Offer To Help And/Or Publish Philatelic Info

I have some bandwidth available and was wondering if anyone might have any compiled lists or other electronic data (any format) that they might want to see made publically available? Perhaps postmarks lists, post office info, just about anything stamp related where they have put together or compiled information which would benefit others if published. (Perhaps some of you have written articles that you would like published?)

For some lists, I would design a database, web page interface, and host it with the other educational information on Stamp Smarter (like the 1847usa site and the new Weiss Article library). This site has been established so that it will remain online moving into the future; a kind or permanent digital philatelic archive. A good place to 'park' other sites instead of them simply going away. (The Way Back site always seems to be incomplete on many archived sites.) Any material to be published has to be in the public domain and/or understood to be made freely available. Of course, credits or acknowledgement can be assigned.

I hate to see the hard work of others pass away with them. Even if the data or lists you have put together is not complete, we can work towards getting it done. If anyone is interested, please let me know.
Thanks,
Don

Hi Don

Be careful what you publish. If the items contain catalog numbers there may be some questions as to copyrights. I know Scott doesn't like publishing their numbers on other than price lists.

I have a number of tables and documents that cannot be publicly published as they contain catalog numbers. To get permissions I would have to get written permission from multiple sources, some no longer existing.

I have given copies to people with the request for private use only.

Jerry B

Jerry,
Thank you, you are correct. I have a written contract with Amos for use of Scott numbers but others would be problematic unless something was put place with them. The rights of others are important and should be respected.
Don

Hi Don

That is great that you are making the offer.I know a few philatelic sites and/or documents that are no longer available.

A little history. A friend owns a stamp store and I help in breaking down collections for stock (mainly Latin America).Tables (world-wide) were created to assist in the process. Where Scott states "see 12-18, 4, ..." the reference numbers were "traced" though the catalog and all references combined in a table.

Someone suggested I "publish" the tables and documents so all collectors have access. However, even though mostly Scott numbers, there are other people's documents included and catalog numbers from other catalogs.

Currently I have everything on a Cloud site as well as my computer and a DVD. I do make the document(s) available to collectors on request with the caveat that nothing is to be published and the items are for private use only.

I thought about your offer. It would be nice to have the tables and documents published on your site so that everyone has access. Since you have a contract with Scott that would not be a problem for some tables. However, there is too much that is not Scott and it would be infringements, copyright or other.

Jerry B

It is this kind of policy that helps to keep us in the archaic world of philately. I for one am tired of it and I hope our new venture into the outreach for children to become interested in stamp collecting will be successful.

I have an idea for something that I would eventually work on, but don't know how to be build the website. I maintain a database of all of the FDC that I have handled/sold and currently have in the neighborhood of 40,000 items. I have the images for all of these and would like to have that available for others to be able to view/research cachet maker covers based on this information.

dj,
What format is your database?
Don

I recognize djlrette's screen name from purchases I've made, mostly on Bidstart I think, though maybe ebay as well. It would be interesting to know how much of his data represents FDC's for 1970 to today. I don't know of any catalog of FDC's for this period, and if he has a lot of it covered, it would be a possible start for one. I'm focused mainly on airmail FDC's, and it would be nice to have some idea of what's out there that I lack in my collection. Hosting his images, if easily searchable by issue, would be nice.

I use access 2007 as my database and I have a query defined to export my listings for each various sites and for import to an opencart database. My data is structured that I have a 'key' field for cachet maker, scott number and stamp year that should allow for searches by scott number and by cachet maker. I use a sequence number as part of the key to keep different covers unique. This is used for cover varieties such as official and unofficial covers. The image name field is a relative field with the base contained in a separate table available to join to when needing to create a full url to the image. I am in the process of adding topic keys based on stamp or cachet. I also have a large portion of the active listings with postmark date, city and state.

My initial focus has been hand painted but I have been adding more covers as time permits. I have 39,820 items in my database currently with about 25,000 still active. There are some event covers mixed into these counts. I know I don't have anywhere near all of them, but it would still be a good resource.

Counts from each decade are:
20's - 20
30's - 53
40's - 63
50's - 182
60's - 401
70's - 2801
80's - 11,031
90's - 13,946
00's - 10,744
10's - 579

I don't have a ton of airmail covers. Over all of the years, I have 801 in my database.

dj,
Sounds perfect for porting to an online SQL database. I can see huge value in users being able to perform searches based upon cachet maker or topic. The image fields will have to be updated in the new database to point to the path being used by the web host. If your willing to send me the Access database I can take a look and see if I can spot any other 'gottas'. You can email me at info at stampsmarter.com (no spaces).
Don

Don, I'm thinking of compiling a spreadsheet listing of all the "safe" pre-1920 US stamps available to new collectors. By safe I mean stamps that are unique, that are not likely to be altered for fraudulent purposes, have confusion caused by color shades, and have selling prices under $200/$250.

I'm also considering creating an illustrated "album" of these, since I have most of them available in my collection. I'm not likely to offer them at my store.

Do you think there might be some benefit in doing this?

Carl,
Anything that increases our chance to learn is a benefit. You suggestion sounds a bit more like an article with a list, as opposed to strictly a database format. If you pull something together I would be happy to publish it.
Don