How Should I Use The Catalogues?

I have Scott and SG in PDF form.
How do I search for a stamp that I want to identify?
Everyone here is so quick to find stamps and pass out the information about them. I don't know how.

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

In general terms, you need to identify the country/issuing authority first. That's usually not too difficult once you get used to what country names are in the native language. Then its try to determine the rough "era" the stamp was issued and look for a corresponding image in the catalogue. I don't collect anything after the WW2 era so it's relatively easy to find the correct general catalogue number. Of course, then you have to deal with all the details to identify it correctly...perforations, watermarks, color variations, varnish bars, etc. Once you get the right country, you should be able to find a picture to make a start.

One of my main weak spots is Chinese stamps. I recognize the Kanji writing, but then finding where to look (Empire, Taiwan, P.R., provinces, regions, non-postal) is a dead end for me.

Establish the country first,
Go to the country,
Establish the cynosure of the design (Example pic shows Queen and Duke of Edinburgh)

CTRL F

Type in suitable hints, "duke" "visit" the value, the colour if unusual.
etc&etc
After a while you get to know the best text strings to try.
That works with any searchable text page on the web.
Your *.pdf may have a search box at the top of page.
If you get a toughie, just scan the stamp, and search via Google images.

If you have a China overprint, say a $5 on $20 red, type in "on $20" in the search box, and hit enter, and it should find the next example, until you hit your stamp.

Hi,
Would you mind telling me from where did you buy the SG pdf catalogue please?

I bought them on ebay: Paid and got a link to download it. Examples:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/All-of-wor...p:rk:11:pf:0

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Michel-G...j:rk:17:pf:0

Are these PDF copies legal?

These are extremely unlikely to be legally licensed by Scott/SG - given the cheapness and location of the seller in Russia. There are many places to find pirated scans of reference works for download on the internet - for a price of course.

Redwoodrandy - no seller on ebay will come forth and say that he's selling pirated copies.
On the other hand, if someone bought a newer version, wants to sell the old one, and wants to save on shipment, he might use this way of selling.

I'm not surprised with the return policy: "Seller does not accept returns."

Seems like he has got access to it from a friend working in Scott/ SG ? Or he has bought it for his use and side by side he is selling a copy to earn the money back.

I am not surprised some sellers of digital material do not allow returns. Keeps too many from making a copy and then asking for refund. I think they should offer media exchanges.

An assorted pack of 100 different stamps from one country became easier when the countries decided to start putting years on their stamps.

"One of my main weak spots is Chinese stamps. I recognize the Kanji writing, but then finding where to look (Empire, Taiwan, P.R., provinces, regions, non-postal) is a dead end for me"

All countries is easy once you learn about their stamps. It all comes from familiarity. Stamps from different eras have different styles which are readily identifiable to collectors who are familiar with a country.

The first step is to identify the country. Chinese stamps often have a dragon in the earliest years or often a "China" symbol which is the rectangle divided by a vertical line in the Chinese character. Japanese stamps either have Japan, Nippon ("Japan" in Japanese) or a chrysanthemum figure which is the symbol of Japan. Korean stamps have either "Korea" in one spelling or another or the "Yin-Yang" symbol (like two fish chasing each others' tails!). After awhile, you can be 95% sure what country a stamp is from pretty quickly. And there aren't so many stamps in the early decades to confuse you. After awhile you'll recognize them all pretty easily. Later on, certainly by the 20th century, these countries always put their names on their stamps.

The way you identify the era a stamp was issues or its type is by browsing repeatedly through your stamp catalogue, looking at each era of stamps and each type of stamp. You slowly get familiar with them. It won't take long to become an "expert" at identifying what country and approximately what era or type of stamp you're looking at. Practice, practice, practice . . . and unlike playing the piano, browsing the catalogue over and over is fun.

When I was in school (late 1970s, sixth grade?), I gave an oral report on how to identify a stamp's country of origin, providing a wide variety of identifying marks and inscriptions in numerous languages. The final sentence of my report was "Or you can buy an H.E. Harris Stamp Finder for 50 cents."

Google Images is a very useful tool. Type in the country (doesn't even need to be translated, if it's in Roman letters), the word stamp, and a couple of key words relating to the design - and chances are you will quickly have a picture of it, and whichever website the image comes from will generally state the year too. Then go back to the catalogue for further investigation.

Google also has a colour filter so you can just get results on red stamps, or blue stamps, if you need to filter the results down.

For example, you have a blue stamp inscribed Canada, showing a map of the country: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=C...ih=828&dpr=1