Which Stamp Catalog(S) Do You Use ?

OK,
I have a relative newbie question.................. If one had the money to spend, and collected US Stamps, what albums would he or she buy to get the "very best"???

I slowly input stamps int StampManage and ue the 2012 values.

I use a combination of catalogs.

I use my Scott 2008 for Worldwide issues while I have specialized catalogs for the Middle East, Central Asia and Russia from Stanley Gibbons.

Edit:

On the use of older catalogs. Older ones do have missing items but I for one don't have the luxury to go buy new catalogs every year nor do I have the time to go about scrounging get them from from the local library. Once I'm done cataloging with my 2008 and once I've got a bit more time on my hands I'll start documenting with whatever the newest edition of Scott there is. As that isn't happening soon I use what I can get.

Like some others, I mainly use older Scott's catalogs that I scrounged from local Libraries. I occasionally buy a Classic Scott Specialized Catalog as it covers the world in my area of interest (pre 1940's), but only every 4 years or so. I use Stamp Manage Software for better estimates on actual prices, and if you upload your pictures every once in awhile, you get free upgrades. For identification of US stamps, I use the Scott's Specialized Catalogue.

I'm sure that someday I will convert over to a computerized system as soon as I find one that makes it easier to page through and locate items. (Nothing like a book for quickly finding that elusive item.)

I'm moving more away from catalogs and towards more specialized reference material since catalog values are moving targets. It's easy enough to find what The market value for most items is. I use Scott's as my only modern catalog but use:

Bridget and Kay for KGVI
Michel for Germany
Sg concise for Great Britain
Ashbrooks book on the US 10 cent
Neinkens book on the US One cent
Scott specialized for US

Like others, I use catalogs mainly for organizational purposes, and with prices moving targets- not to mention the cost of the latest and greatest in catalogs too- this seems a low(er) cost solution. So I've a Scott's 2009 Catalog and a 1962 (yes, that's right) SG Catalog for general work.

Country-specific, SG for UK/Ireland and looking to pick up older specialty catalogs. There's a lot of dealer- even research- material that can help you back into or kind of reverse engineer organization too, if that can be considered catalog material. Catalogs specifically a la Scott/SG I find useful in pricing (most recent I can find/view) in combination with local dealers, and I suppose ebay- at the end of the day something is only worth as much as what someone (else?) will pay for it.

Again on the idea of buying the newest catalogs I present to you the premier problems with trying to buy the "newest" ones namely the Stanley Gibbons Russia and Central Asia catalogs.

First I present to you the Stanley Gibbons Central Asia catalog:

http://www.amazon.ca/Stanley-Gibbon...38542&sr=8-1

Looks good right? Wrong. It isn't Central Asia as the geographers or even historians define it. Instead it consists of the Countries of the Middle East or South West Asia if you really want to be precise. It contains the countries of Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan. Central Asia? No. Not by a long shot.

The other exhibition:

http://www.amazon.ca/Stanley-Gibbon...38535&sr=8-1

Again looks good right? Wrong. Stanley Gibbons haven't come out of the cold waar. Maybe someone should tell them that the USSR isn't there any more. Not only does it contain countries which should be in Central Asia such as Kazakhistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as Mongolia it seemingly contains every other country that surrounds Russia.

Both came between 2006 and 2008. They haven't been updated and I doubt they will be any time soon. However, buying newer editions of this won't change the fundamental problems of their wrong titles no matter how updated they get.

Granted newer stamps have come out and they lack it, but then again I fail to see (with the exception of Mongolia) a real rush to collect either Turkey, Iran, Central Asia as a whole or any other place covered with the exception of the aforementioned Mongolia and Russia to an extent.

Older catalogs have a service and that it for collectors to find their stamps. If Tony claims that the Indian states collectors need to have newer catalogs every year why haven't these been updated continuously since 2006 or 2008?

The plain and simple answer, in my opinion, is that they don't. These prices aren't meant for the collector but for the store owner. Basing values of stamps on catalog prices is only deluding yourself and this ruining this hobby.

Katchem_ash, I wouldn't dispute your problems with the geographical boundaries of Gibbons' catalogues - but as long as the countries covered are clearly stated on the front or back cover, or at least somewhere readily accessible, I don't see that there's any serious difficulty.

Now, as to your comments on my post: Did you actually read what I wrote? Gibbons does indeed update its Indian States listings annually. How otherwise could I quote the cumulative changes in the listings? And, please note, nowhere in my post did I refer to prices. I was talking about new items added to the lists: stamps not previously listed. When this imperf between pair of the Jaipur 1912-22 ½ Anna



was offered on ebay, the error wasn't listed in Gibbons. I believed it was genuine, and bought it anyway. It is now listed, as SG 25ab. A collector who slavishly followed the catalogue, and refused to touch this cover because the error wasn't (yet) listed, missed out on a beautiful piece.

And that's my point.

Prices are another matter entirely - but I can quote you any number of cases where Gibbons' current prices lag behind the current market for Indian States material.

Tony Mac G's comments are well taken. But it also depends on what one collects. I agree that one needs to be knowledgeable as to changes in newer catalog editions. The current edition of the Scott Classic catalog finally got around to breaking down the Portugal Ceres issues into perfs, papers, etc. I haven't bought it yet as the next edition, to be published in November, will do the same process for the Ceres issues of the colonies. Even with the Amos press discount available for subscribers, the Classic is an expensive volume. So, will buy it at the end of this year.

I was working with the 2008 scott catalogs and decided it was time to move up 4 years..i do not do a lot of buying,selling and swapping..but I do a lot of cataloging..putting my duplicates in 102 cards for some future collector..in 4 years some popular countries actually went down a bit in catalog value...but some others went up a whole lot..i think it pays to upgrade every so often !

I use different catalogs for different areas.

Norway - Norgeskatalogen
Scandinavia/Nordic countries - Facit
Great Britain including colonies and Commonwealth - Stanley Gibbons (Commonwealth and Empire Stamps 1840-1970, and simplified after that)
Australia - Stanley Gibbons for Australia
New Zealand - Stanley Gibbons for New Zealand
Canada - Unitrade
Western Europe - AFA
Rest of the World - Stanley Gibbons simplified

And I just ordered the Scott Specialized catalog for United States stamps and covers, and are looking for some AFA catalogs for Eastern Europe. I do enjoy my catalogs...

Besides, its really only Norgeskatalogen I buy brand new, the rest I pick up when I see a deal that I consider good, and don't mind working with catalogs that are a couple of years old when I buy them.

I use a series of disc's but it's a catalog just the same. Scott's catalog but it's not a specialized one. I also have a Postal guide to US stamps of in which I have found MANY errors, especially in the large banknotes area! You would think of people they would get it right?

AnthonyUK, I'm downloading FoxIT reader right now to give it a try. Hope it's friendly..Thank you for the tip. I'll let you know how I made out.

I'm using a complete set of Michel catalogs as my primary source of information.

I've got complete Scott and Yvert too, but I use them mainly for cross-reference and cross-checks.

As far as SG goes, I've got the SOTW as well as some some specialized volumes. So it's an area that I'm working to improve...

And of course I've got a bunch of country specialized catalogs (Facit, LaPe,Norma,Hellas, POFIS, RHM etc).

As far as catalog age goes... For a worldwide collector like me, the cost of having recent editions of everything would be simply too prohibitive. I think having something is better than having nothing; so I buy mostly <10 years old second hand copies of specialized catalogs, as they still do add to my knowledge.

If there's anything I've learned, it's that catalogs contradict on lots of details with each others. Relying on simply one catalog/source of information would be utter foolishness.

I would also add that I recently received my first copy of a Michel Catalog (Sudeuropa) and I must say that I love the way that it is laid out. I don't even speak German but I find it much easier to use and see varieties, etc. than Scott.