Launching My Website...

John Becker - I haven't advanced to the point of the different spacings on booklets and coils yet, but I will probably add them at some point. They are certainly collectible varieties that I'd like to include.

I like your suggestion about a 629 plate single as it makes sense to show the difference, thanks!

A really excellent web site. Although I don't collect US, I still very much enjoyed browsing your collection.
Clive

Thanks, Clive...that means a lot to me. I'm hoping to find the time to make continuous improvements on the site. Keep checking back.

Nice page Scott... congrats.

Nice introductory mix of titles.
Informative, illustrative - great work as a whole.

Very nice. I agree that the font size on the web page should be larger. The collection looks great.

I increased the font size on all web pages. Thoughts?

Scott, that's a terrific webpage that showcases an excellently organized collection. Really impressive.

On the "no Scott numbers" thing ("I don't use Scott numbers to identify the stamps due to copyright/trademark restrictions") I wonder if you aren't being overly worried? Consider: In my collection, I often add the Scott catalogue number beneath the stamp. This is an entirely normal and very common policy collectors have used for generations. I've bought very ancient albums with Scott numbers written in the stamp boxes. Yet I've never heard of Scott/Amos ever objecting to this, let alone suing anyone. Why would they? I can make lists of Scott numbers and check off the stamps I own or the stamps I need. That violates no law. The key is that I'm using Scott numbers for my own use and not trying to profit from their use. Using them to identify stamps in a collection is really no different from a dealer identifying a stamp by its Scott number in a catalog or an auction. I am sure that you could add Scott numbers to all your stamps without a problem.

The only problem would come if you made selling your pages a business. You'd be profiting from using Scott's copyright numbers, and that's not allowed. Selling your collection to a dealer is not what I'm referring to, though. That's fine. As a one-use proposition where you added Scott numbers to your pages, you can sell it to a dealer -- or another collector -- without fear you're breaking any law. In fact, I've purchased many used collections where the dealer has marked up the pages with Scott numbers to assess its valuation. All perfectly fine to do. And you can do the same.

I'm no lawyer, and so I'm happy to be corrected but only if a law can be cited that shows collectors are not allowed to add Scott numbers to their own albums pages. I am confident there is no such law. It's merely an exaggerated fear that Scott will magically reach into our private collections and somehow not only discern that we are using Scott catalogue numbers but also decide to threaten a lawsuit over it. Neither will ever happen -- because writing Scott catalogue numbers is not illegal.

As for using Scott numbers on a website, I'm less sure about that. But consider that the numbers would not even be visible since they'd be underneath the stamps. And that dealers list Scott numbers on their websites al the time in order to sell stamps, and they don't license their use from Scott/Amos. So I'm fairly sure that even if you did use the numbers on your website (which you're not going to, anyway), it would never be a problem.

When I first started designing the pages about 10 years ago, I made the conscious decision to not include the Scott numbers should I ever offer the pages for sale. I do use their numbering system in the Excel spreadsheets that I use to track my collection, but have never used them on the pages. Many of my pages are probably more specialized than most collectors would like, but they're easily modified so I may offer them for sale someday. Time will tell.