the full catalog for say, $30-50 or more a year?

I'm most interested in the latest Scott edition which has the US Grade Supplement built into the US Specialized.

If anyone knows where to buy the 2012 Scott in PDF form please let me know!

Charles Snee, the new editor of the Scott Catalogs, is on Twitter as well as several philatelic discussion groups (but not, to my knowledge, this one) and he has indicated that an iPad version of the Scott catalogs is forthcoming. If memory serves, he has also said that over the next few years there will be an online version of the catalog with continuously updated pricing. Mr. Snee is very interested in suggestions so I agree that anyone with opinions on Scott digital catalogs should communicate their views.

Thanks for the update. Great to know that Scott may soon be available on-line. I hope they develop an excellent interface.

I wrote Scott concerning an on-line catalog and here is the reply. Very Nice!


I assure you this is something that is currently in the works, hopefully to
be released later this year or next.

Thank you,

Nicki Ingle
Customer Service Representative
Amos Publishing Company

Here is what Amos sent me a few weeks ago:

We are currently working on a digital Scott Catalog, to be released later
> this year.
>
> Thank you,
>
>
> Nicki Ingle
> Customer Service Representative
> Amos Publishing Company

Panda.Bear may I have a link please? It would be invaluable to me! Thank you.

link to PDF online? May I have a link?

EDIT: Never mind...I discovered it's a download from Scott catalog. Thank you anyway!

I think it would be a great idea and also a lovely green initiative.

After all, Stanley Gibbons provides a free, online, worldwide stamp catalog.

I suppose an online catalog might have some use, but suggest for new collectors, get an old Scott Catalog (cheap to buy). Learn how to really use this old catalog. Black & White (B&W) forced us old collectors to learn the Pick Up Points (PUP) of the designs. Learn the older way, after sometime move up to the online identifiers, you will have a step above other collectors. B&W with PUP is a great way to learn basics of each design.

Stampmaster

A PDF is great but a fully interactive online catalog would be even better. I am sure that the primary consideration of Amos Publishing is how to properly monetize the digital catalog. As a software developer, I can tell you that technically this is not actually all that hard to do. I note that the PDF download of the Scott catalogs are not all that much less than the print copies. Obviously digital distribution is far, far less expensive than printing and mailing copies. In either case, however, Amos still has the cost of a quality staff and running the operation profitably. They could never make the digital version available for free online access.

This is one of the issues with bumping threads that are many years old. The issue of digitizing catalogs and the use of technology have been covered by at least two dozen more recent threads since this one first appeared.

I implore everyone to please use the search feature before reviving old threads. If you still desire to bump an older thread, then please post links to the more recent and relevant threads uncovered your discovery.

If you notice that few people are responding to your posts, it is likely that few want to rehash a topic such as this one. When others have spent a lot of time and effort responding to similar threads in the last year or two, they are not likely to reinvest in posting more of the same when a thread like this one is bumped.
Don

Beckett.com prints price guide magazines and has an online price guide for its sports cards. Magazines are US $10 per month per sport. Online price guides are $20-$30 per month per sport, or around $50-$60 for all sports per month. I review my cards (4 different sports) and stamps once a year, so I prefer the books/magazines from the bookstores or library. If you're an avid buyer or seller who has a business, the online option may be better for you.