Unitrade Canada 2017 Current Catalogue Status

There exists The Canadian Stamp Handbooks by Michael Milos from http://www.unitrade.ca. These used to go into greater detail than the Unitrade specialized catalogue for some Canadian stamp issues in the past but now it appears that the Unitrade specialized catalogue has mostly caught up to what is in these handbook pages since these have not been revised lately. Also, the editor of the Unitrade catalogue Robin Harris has written several very helpful and detailed specialized books on different definitive series of Elizabethan stamps which according to his website at http://www.adminware.ca is currently in the process of being updated. Also, there are some Elizabethan books by Joseph Monteiro at http://www.blurb.ca/user/monjos

Maury and Yvert are still producing one thousand-page-plus hardback catalogues for France. Is Unitrade's binding the problem?

I am thinking likewise GeofHa. The spiral binding can be sacrificed.

I must admit that I have never seen a Maury and Yvert catalogue, let alone a catalogue that is 1000 plus page large. I would suspect that a book that large, which is bound in the usual manner, would not lay flat or if forced that the spine would break and pages would begin to fall out. To me, this would be unacceptable. Find a binding that keeps the book intact and useful. If that means two volumes, so be it. One doesn't have to buy both volumes every year. If your thing is to be as current as (financially) possible, buy one volume each other year.

Agree with most of you. 1 volume or 2 is not a problem for me, it is the content !! I do prefer a volume that stays flat when open, thus spiral volumes work easier for me.
I would be surprised (or impressed) that more info would be added on the LQ, SQ,... Adm etc. and suggested color chart would be of great help !! We do hve to buy specialized books just to deal with the shades etc of these precious stamps

Absolutely. And a perforation gauge with the exact measurements, not the nearest 1/4 or nearest Kiusalas.

Bee See: I agree with you about using perforations such as some of those already listed in http://www.stampsmarter.com/learnin..._canada.html

They should also have new different experts deal specifically with certain issues that they are experts on in addition to those same dealers and experts that have already been listed there for many years.

Unitrade does already go into decimals (1/10) for many newer issues.

For older issues, they should at least go into 1/4 gauge measurements for the BABN Arch Leaf Issue (1930-1931) and the BABN Medallion Issue (1932-1933). Most BABN rotary press stamps gauge 11 1/4 x 11 and most flat plate press stamps gauge 11 x 11. Unitrade currently has them both as perf 11. This is one area where there would be an advantage in doing this.

While the Kiusalas gauge covers many Large Queen and Small Queen gauges, there is a gauge 12.00 (12-65.5?) that is in between Kiusalas 12-65 and 12-66 which dominates most of the Montreal and Second Ottawa printings. This is something that needs to be properly noted since perf 12 is used to generally cover anything from 11.90 to 12.1 See page 20 in http://www.bnatopics.org/journals/a...o.%20457.pdf

I am a bit surprised at the calls for a color chart in this catalog. The cost of doing this properly is very high and ultimately would have limited value.

The costs would including developing the original specification of each color and hue, settling any color nomenclature issues, getting the printers to generate the correct chart, and then printing the chart with costly inks/paper top increase the colorfastness.

And even if they got the above done, the obvious problem is ambient light. How the colors and hues are perceived depends completely upon the ambient light they are being viewed under. So viewing the chart under natural, indirect light from a window would be different than viewing in direct sunlight, under fluorescent lights, or under LED lights. (Perhaps the catalog publisher could offer an optional custom 'viewing' LED light to view the stamp and chart under? )

And lastly, a color chart has an expiration date. Depending on how much is invested in the special paper/inks used to make it more color fast, life expectancy might be around 10 years (if chart was never left open or has long term exposure to light). Of course, this might be considered a 'plus' by some catalog publishers since it might drive more repeat sales.
Don

Don: There are already Canadian (and U.S.) colour charts by Richard M. Morris and Ron Ribler as "Color Guide System for Large & Small Queens & Widows Weeds & Registration Stamps of Canada" and "Color Guide for the Admiral Issue of Canada" so that they probably don't need to develop new ones. See https://www.rpsc.org/reference/lit/lit_colour.htm

Also, the Canadian philatelic blog by Chris McFetridge goes into much more detail on Canadian stamp issues than most stamp catalogues including colour, paper, gum and other such varieties. If catalogues and collectors want to find out more about some issues, this is a great philatelic resource. See: http://canadianphilately.blogspot.ca/

Hi jogil,
Understood. Do they publish ambient light specifications or at least describe the ambient light they should be viewed under (i.e. office lighting at arm's length)? How do they address the confusion with the color naming issues? Are their color names considered to be the 'industry standard' so that other catalog publishers all use them (i.e. SG, Scott, etc.)? Is a rose a rose?
Don

Hi Don. Since I am not a colour expert, I do know how they approach these things. The best place that deals with these things these days is probably the following: http://analyticalphilately.org/

Thanks for the links, jogil

Very interesting discussion guys

A stamp catalogue should follow a logical and consistent manner of numbering stamps such as keeping stamps with the same die with same design and denomination together rather than splitting them up and giving some varieties a big separate whole number and other varieties a small collective sub-number which can be confusing at times. The British North America Specialized Stamp Catalogue is a Canada catalogue that overcomes this. See http://www.nfldstamps.com

One of the silliest conventions is to group all the airmail stamps together at the end. They belong with the series they are part of.