Linn's Report On New 2018 Split Catalogues

It is coming...

Brace yourselves...

Its definitely true that the catalogs are getting big.
I have to wonder, however, if the 2017 versions won't be bestsellers on the resale market for some time.

The Amosadvantage price is $99 for both. You cannot buy just one of the two as if you just wanted the US. The specialized will be the same price as both books so no joy on a lower priced 2018 US book.

I actually like that they're going with smaller volumes, I just wish they'd have split things up regionally, instead. The current volumes are very large, heavy and unwieldy, and the binding was prone to damage with heavy use. The newer ones should be easier to use, but again, regional editions would have been much more preferable.

I agree they need to be smaller and a need for regional. My used 2005 world classic satisfied my hunger for a general catalogue. In the area I like, it did not list any more stamps that the regular catalogue.

I felt sorry for the poor lady pushed in front of the camera with a slightly rabbit-in-headlights look. But it is endearingly low-key in a world of excess!

LOL GeoffHa,
I love you understated British folks. The other day during a football match the British sports announcer observed a terrible play on the pitch and stated 'well, that was something less than ideal'.
So in keeping with the stoic British nature all I will parrot the same about about the new Scott catalogs, 'well, they are something less than ideal'.
Don

Or, as is attributed to Winston Churchill, instead of calling someone a liar he said they were guilty of "terminological inexactitude".

I've always been of the opinion that there is way to much duplicate effort here. I fell that Scott should limit itself to the US Specialized and also sell Unitrade, a translated MICHEL, etc.

I do not mind the competition since it gives alternatives. In the hobby business, things can change for the worst. For example, I liked the Stamp Collector news magazine but got sucked up by Amos Publishing when buying the Minkus brand.

As I have said before I think Scott will run with this for a couple cycles then realize this format is not what collectors want and go back to the drawing board for maybe 2020 or 2021. Just don't see this setup being something that most collectors or even dealers will want.

Could Scott have expanded to just 7 volumes in 2018 with each volume around 1000 pages? Or could they decide to just list post World War II modern stamps for newer collectors to save space like Beckett does for sports cards?

7 volumes wouldn't help all that much - you'd still be looking at around 1500 pages per volume, or about how many pages the 6 volumes had just 3 or 4 years ago. Realistically they'd need to go with 8 or 9 to make it worthwhile and without being right back in the same boat again in a couple years. And if they did that, they were basically afraid the set would start to get too expensive for institutional buyers such as libraries.

If they came out with regional editions, I'd probably buy the German, British and French editions immediately upon release, and I'd probably buy new versions of them fairly regularly. A regional format would also free them up to list more specialized info that they don't have room for in the Standard. But with a regional format, they were likely afraid that the British Commonwealth collector, for example, would just buy that one regional volume instead of having to buy all 6, and sales would suffer. They might be right. We have to remember that they are a business that needs to turn a profit, and their first obligation is to their bottom line, not to the collector community. If this is what they have to do to stay in business, then so be it. The hobby would be a lot poorer if Scott went under or was sold to someone who did a really crappy job with it.

As long as we are talking about wishes..

As a WW collector, I would like Scott to publish a 1941-1970 year catalogue, which would supplement their very nice 1840-1940 catalogue.

Yvert & Tellier already does this, albeit only to 1960.

The 1970 cut-off date would cover the British Commonwealth colonies transition to independence.

Hi

To TheArtfulHinger: If the catalogs are "regionalized" they may sell more catalogs instead of relying on collectors buying whole "A-Z" sets. The profits may just be the same or maybe more.

Personally, I think Scott is pricing themselves out of business.


Jerry B