Indian States , Albums And Catalogues

Which would be better Steiner pages or an late 60's Minkus India album.
(I have both)
Is Gibbons a good catalogue or is there better?

I will say use Steiner's as a base and modify the pages according to the Stanley Gibbons India & States Stamp Catalogue not the SG World simplified. Steiner's can be modified with LibreOffice Draw , a free alternative to MS Office.

https://www.stanleygibbons.com/prd/...ue/128591922

IS GB a good catalogue, yes if you use the India and States , the world simplified is too simplified. You can of course purchase more specialised book.

It really depends on the scope/goal of your collection.

If your plan is to dig in with classic issues of various states, then Gibbons (either SG India & States or SG Commonwealth & British Empire catalog) is the way to get started. No doubts about it.

Otherwise you'll not notice major difference between the catalogs.

-k-

India pages here

https://stampsbooks.com/india-stamps.html

Or why not use quadrille?

Seriously Geoffha ? , this site make you pay $ 15 for Steiner's pages of only 1 country

I downloaded their samples, here side to side with Steiner's

If you have both, seems like you would be the best one to know which is better

Agree with GeoffHa, if you are really going to specialize, just use black quadrille pages.

Oops - didn't realise that it was a Steiner knock-off.

If you're going to take the Indian States seriously, the Gibbons Part 1 (Commonwealth to 1970), and the latest edition at that, is the only catalogue to consider. Then you can proceed to the other online resources, and join the India Study Circle.

I keep all my Indian States in stockbooks. I very much doubt that there is any printed album that would come even close to a proper showing of the Indian States.

And to toot the horn for tonymacg, one of the true Rajas of Indian Feudal State philately, there is an EXCELLENT thread on the stampboards website dedicated to the stamps of the Indian Feudatory States, or "The Uglies" as some affectionately call them.

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopi...?f=13&t=8480

Gibbons India & States catalogue is a good place to start, but really it is only a starting point to an absolutely rich philatelic field where new discoveries about issues seem to happen every few weeks. The stampboards thread is overflowing with information well beyond the SG catalogue, and the contributors there are very gracious in helping newly interested collectors "tip their toe" into the deep ocean of the Uglies.

DJCMHOH is perhaps too kind about my contributions to the study of the Uglies (as one benighted Englishman called them) ...

However, there are all sorts of unexpected nooks and crannies worth exploring among the Indian States. For example, used copies of the 1931 Charkhari State pictorial set appear regularly: they were dumped on the market for virtually nothing. The set was in fact actually used before the State authorities woke up to what was going on:



but trying to find the genuinely used among the dross of CTOs is quite another matter!

What is the difference between SG Commonwealth 1840 -1970 and SG India and states ?

The latest Part 1 will have all the latest additions to the States listings (and they do keep on coming), whereas the India & States was published a few years ago.

For example, my 2016 Part 1 lists 13 additions and two numbers altered over the 2015 lists for the Indian States.

And there's still much further to go. I've been discussing off-list the 'lemon' shades of the Jaipur State 1912-22 Chariot set - still unlisted by Gibbons:



I'll happily give full Gibbons value for a copy of this shade used on commercial card or cover. Mint, Gibbons rate the ¼ Anna at £2-£2.25, and used at £3.25-£3.50; I'd suggest trying to find a 'lemon' ¼ Anna at these prices ...

tonymacg thanks for the advice.
Reference material is important but SG Commonwealth pt 1 is about $200 Can.and India and states $60 Can.
Not sure how deep I want to get.

If you don't want to drown, you should be able to pick up a recent SG Commonwealth for around thirty quid. Probably about five Canadian dollars post Brexit!