Michel (Re)enters The Line Of Worldwide Classic Specialized Catalogs

I'm not fluent in German, but I'll give it a shot. "Fools rush in" as they say.

"It is difficult to to determine when the end of the classical period has begun, many point to the 1st World War as the interruption."

Thanks bookbndrbob.

I suspect this sentiment was why Michel was initially planning to expand to 1914 for their WW coverage.

But the now apparent 1840-1900 date cut-off suggest they have pulled back from that.

Today I received my copy of the Klassik Europe, 1840-1900. Here's the index, to give you an idea of what the page counts are for the respective countries.



Germany is much larger than the rest, as one should expect from Michel, but part of that is because "Deutschland" includes the German States and Colonies in addition to Germany proper (which is actually quite small pre-1900). The Germany section appears to be identical to their Germany specialized up to 1900, and I note that for some reason, they included all the German Colonies listings, even those as late as 1919.

I can't speak to exactly how specialized the other sections are, as I don't know much about the other European countries' stamps. If anyone would like me to show a sample to give you an idea of the level of detail, just give me something to lookup.

When looking at page counts, I do get the sensation that also UK, Austria, Russia and Switzerland have to be based on 'spezial' catalog contents instead of the standard edition. The page counts for those are simply way larger than in regular edition.

-k-

I'm surprised there isn't at least one page for Kreta/Crete.

Maybe Crete is listed under Turkey?

I'd expect to see the British and Russian post office issues and the first issue of autonomous Crete.

Perhaps the start date of 1898 was decided to be too late?

I realize that the chances of this are near zero, but I'd love it if the next announcements from Michel were for two more volumes, covering 1900-1945.

I'm very happy with SG Commonwealth and Scott Classic as one-volume references, but if Michel fleshed this out a bit with another two volumes, I'd be tempted.

As it is, if I see these at a show, it's hard to imagine walking past them.

I have an old Yvert Classique 1840-1940 and it adds a few things here and there that I don't find in Scott or SG. I was hoping Yvert would keep to a five-year release schedule, which would have had a new one out in 2015, but unless I completely missed it, I think we're still on 2010 as the most-current version.

Yvert does a semi-modern worldwide catalogue (their words), covering 1941-1960, and that spills into two volumes. I've never thumbed through them. The 1840-1940 is about 1100 pages; the 1941-1960 volumes, added together, are over 1050 pages. 100 years versus 20 years. Relatively similar page counts. Hmmm.

I received the Michel Klassik Übersee bis 1900 in the mail today. It covers worldwide to 1900, except Europe which is covered in the previously released Klassik Europa 1840-1900.

Here's a sample page (click to enlarge):



The US section is specialized. Its listing contain a basic listing ("Billigste Sorte", or cheapest variety) (click to enlarge):



Then a more specialized listing (click all to enlarge):





If you're fan of Michel's system, the combination of these two catalogs is excellent for worldwide to 1900.

Thank you for posting the Victorian Page...Interesting,
look forward to see how it looks against Scott.

Checked Amazon Catalogue 89 euros ($140 Aussie)

That's the same price I paid direct from Michel.

It's a little difficult to make a direct comparison to Scott since Scott's numbering system gives me fits. If I'm reading it correctly, the non-specialized areas of Michel aren't quite as detailed as the Scott Classic Specialized. I don't have access to the basic Scott to compare.

Of note, I also see where Michel recently published a French Colonies & Occupations catalog, and is soon to publish a British Colonies & Occupations catalog. Not sure if either is specialized or not. Looks like they may be expanding beyond their standard approach and attempting to cater to those who want to collect specific areas without buying a complete set of worldwide catalogs.

It is extremely difficult to translate any language with google or similar programs because "Philatelic Language" comes from a world of it's own.
Best to use "Philatelic Dictionaries."

By the way there is also the possibility of a personalized Michel catalogue, so you choose your area and put it all together in your own Michel catalogue where you can also decide the cover color and text :).
http://www.briefmarken.de/michelsho...ammelgebiete
(but not for a specific time period like classic I think)

Is there any chance these will come out in an English edition?