Please Help With Michel Germany Catalog

I just got active again with my German collecting and have been working from a 89-90 copy of Michel. It is mostly working, the main issue is attempting to find a correlation with Scott to find stamps on ebay I too was wondering about English language options and did not know that Michel had put out an English language introduction to the terms in the catalog. That will help a great deal. Thanks Philatarium!


Michael

You bet!

I guess I should post the link to it, in case it's helpful to others.

The booklet (pdf) is here:

https://www.briefmarken.de/images/P...Englisch.pdf

From their page here:

https://www.briefmarken.de/international-customers


And the Google translate link is:

https://translate.google.com/

There's also an Android app (I bet one for the Apple platform as well). The added advantage of the Android app is that you can take a picture of something with your camera phone and have it translate it. (Best if done only a few lines at a time, in my experience.)

You can also get a German-English Philatelic Dictionary from the Germany Philatelic Society:

http://germanyphilatelicsocietyusa.org/sales.html

You'll need to scroll down to the "GPS Library Series" heading to see it. It's much more comprehensive than Michel's guide for English speakers, although Michel's guide is mostly sufficient for using the catalog.

For those wondering, the new Michel English-language catalogs cover fewer areas (no German States, DDR, BDR, for example), but those areas they do cover are literal translations of the German-language Spezial catalog -- no info is deleted as far as I can tell, not even a single note.

PostmasterGS, that's very helpful information. Thanks!

Philatarium,

Shoot me your e-mail address. I'm at postmaster /--at--/ germanstamps.net.

I agree that German version is ultimate solution and Google is a great tool. For example, I use Google translation a lot when I shop for stamps on German ebay. But at least with ebay.de I do not need to type! This is one of many reasons why I prefer soft copy of catalogue - it is easy to copy/paste text into translator.

For Michel users and fans: I've got another related question concerning the Michel Deutschland-Katalog. Until now I have been using Scott Specialized for Germany, but realize I probably should aquire a proper Michel catalog. I want more details on the classics than Scott is providing, want much more details for the colonial issues - and better coverage of provisional issues following the end of WW1 and WW2 etc . On the other hand I am not too interested in much details after 1949 and do not necessarily need pages up and down with plate flaws, errors, minute varieties etc etc.
So my question to the Michel fans - is the Michel Deutschland-Katalog already a considerably more detailed option than Scott specialised? Or do I need to take the plunge into Michels 2-vol Spezial katalog?

Dankeschön meinen Herren

Blaamand,

The basic Michel is far more detailed than anything Scott publishes. The Speciailzed is about 10 times more detailed.

Shoot me your email address and I'll send you some helpful information. My email address is above.

Michel also lists some stamps that Scott doesn't list at all - among them certain WWII feldpost issues, propaganda forgeries, postwar local issues, etc. This is in addition to many shades, booklet or watermark varieties, prices for blocks, pairs, or covers, etc, that Scott doesn't list for the major stamps. Scott's listings for Germany, even in the Classic Specialized, are somewhat like comparing a pocket Scott US Catalog vs. the US Specialized. Scott is adequate if you simply want a single stamp of any given design and you buy or sell mainly within North America. If you want to specialize beyond that and/or communicate with dealers or collectors in Europe, Michel is essential.

TheArtfulHinger - thanks a lot for chiming in Yepp, all those propaganda forgeries, postwar local issues etc that is obviously missing in Scott - it is simply annoying . However, you seem to misunderstand my question - I am not in doubt that Michel is better than Scott - my question is which Michel to choose - the basic or the 'spezial'?

Postmaster -

Perfect That's kind of what I'd expected - so maybe the basic Michel catalog would be sufficient for my needs then. Thank you so much for offering to help. Some example pages from the basic catalog - for instance a page for classics like the Eagles - and maybe an example of any German colony page?? That would help me quite a lot. PM sent

Hi!
If there are any problems with German Michel terms - just let me know.
I've been speaking German for 49 - okay let's say 48 years - now.