Scott Catalog Yearly Supplements?

Maybe this has been asked before, but, I have a set of Scott Catalogs that lists stamps through 2008.

Do they publish "supplements" for the years I don't have? - e.g., Can I buy a Scott Catalog JUST for 2009, or 2010, (or 2011, 2012, etc)

I use my catalogs as a "checkoff" by highlighting the stamps I have....Buying a whole new set of catalogs kind of makes me have to re-mark them all up (plus paying for them is expensive every year)

Eric

To the best of my knowledge,no.

You have to subscribe to Linns Monthly to keep up with the new issues. Linns bought out Scotts Stamp Monthly and are now one and the same.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Sadly correct. They publish monthly updates in Linn's stamp news, but those updates only include that month, so a year's worth of updates requires 12 issues of Linn's monthly.

All catalog makers expect you to buy a whole new catalog every year.

Does Linns Monthly list every worldwide stamp?

Eric:

Yes they do -- it's sort of a weird system.

In case you don't already know.... Amos used to publish 2 stamp publications -- Linns was weekly, the other was Scott Stamp Monthly.

A few years ago, they merged the two. Three times a month, you get the regular Linn's weekly, and once a month, you get a a Linns/SSM combo edition. It's a little thicker, has a glossy cover, and a few extra features inside -- including a feature called Scott New Issues Update.

Here's are a couple screen caps of what those pages look like...

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As you can see, those pages will easily transition into new pages in the next catalog. Also, to give you an idea of the timeline, these caps, from the December 17 issue, are introducing stamps from May-July.

KirkS

Ok - Thank for for that Image!

So - Basically If I could get back-issues of Scott Stamp Monthly (or the Combo Edition) from around May of 2009 (and all issues forward) - I could pretty much piece together a catalog? - yes?

Which I could do for say 4 or 5 years, until I decide to buy a full new set?

Actually - maybe this is dumb.. Say I get lucky and can find a years worth of the back issues for 20 bucks...It will cost me eighty dollars for the last 4 years... A new catalog is how much?

Well, not necessarily dumb. A senior moment, maybe? The bad thing about all of this is of course that you will still have 2009 prices. Not very important if you collect, but more so if you buy, sell or trade!
And you could always get a year o;d set!

Peter

It's a LOT of effort to piece together the supplements over a period of several years. I assume you are planning on typing the info into a database, but were going to do so "cutting/pasting"(?). It's not as easy as it sounds. The updates are not always in chronologically order, and not all countries get updated simultaneously. Furthermore (especially for definitives), the updates are not necessarily in Scott numerical order. And the updates are for new issues only. It does not update prices of the stamps already cataloged.

Depending on what you are trying to do, getting back issues may not be cost-effective for you. If you have a Linn's digital subscription, you get online access to LSN and SSM back through 2008. But it is an online interface, not a full pdf download. You can print out pages, but again that may not be cost-effective for you.

I guess maybe my biggest beef isn't the cost, but the fact that I am using the catalogs and highlighting them off as I acquire each stamp...

A new set kills my work on the old set!

Eric
I'm like you I cannot afford to buy a new set of Scott. I have a Scott 2007 on cd and when I need updated values I go to the public library (i can borrow 2012; 2013 is for reference). I use Excel on Microsoft Office to do list of my stamps. It's much more practical when you go to a stamp club or stamp show.

If you subscribe to the digital edition of Linn's you can view back issues for the price of the subscription. The back issues go back to Jan. 2008.

When Linn's came up with their iOS app, I was hoping it would auto update monthly and allow you to mark off stamps you have and calculated an estimated value, but instead they simply put their PDFs into an app.

Eric:

I don't think the "back issues" approach would be practical if you're trying to maintain the whole catalog.

But here's a real-world example from my own collecting experiences...

A few years ago, I decided to collect British Antarctic Territory. I needed a catalog, more for identification purposes than values.

I borrowed a catalog from around 2006/7 and copied the B.A.T. pages (only a few pages). Since I'm a Linn's subscriber, I had back issues, I copied those pages with B.A.T and "appended" them to my homemade catalog.

I use them for notes and checklist, so I punched holes in them and stored them in the back of my album.

KirkS

I think Linn's has "oh sh**!" moments sometimes. I emailed them about 2 months ago and told them I hadn't seen a Ukraine update in the monthly Linn's in well over 2 years. The next month, the stamp updates had all the missing Ukraine stamps in it.

I know a few collectors that periodically update their Scott catalogues and transfer over inventory markings (though I don't think any of the guys I'm thinking of are aggressively collecting the whole world, and none are seeking out new issues).

One of them says he enjoys the process as it lets him reacquaint himself with old 'friends' and clean up his margin notes. He said it doesn't take as long as you might think (though that is probably rather dependent upon the complexity of your markup scheme and the number of stamps you've inventoried).

I think you'll rapidly frustrate yourself trying to collate and store Scott's new-issue information.

Could the .pdf versions be marked up using read/write Adobe Acrobat? I can't remember the actual name of software but I used to use it at work. It's probably expensive but maybe as a one-time cost it might be worth it to you.

Well, the last PDF that was released was the 2009 catalog in 2008, and those, I believe they were locked down to prevent that kind of behavior. My 2009 copies, I have learned, were pirated and sold to me on ebay, so I can mark them up, print and do whatever else I want to with them. But that is not the default behavior.

The existing catalogs available through the iPhone/iPad app are just encrypted PDFs. You cannot mark them up, print them or do anything really useful with them, other than stare at them.