What's With Scott Publishing Company And Their Catalogues?

I was always under the impression that the country that published the catalogue(s), always priced their stamps the highest. I was really surprised to see that Gibbons prices Canadian stamps even more than our domestically published Unitrade Catalogue.

Chimo

Bujutsu

The Scott Catalog while decent for reference is of no use for pricing anymore. Since other than Canada I don't collect anything newer than 1999 I keep my ratty old 2003 Catalogs around. For Canada I pick up the Unitrade every couple of years. . On the retail side, I use my years of experience when it comes to buying and setting prices. I will consult the internet only if I have a question of rarity with something I am not used to dealing with.

I sent an email to Amos a while ago about the status of the worldwide collector. Scott numbers are the worldwide standard for US Stamps. But if you try and buy British or Irish stamps, most people use Stanley Gibbons numbers. And when it comes to Germany, most ebay listings use Michel.

So, my suggestion for the fine folks at Amos was to make the best US catalog possible, and then share their numbers with other catalog publishers to use with their US section. In return Stanley Gibbons would share their numbers Britain, Ireland numbers. Michel their German numbers.

That way we don't get stuck with the "Scott Mess," as I call it; US Microprint varieties getting major catalog numbers, and Ukraine microprint varieties only getting a footnote.

Hi

Andy That may work for US but what about the world-wide collector?
The Blanco Specialized Venezuela Catalog has Blanco, Yvert & Tellier and Scott catalog numbers.

I am sure collectors have spreadsheets, documents, etc. that are "cross references" to two or more catalogs. I know that Scott does not allow lists to be posted due to copyright laws and I am sure the other publishers are the same. Maybe the catalog publishers relax a little and allow these lists to be put on the internet, as long as one is not creating a catalog to be published.

Jerry B

So, by the logic I applied above, if Blanco is the numbering system that is most popular for Venezuela, Scott would use those numbers in their World Catalog, and if Blanco had a worldwide catalog, they would use Scott numbers in their US section. If all the catalog printers agreed to specialize and cross-license, we could then actually have a universal numbering system.

Hi,
I look at the cataloges for two reasons........ to identify stamps, and to a much lesser extent, to get a relative value. By that I mean, is stamp "A" worth more or less than stamp "B" or ??? The absolute value posted is pretty meaningless, but the relationship to others does give one a feel for which stamps are more "worthy" than others.