Dad's Old Scott Stamp Catalogs 100+ Years Of Them!

My Dad and I are clearing out bookshelves and he wants to get rid of some of his "Scott Standard Postage Stamp" Catalogs hardcover books, Vol.1 per year from 1961 to 1977, and soft cover 1978 to 1989. Are these worth anything or are they something to give away or recycle? He is 96 and not interested in fiddling around too much and just wants to really clear some stuff out. Also we are in Ontario Canada so to mail them anywhere would cost millions (almost!) :D Any advice from you more experienced folks here is much appreciated!

He also has some duplicates of older ones that he no longer wants, for example 1915 and that sort of thing. Are these worth anything?

Thanks in advance! :)
Anne

Hi Anne
I think the cost of shipping these things is prohibitive, as you've suggested. You might try donating them to a local stamp club, if there's one near you. Or even try some local estate auction houses. I got my 2003 set of Scott's at one. No good for pricing, but I can still identify items.
The really old ones, 1915, would be of interest to some collectors just for their historical value.
Where in Ontario are you located?

Never mind, I see you are in London.
John Sheffield Philatelist Ltd is located there. He runs some pretty high end auctions. You might try approaching him and see if there's any interest.

http://www.johnsheffield.com

Good luck.

I donated mine to the Goodwill.

Hi Anne, do you have all the Vol. or just the Vol.1 of each year ? where in Ontario ?

They are all Vol.1 of each year. I think I found someone (here in London, Ontario) who is interested in taking them all once the weather improves for driving here to come pick them up. I hope they really do want them! That would be great as they are pretty amazing books in my opinion, just the concept of what they are amazes me, so I am glad that they will really be enjoyed. Thank you so much for your replies here.
:) Anne

Hi

Not sure if Anne is going to collect or is collecting. However, I'll put my 2 cents in.

From time to time Scott deletes sections and listings from the catalogs. I have obtained at a club auction 1926 and 1945 catalogs. In my collecting arena there are listings in Colombia that are not listed anymore (Scott is starting to list the items in the Classic volume).

I do some part time work for a dealer in breaking down collections. In some album pages the collector wrote a Scott number that no longer exists and no reference in a current catalog. I have used older Scott catalogs to find the item and try to discern why the item is no longer listed. Most times the item has been moved to a different catalog volume and/or country.

Bottom line. There is a definite use for older Scott catalogs.

Jerry B

If you have the time and inclination you might consider setting up a free Many collectors are budget minded and for their purposes a lower costing used catalog can be a great help in defining their collection.
Recently purchased my second used US SC off ebay. The 2014 catalog was sold by the non-profit friends of Oklahoma City Library. They got a nice amount for an outdated reference and I updated my catalog values at a significant savings despite the $5.32 US postal media shipping cost.

I have purchased older Scott catalogues on ebay to have coverage of items they dropped over the years. Definitely worth preserving.