How Do You Tell What Catalog Is Used In What Country

Some things are fairly obvious. Scott is used in the US. Stanley Gibbons in England. Michel in Germany. What about other places? I'm starting to collect Ukrainian stamps, and I'd like to know what catalog system I should use when I ask someone in Ukraine for stamps.

My other interest would be Ireland, since my wife is Irish. I'm going to guess Stanley-Gibbons would be the choice.

Is all this a moot point, and should I just use Scott numbers? Will people in Europe be able to translate Scott numbers to the numbering system they use easily enough?

For any particular country, I would look to see what seems common on international auction sites. Reference material listings at comprehensive shops/sites are always available. And then there is just plain Google.

In the case of Ukraine, I would probably invest in Handbook of Modern Ukrainian Philately - A Catalog of Stamps, Stationery, and Cancellations, 1991-2000, by George D. Fedyk and Ingert J. Kuzych. Whatever system they use in detailing their listings is probably the system to use.

If they don't use their own system, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that it is Michel. Just guessing...

Great! Yet another numbering system to use.

That book seems to have been out of print for a while, and it only covers from 1992-2000. That's 11 years of numbering I still need to deal with.

So, I found one site that lists Scott, Michel, Gibbons and Yvert numbers for all the stamps. Yvert is a new one to me.

Are you familiar with the Ukrainian Electronic Stamp Album? It seems to list pretty much everything...

http://www.ukrainian-philately.info/menu.htm

Yvert is for Yvert and Tellier - The catalogue of choice for France.
Most of the non-specialist catalogues from SG and Scott are OK for a basic collection. There are some differences though such as where Airmails are located, are officials, postage dues etc included.

Vera Trinder is a good source for currently available catalogues from around the world, including the Hibernian Ireland Specialized catalogue. Their stock isn't complete by any means, but you can get an idea what is in use by checking their lists.

http://veratrinder.org/countries-co...a90aar17l8s2

Ryan

Thanks CJD for that great Ukraine link. I collect Ukraine provisional stamps (1992-1996) on cover.

I have used the Ukrainian Philately site before. But they don't list any catalog numbers. Ah well...

In Portugal it is Afinsa. You can also use Afinsa for the Portuguese ex-colonies, such as Angola, Mozambique, Guiné-Bissau.

For Macau, you can use Afinsa up to 1999. After that I think there are a few general catalogues about Macau together with China.

For France and Monaco, plus other French territories, probably the best local catalogue is Yvert and Tellier.

For Scandinavian countries, like Denmark, Faroe Islands, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Greenland, Iceland, FACIT is the best.

Which site did you find with Scott, Michel, Yvert and SG numbers? Only for the US?

The only European cataloging system I've used is Michel, which does not play well with the Scott numbering system. I also frequent ebay's UK site in which sellers often use Stanley Gibbons for numbering, and it doesn't appear to coincide well with Scott or Michel.

In my 3 main areas of specialty, I stick to the catalogues published in their respective countries ...

US - Scott
Germany - Michel
Canada - Unitrade

If I specialized in UK stamps, I'm sure I'd invest in SG catalogues, but until that happens, I stick with Scott for UK and all other countries.

Brian

For Switzerland (&Liechtenstein specialized+ Europe) there is also `Zumstein`.

Forgot about the Netherlands. NVPH is the main catalogue, although it's in Dutch. Color photos and enough information about the stamp design and printing process, and the theme of each stamp.

Unificato for Italy and related...Sakura for Japan...Ma (and others) for China...the list goes on and on.

There is a list on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...p_catalogues

or you can browse through the extensive SCF Library.....

https://goscf.com/t/4140