Scott 2016 Catalogs

I just read an Amos Press Ad in the March 28, 2016 issue of Linn's Stamp News where the upcoming 2017 Catalogs are announced and price. According to the advertisement, each of the individual six volumes will also have US catalog pages. Since I haven't bought new catalogs in a long time I was surprised to see this. Is this new with the 2017 catalogs or just a continuation of previous years arrangement?

I saw the same ad. I think it is new; can't confirm 100%, but based on pictures of last year's catalogs this seems to be new.

This is definitely new. For the Standard 6-volume catalog, US listings have historically been ONLY in Volume 1. I do wonder what their marketing angle is on this, if it's true. Even just the "regular" listings for the US (inc. airmails and postage dues, etc, but no revenues, no territories, no postal stationery, no computer-vended postage, etc) are around 175 pages in the 2016 Vol. 1. Including those other items, the US (inc. UN) section of Vol. 1 is nearly 300 pages. And the catalogs are already massive - over 1700 pages in most cases.

Out of interest, why would anyone buy an individual volume of this (or Gibbons' Stamps of the World)? Surely anyone with an interest in a specific country would buy a specfic, detailed catalogue, rather than rely on a few pages in a general one.

It depends how you collect and how specialized you want to get. If you simply want one face-different example of each stamp and aren't concerned with color variations, plate varities, blocks, covers, etc, a simplified catalog is just fine. Not every collector likes getting into minutiae and a simple description and value for the most common type is adequate for such collectors.

On another note, I just looked at the actual ad in Linn's. I think I'd bet at least $10 that the ad is a misprint. More than likely it should have read that US is only in Vol 1. That's the way they've done it for a very long time and it wouldn't make any sense to either split it up or duplicate it in the other volumes.

Artful

I see, of course, that you mightn't want great detail, but these catalogues - Scott or Gibbons - are, what, £50 each if bought singly? If I were just interested in France, for example, I could go and buy Maury or Yvert for half that. And get better design and pictures!

Geoff

(Referring only to postage stamps; catalogs for revenues, cinderellas, postal stationery, etc. are a different matter)

Some collecters will go out of their way to get appropriate specialized catalogs for the countries or regions they collect (Michel for German area, Gibbons for British Commonwealth, Facit for Scandinavia, etc.). These tend to be more specialized collectors.

If, however, you are a worldwide or topical collector, you are more likely to get the catalog that is most widely accepted in the area where you live; i.e., most dealers in the U.S. use Scott as the standard and most items are priced based on Scott, so that is the catalog system that will be most useful. If, on the other hand, you live in the U.K., it would make the most sense to buy Stanley Gibbons.

That said, IMO the best world single-volume catalog being printed today is the Scott Classic Specialized, which covers the entire world to 1940 and British Commonwealth to 1952. It offers expanded listings over the regular Scott catalogs. I own COB (Belgium), Facit, Maury, Yvert, Michel, and SG catalogs, along with a complete set of Scott catalogs, but if I had to make do with only ONE volume, it would be the Classic Specialized.

Brand new Scott Catalogues are around $100-$120 per volume (probably around £75 in that funny money you Brits use . But many collectors buy older used copies for a fraction of that. And a used Scott Catalogue has the advantage, as revenuecollector mentioned, of using the Scott numbering system and being written in English. Most of us Yanks are not multi-lingual, at least not to the extent that Europeans tend to be, and few dealers or online sellers in the US list using catalogs other than Scott.

Or if you're patient you can get a complete Scott set when Amos puts them on clearance as they ramp up for the new season. Right now, sets of 2016 volumes 1-6 are $299 and 1-7 are $349. That's roughly a 40% discount from the regular street price throughout the catalog season.

Artful

Ah, I hadn't realised that Scott was in English.

Geoff

Well, it's not the Queen's, per se, but 'merican.

As a side note, I once had someone ask me, in all seriousness, if they spoke American over there in England. I think I said that no, by golly, I don't think they do.

Revisiting this for a second, you can actually buy individual countries from the Scott Catalogue, just not from Scott. There is a seller who buys Scott Catalogues (they are softbound) and literally slices individual countries from it, binding and all. You're not buying copies of the pages, you're buying the actual pages, cut from the catalog and still bound together. The pages won't have a front or back cover, however. Smaller or less popular countries can be bought for as little as $5 or less. Large, popular countries such as Great Britain, France, Germany, etc. are closer to $30.

Artful

As you probably know, footballers are notoriously dense. One example of this was when Liverpool's centre-forward, Ian Rush, was sold to Juventus in Turin. Complaining about the difficulty of settling in, he said that "It's like being in another country".

ebay has produced some odd mini-businesses, but ripping apart stamp catalogues for resale must be one of the stranger ones. I see the practical appeal though!

Geoff

When they commented on reports I wrote I always liked to remind my American bosses that it is called the ENGLISH language and therefore, by definition, my spellings must be correct

I'm not sure what Scott's marketing is on this. Every year they have to add new pages to each volume.

2018 Scott catalogue revamp reminder.http://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps...di.html.html