Stamp Catalogues Query

Being a Commonwealth collector, I only use the Gibbons catalogue, but would like to know why there is a difference in the numbering systems between brands, for instance I'll see SG30 but Scott number 28 for the same stamp.... I would have thought that all officially issued stamps would be listed for any particulat country
Also.... why does the (Gibbons) catalogue have missing numbers in the listings, I've seen occassional gaps where the number jumps 2 or 3 ahead with no explanation for doing so
It's probably a couple of daft question!.... but I'm stumped
Any help, very much appreciated !

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

In my opinion...
Much of the reason catalog numbers do not 'match' is that catalog publishers think they can torture copyright laws and prevent others from using 'their' numbers.

Some of the reason the catalog numbering systems have missing numbers is because the legacy numbering system was not originally well thought out and the publishers try to 'hold' number back in anticipation of future stamps being added to that series.
Don

Each country developed their own catalog system . Scott started their catalog so they can inventory their stamps to the albums that they were printing.Later different stamp societies and experience collectors added input .Each catalog has their own copyright to their numbering system.

Thank you for the information... it's a great help
Between them, you'd think they would have ironed out all the flaws by now
Again thank you both !

Where numbering and ordering chiefly goes awry is internal structuring. Gibbons - and, I think, Michel - list stamps in broad order of issue. Yvert does too, but separates air-mail stamps. Scott is unique in separating air-mail and charity stamps.

Gibbons, I think, also assigns major numbers differently to Scott in some cases, and will, of course, have much more detail of GB/Commonwealth isues.

Another reason for skipping numbers. Some publishers reserved numbers for stamps in definitive series but then some values were never issued

Peter

I wish there was a compendium available which would cross reference each numbering system. Especially Scott to Stanley Gibbons. Which, by the way, does anybody out there know what the Scott number would be for the SG X1053 (Machin) stamp? I am looking a MNH without success.

Jack Kelley

Sleekit: if you (or anyone else) have access to a Scott catalogue, look at the listings for Portuguese India from about 1902 to 1915. There are a lot of missing numbers in the sequences.

As I understand it; maybe others know more; someone convinced the Scott editors in the late 1950s that P. I. had a number of stamps that did not exist, were clandestine printings, etc. So, they got removed. Problem is, they do exist and I have several of them. Scott has tried to adjust by doing some footnotes. But most of the removed stamps that do exist haven't been re-inserted.

Since I live in the US, I have no need for Gibbons numbers and get frustrated when US dealers and auction houses try to use Gibbons. The one exception is that I have a Gibbons British East Africa catalogue; one of my several specialty areas; so I can identify varieties.

You can find dealers (usually British) that will have price lists that can be used as a conversion file.

MH128.

Robert

The problem with listing stamp in the catalogs is the home countries stamp societies and the local dealers tell the editors what to list ,most of the time the editors of the catalog listen to the local experts.