Scotts Catalog Question

I'm wondering what it means when there is no price for a stamp in Scotts and there is a slash instead. Does it mean that stamp is rare or worthless?

When you see a dash it means that it is rare. They think there may be an item that fits the description but there isn't a record for one ever being sold.

Check in the front of the catalogue as there should be a listing of terms, etc., which should explain this.

It generally means that it is not confirmed that a certain variety exists, or that a price has yet to be established.

I don't have any Scotts catalogues.

So, I guess, that means it should be sent in to be expertized.

A dash means the editors have confirmed that the stamp exists in that condition/format/variety (i.e., mint, used...), but that there is insufficient information for the editors to provide a catalog value.

It does not mean it is rare, although it typically occurs for premium items. In addition, a few recent issues from certain countries sometimes start off with the dash pricing, but end up cataloging for a few dollars.

There is a subsection in the Scott catalog introduction that explains the meaning of dashes, italics... I think the subsection is called "Understanding Valuing Notations" in the section on "Catalog Listing Policy" (or something like that). Flip further through the Scott Introduction and you should be able to find it (it is NOT at the very beginning couple of pages).

Just to clarify...

-- dash does NOT mean it is rare.
-- dash means it is confirmed to exist; if it is not confirmed to exist in that condition, the price space is left blank

This applies to Scott catalogs. Other catalogs may or may not have the same policy.

Thank you all for the info.

Here's the official excerpt taken from the Scott Catalog as it appears under the heading "Scott Numbering Practices and Special Notices":

So just what does the absence of any value mean? I had nothing else to do today so I decided to inventory and prepare for storage a bunch of Israeli stamps. I notice in the Scott's catalog they do not list a value for Israeli tagged stamps in a postally used condition and there are no dashes or italics. So, how does one value those stamps? Or do they have no value and should go into the trash?