Which Is The Best Michel For A German Collection

Whether my decision to start collecting Germany,after uncovering a decent collection among the accumulation of stamps I inherited and the recent amicable settlement of the 'mint stamps stuck in stock book debacle',was generally a good idea or suicidal remains to be seen, my next question is which catalogue to go after.
Michel seems the obvious choice but which one?
I would be interested in a catalogue that lists colour, watermark and perf varieties - is the specialised catalogue an overkill for this or would the Junior or the normal 'Deutschland' issue be sufficient?
I see in previous posts that the Junior is compared to Scott's but I've never used Scott catalogues so I'm clueless to that end too.

I highly recommend Michel Spezial for Germany. If you don't to go into the deep end of the pool for some issues, you don't need to. You can easily use the catalog as well.

The advantage of the Deutschland-Spezial is that within it there is a lot more information than most collectors or specialists need. When your knowledge and curiosity increases, the answers will be there. With a less comprehensive catalog, you will often be left without the answers to your questions.

Michel Deutschland Spezial, no question. Vol 1 if you focusing pre- May 1945, Vol 2 covers post-May 1945. Yes they are in German, but Google translate is your friend if you get stuck.

You can get an older one cheaper, if you like. The pricing will be off (it's not net retail pricing anyway), but the catalog numbers are used all over and for the most part haven't changed.

I ordered the 2016 editions yesterday direct from Michel, both volumes for $100 shipping included

John

Thanks for your input guys - Deutschland-Spezial it is then.

Do the Michel Deutschland-Spezial books include East Germany (DDR/GDR)?

yes in the 2nd volume. (by the way there seems to be also an English version, which I don't know.)

I'll echo what previous posters have said: Deutschland-Spezial hands down for German stamps.

The German language version includes DDR, the English language version doesn't.

If you aren't acquainted with German, Michel has an introduction for English speaking readers:

http://www.briefmarken.de/images/PD...Englisch.pdf

Dan

The English language actually leaves out quite a bit. No early German States, although it does include the North German Confederation. No WWI occupation issues, nor the post-WWI plebiscite territories. And no issues of the Federal Republic.

But for what it does cover, which is a lot, it is just as specialized as the Deutschland-Spezial catalogs, but easier for the linguistically challenged, such as myself, to understand. I have both.