Stamp Image Software

Are there any programs out there that all you need to do would be to upload a picture and it would tell you what stamp you have? All the programs I've come across has the user putting the info in.. That is hard to do when you don't know what the info is..

ezstamps has some software to do that, I don't know how extensive it is.

disclaimer... I do not get anything from ezstamps for touting them.

The various catalog publishers fight this tooth and nail. They want to sell catalogs. They don't want "free" sources of anything. With the advent of the Internet, and the computerization of everything, I guess I sympathize with them a little bit. We need catalogs.

Use an image saved on your PC and Google search it. There's an actual picture search option on google.

597596 - wow I never knew that cool I gotta try it.

Another image-search tool is www.tineye.com

Thanks 597596, I knew google could do that, but hadn't even thought using it for identifying stamps.

If you have Chrome or Firefox, there's an extension that let's you search images from the web.

Also, both tineye and google image search lets you drag and drop images from your folder right into browser.

Very limited testing suggest tineye gives better results, at least for U.S. stamps.

For any countries where watermarks affect catalogue numbers, the i.d. software would have some trouble. It could give a set of possible numbers, but I suspect users would expect answers, not a range of possible answers.

Gibbons frequently numbers by color, even within the same general issue, which would also impact the ability to output a catalogue number. Take the Penny Black. In Scott, it is GB #1 (with letters to identify varieties in color, watermark or paper). In SG, it could be GB #1, #2 or #3.

I could imagine that the software might get you to a Scott number more often, but it might not get you to the variety (e.g., it might be able to handle "145" but not "145b"). And of course there are many examples where Scott numbers differ in color, only.

You would still need a catalogue handy to know that there is an inverted watermark variety to be watching for, which means that you still need to look at the watermark (if you want to know). And collectors are still identifying watermark varieties on decades-old stamps, which means you might want to be looking at watermarks, anyway, even when no varieties are theoretically possible.

I'm prepared to be amazed, but I'm skeptical that true functionality is achievable in the near future.

All of this assumes that the publisher obtains the right to output a specific catalogue number, in the first place. Not a foregone conclusion.

Nevertheless, if someone is not dreaming of making this happen, it won't, so to anyone tinkering around in your basement, keep at it.

Cjd,

Does the average collector really need a catalog number? Quite often, a description is just as useful, for example is it an 1890 2cent Washington or an 1894 2 cent Washington? From there most people can find the right page and right series in their catalog. And that gets rid of the whole issue of who's catalog to use.

Watermarks are an issue, but again, narrowing it down and specifying that different version exist along with a webpage to help narrow down the issue further would still be very useful.

Another issue is handling cancellations. Most modern algorithms for doing image search depend on either colors or points of interest in the image and a heavy cancellation can hide both.

Finally, with more then 1/2 million different stamps issued and 1000s more issued every year, even identifying modern stamps can be time consuming using paper catalogs.

But the big issue to building a stamp identification engine is getting access to pictures of all these stamps in mint condition that can be used to build a database for them. I've looked into building something like this, but that is the big roadblock right now.

Anyone got a complete mint stamp collection they want to share?

I'm not sure if the average collector wants catalogue numbers, or not. I may have improperly assumed that i.d.-by-number is what the original poster was looking for.

I guess it might depend on a particular collector's choice of storage/display method or album. Or collection tracking.

I could never do without an actual book/catalog in hand. I have the new scotts specialized and a few of last years volumes of the scotts books But as a newbie, and with the massive amounts of stamps I have, trying to figure out what is what Is so time consuming.

Or put another way, your hobby is not costing you very much per hour.

My hobby so far has costed me cramped leggs, asleep feet and a sore back! I am so facinated by the stamps as I keep finding ones I haven,t seen. It like christmas everytime I open a box. I will read about topics on here then go see if I have any of the said stamps. I had a world book filled that I regret taking all the stamps out of.. I don't know what possessed me. But just found another one almost all filled. Also just came across a Canadian albulm I had forgotten I set aside it is filled new plates and such. Does anyone know if there is anybody near Olympia willing to help sort stamps?
I am trying to put them in order of scots numbers, my place is very small, and it gets so overwhelming.

I use Stamp Manage by Liberty street, probably since they started. Pretty good search functions add in the 2012 value table and its pretty good. Never had a hand held catalogue. Always used to just search out stuff.