Is There An Album For Collecting Czech Stamps?

The WW Scott catalogs were in color starting 2006. Normally I don't suggest getting the 2006 catalogs (quite a few listings were messed up in colorizing the catalogs), but the Czechoslovakia listings seem to be OK.

I checked 2006 and onwards for you... the stamp illustrations for Czechoslovakia are completely colorized except for one minor Type illustration, where color is not important. That illustration remains black/white as of the 2009 catalog. I do not own a 2010 catalog.

Enjoy your stamps!

k

Dang it...I wish I had waited until you posted that to make my purchase. I picked up the 2002 volume because there was a copy on Amazon for $1.50 + S&H...I could have picked up the 2008 one for around $6.50 + S&H and had it in full color. Oh well...I guess I'll at least get to see what it includes and decide from there if I need to order a newer volume eventually or not. Thanks again for the info, it's been tremendously helpful!

Sorry. I get slower with each passing minute...

I'm not sure how much they were charging for S&H, but neither is a bad deal at all.

Enjoy your catalog!

Color has it's advantages and disadvantages. Color looks nicer, but the colors aren't that well matched to the stamp. They also improved the pictures as they changed the black and white pics to color pics.

However, there is a whole host of disadvantages:

-- many collectors AND dealers have "lost" stamps because they blended into the page (don't put stamps on your catalog, and you won't have this problem)
-- the pages are slightly glossy (much improved in the 2009 catalog), so you sometimes have to fight a glare
-- it's hard to mark on the glossy pages (I use my 2005 set to mark inventory, the last year the set came out in black and white).
-- I haven't actually compared weights, but I'm pretty sure the color catalog pages are heavier

The strange thing about Amos is that the 2004 Scott Classic catalog came out in color on these wonderful no-gloss pages that I could mark in. But now, all their color catalog come out on glossy pages. I don't know why they don't keep using the no-gloss pages. I'm guessing maybe it consumes more ink when they use the no-gloss paper?

k

No worries, it was my mistake for not waiting. And I think it will be fine either way for now anyway. (I think all of Amazon's 3rd party/used book sellers charge $3.99 for s&h...at least that's what I've seen every time I've purchased that way.) I'm just starting out, so any sort of catalog will probably be an improvement over what I currently have I'm sure I'll enjoy it.




I like the idea of using the catalog to mark what I have/don't have, so the 2002/B&W version might be better for my current needs...at least for the time being. I might eventually decide to pick up a color version depending on what I think of this one, but I'm still pretty happy with a $5 shipped catalog that will (hopefully) cover most of my new collection! I'm sure I'll eventually need to pick up the other ones to know more about Bohemia, Slovakia Moravia, and Eastern Silesia, etc. but for now this should keep me busy

Thanks again!

These will all be in Volume 2, except for Slovakia (in Volume 5).

Also, before it's too late -- there are a LOT of counterfeits of the 1919 overprint of the semipostal stamps. I know I will forget to mention it later. So now you know. Acquire these with caution.

k

That's good to know about what's included in v2. It will definitely give me a good start on everything.

Do you know if there is a website with info on the counterfeits? Or is good info included in the Scott World book? Thank you for pointing that out, now I just need to figure out how to go about determining real from counterfeit.

Puzzler:



Thank you again for the info on the Czechoslovak Philately Society! I had only briefly browsed the website when you first posted the link, but I went back to it tonight and discovered that you can access .PDFs of The Czechoslovak Specialist publication going back to the 1930s! This part of the website alone is sure to keep me busy for years! I'm guessing there is probably a lot more that I will find on there as well, but just having access to the publication is a wonderful discovery! Thanks again!

You are welcome.
It looked liked it might be useful.

It's fantastic! I might end up joining in the next few weeks/months. Even if any of you aren't a Czech stamp collector, you should go there and check out the publication The Czechoslovak Specialist that they have archived...it's a wonderful resource.

I first looked up a couple of things about Mucha and read an article. Then I went back and just started reading them from the beginning and it's really interesting to read articles written by collectors about a country they love and collect which is being overrun during war! It's very intense, even just from the collecting aspect. I mean, of course, there are much more horrible stories than just "we couldn't get this stamp info out of Czechoslovakia because of the Nazis taking over" but that's one story that you never hear that was going on too along with all of the horrors. It's very interesting reading and I'm only part way through 1939...I can't wait to have time to dig in more! I'm sure it will be a wild ride through the war years and then fun post-war and then very interesting again during the Communist regime, etc. Because it's monthly (and I think later, bi-monthly), it's almost a real-time account of this aspect of the hobby since it's early days.

Yesterday, I was the high bidder on another Czech auction...probably the last one for a while, at least until after the holidays. It cleaned out my PayPal account, plus a few bucks from my bank account (but we won't bother my wife with those little details ). Once it arrives and I go through it all and combine what's there with what I already have in my album, I should have a very respectable start on my Czech collection. Hopefully my Scott World Guide C-F will arrive soon as well so I can make a wantlist after that and make some trades in the future.

Anyway, if anyone wants to see what I just picked up, here are the photos that were included with the auction. The seller only included images of 12 of the 28 pages:
http://www.southweststamps.com/auct...%20czech.htm

Thanks for looking!