Scott Classic Catalogue

I currently have a 1999 classic but I am considering starting to sell off some dups and probably need more up to date values. So I want to get a more recent copy. I also understand that detail information is added to the catalogue from time to time. I don't think I want to pay the high price for a new one and considering that the older the issue the cheaper. How far back can I go and still get fairly up to date information? Best "bang for the buck" so to speak.

Unless you have particularly scarce or rare classics, I am going to guess that there hasn't been a lot of change in values over the past 15 years. Do you have access to a library? If I were you, I'd take my 1999 copy with me to a library, and compare it against a current edition, and then decide whether the values have changed enough to justify looking for a more recent edition.

That said, you can usually find decent prices on catalogs just 2-4 years old, and I doubt prices have changed much in that time span.

A better idea, though, would be to see what your "dups" are bringing on ebay. That is going to be more helpful than any "catalog value."

Earlier this year I purchased 2013 edition on ebay for approx. $50-60 (do not recall who I got it from) this price included shipping.

Regards,
Stampalotapus

ronv: it depends on what you're collecting. In 2015, the Classic should have completed the detailed updating of the 1914 Ceres issues of Portugal and colonies. Myself, I buy it every two years as there are other changes of interest for my collecting specialities--meaning I'm less concerned about price changes than addition of more detailed information. I don't buy every year due to cost of the catalog. I'm due to buy the 2016 this year.

I collect worldwide but have been concentrating on British colonies lately. I buy some from e-bay as well as mail auctions. I have noticed that many catalogue value quotations on both ebay and some auction are higher than my catalog indicates. I don't put much stock in ebay but some of the auction companies seem to also show this. Have british colonies stamps gone up?

Since 2005 pre-1940 Scott Classic Specialized values have gone up,by about 15% based on about 10,000 worldwide stamps that I have catalogued with parallel 2005 and 2013 values over the last two or three years. In doing that cataloguing I have a general impression that British Commonwealth classics have increased by more, perhaps 25%. But I do not have solid stats specficially for British Commonwealth.

Of course general inflation has to be calculated into that 15% or 25% increase.

But I don't know where 2005 fits in relation to 1999. It's possible that there was a decline from 1999-2005 and the increase from 1999 to 2015 is real (as indicated by your comparisons with current ebay citations) but much less than 15-25%. I'd say that whatever rule of thumb sense you have from comparing your 1999 to current ebay quotations is probably pretty close to reality. Some sellers' "cv" quotations may be mistaken or deliberately inflated or but for the most part, they are probably decently accurate.

Edited to note that the 10,000 for which I have 2005 and 2013 comparisons included a decent range from the common .20-a-pop worldwide stuff to individual classics with cvs between $10 and $1000. Much of the 15% or 25% increase is coming from "betters" with values above $50 but stamps cataloguing .35 or .50 or 1.00 or $7.00 in 2005 catalogue for (e.g.) $.75, $1.25, $2.50, $13.50 in 2013. It's actually among the latter category that my subjective impression of a greater increase in classic British Commonwealth arises.

I am only speaking of classic stamps, pre-1940 or pre-1950.

Keep an eye out for library book sales. I recently picked up a complete set of 2006 Scott catalogs, including the classic specialized ( hardbound) for $1 per book.

A couple of quick examples. In Dutch Country Auctions latest public auction #299 lot #928 Antigua 21-30 *VF H CV $366.75 (my 99 classic cv $204.75). lot #932 Ascension *1-9 VF H CV $435.00 ( classic cv $255.00). Lot #934 Australia 128 used CV $375.00 ( my classic cv $165.00). These are very random. I'm sure there are many more examples. These are "big" time jumps in value if I am reading this right.

Ronv,

That sounds very much like the rough range of increase I've observed in British Commonwealth, though mine are usually at the lower range of values I appended to my original comment. But the percentage of increase, if extrapolated from 2005/2013 to 1999/2013 is about the same in your three examples as in what I've observed.

I would go to the library and check out what they have.

The library here has never heard of scott catalog. I could probably do an inter library exchange. Thanks for the suggestion but I need one to keep. I'll probably get a 2013-14 edition when I find a good deal. There is a 13 on ebay right now for about $70.00. Maybe I can do a little better. I'll see.

The Classic is usually released later in the year (October/November timeframe, if I remember correctly). Shortly after the new (2016) edition is released, all the older versions will drop in price a notch. Amos themselves will be selling unused 2015's at under $100 and used editions from other sellers will be even cheaper. I'd guess you should be able to get 2013-14 editions in the $50 or less range, and there probably haven't been many dramatic changes during that time.

Solid information Hieronymus - thanks for sharing that.

I got a 2012 hardcover on Amazon a couple weeks ago for $56. Funny thing is it had a Baltimore Public Library label on the binder and inside back cover but it looked like it had never been touched aside from putting the labels on it LOL

I didn't know they were hardcover now (shows how long I have been away). Do they still do soft too? Any difference in content?

no I think they are only hardcover now.

I have a 2010 gently used (some of the listings in French colonies with highlighting I made, otherwise its clean and the binding is tight) that I am no longer using (I replaced with a 2015 edition, and there was a LOT of new material added in the intervening 5 years!) If you are interested ronv I could sell it fairly cheap if you think it would be new enough for your purposes. Email me at djcmh at yahoo dot com (not putting direct email link in since I don't want spam :) I am in Ohio.