Time To Invest In A Catalogue Advice For A Newcomer

Hello all. It has been about a month and a half that I discovered stamps through a nice world gifted collection with heavy emphasis on Mexico and US. I was immediately hooked, and have been educating myself through this forum (some very kind patient people), Stamp Smarter, StampWorld, Mystic Albums, online reading etc.

Thus far, I have been using a combination of the above, mostly Stamp World and Smarter to identify my stamps. Now that my collection is growing and I am more decided on my focus areas, I was hoping you could provide advice on a catalog for a beginner as well as advice on best value (I know they can be very expensive). My interests are 1st. US and Mexico - these I do plan to place in Album with mounts.

I also realize that I love my World stamps and will not be able to only focus on US and Mexico. My interests are in the early stamps from France, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Greece, UK + colonies and China. I know Scott is the gold standard - is there a particular version or type that I should look into. Apologies if the answer is easy, I value your opinions.

Thank you.

Biased opinion.
There is only 1 catalogue for a beginner...Scott
choose wisely, for it will determine your future and how you collect.
Buy older catalogues used cheaply, or buy 2019 country pages of the area you collect.
I would have Scott as my base reference, others as you progress.

Pros
Scott numbers are used often (with Michel) on ebay.
You can marry stamp album pages from Steiner.
The Scott font is easily read and understood.

Thank you Rod. Ok to ensure I am clear: so I should look for possibly an older Scott Catalog (possibly ebay) that I use for US and MX - as my baseline/main reference...or is that only US?

For the other countries that I am just starting - I could purchase individual country pages, also through Scott?

Thanks again.

Scott may be the gold standard for the US, but not for elsewhere. How much you want to spend on catalogues will depend on the level of interest you develop. For GB and the Commonwealth, the Gibbons Commonwealth catalogue is the obvious resource. For France, Maury is the best, but Yvert would suffice and it produces a single-volume catalogue for French Colonies. Look around and you can find older catalogues cheap. I have a few recent catalogues, but much of the time I use '60s and '70s Gibbons catalogues bought at auction for a pittance.

Ok, that is what I thought. Looks like I need to keep up with my keen ebay skills to snag a couple of catalogues to get started. I think Rod is correct - start with basic for US - and as I work on the others (obviously I need Mexico - Stamp world does not do MX justice at all) - but I will than pace myself for the next country - possibly UK...I just snagged an 1881 (used) 2 1/2D Two pence halfpenny (blue) with my sons initials...a slippery slope, but a fun one.

The Scott Classic Worldwide 1840-1940 (1952 for British Empire) is, as far as I'm aware, the only English language catalogue that covers the early stamps of the whole world. In my opinion it's absolutely perfect for someone starting out.

Only if you choose to specialise will you need more indepth catalogues.

Old Stanley Gibbons catalogues (what was called part 1 and 2 - Empire and Rest of World**) also contain good information. They're cheap, readily available (see abebooks or ebay) and make a good cross reference to the Scott catalogue mentioned above.

**After the war, these became a 3 volume set, with volumes 2 (Europe & colonies) & 3 (rest of world) issued in alternate years.

For my day to day needs I picked up the six volumes of the 2016 Scott Catalogue cheaply between Amazon and ebay. I have also picked up the 2017 U.S. Specialized and Classic Specialized at what I considered good prices on ebay.

It takes some patience to find a good deal, but it's worth the wait.

Dale

The two specialized Scott catalogues of 4-5 years ago will cover almost everything missing from the online catalogs. U. S. Specialized and the Classic Specialized, (Worldwide 1840-1940) Just saw both for $20 ea. on ebay.

Scott Worldwide Mrita. (as others here have advised)
Be cautious with ebay.

Personally my route, would be patient and canny, if you want a good deal without emptying the purse.

My route would to first join a stamp club (if you have one) in your district.
Collectors just love newbie collectors, you'll have lots of fun, believe me.
A great source of old catalogues at bargain prices.
+ lots of stamps too.

Myself, with Gibbons, I applied and put my name down at the Library,
when they upgrade, I get their Gibbons set at a giveaway price.

I began with a 1965 Gibbons worldwide ($4),
A Scott US specialty 1976 ($2)

Then upgraded to Scott Volumes 10 years later.
That's when I began to really enjoy my Hobby.

Gibbons is indispensible for Brit Commonwealth
Michel likewise for Germany and Gulf States
But Scott Rules the world.

Be aware Scott (unlike Gibbons) separates Semi Postals etc back of book,
I love that, others hate it

When you go shopping, try Used Bookshops, they often have stamp catalogues tucked away...........

In Scott, I dread the tiny "See Nos. ..." notes.

Robert

Granted, I have a notebook aside my desk, I oft jot down those numbers when seeking later issues.
However, do an apprenticeship with Gibbons when identifying "Types" split over a number of years. One can go bald, tearing their hair out.

A workaround is to Scan the pages of the Catalogue, then do an OCR for the subsequent *.pdf

I did that for Australia 1975-1996 regarding the 45c issues,
there are hundreds of issues 485? and that was my way of sorting issues en masse.

Thank you everyone - this is all good information and I will shop around - the worldwide option I think is a good route as I am not ready to get ULTRA specialized. Additionally I like BOB - a lot of interest in Revenues.

I am going to research a local stamp club - though it might be tough for me: full time demanding career and young children at home - hopefully I can find something close in this big city I live in. I definitely need to get out more (for myself) and it would be fun to meet new people and learn from experienced collectors...I also hope you are correct, that they "like" and welcome newbies like me.

If you are near a public library, you may well be able to consult a Scott catalogue there or even check it out while you wait to obtain your own.

Another source, is addall.com for used books. It is a metasearch which simultaneously encompasses Amazon, alibris, abebooks, powells, and dozens of other bookstores, including Better World Book, goodwills, etc, so you can get a fixed reliable price for a particular catalogue and year without the delay and uncertainty inherent in bidding on ebay. Older ones are inexpensive — its the shipping that gets you if you go for a full set.
—-
Edited to add addall's coverage in their search of better world books, mentioned below for free shipping... good point Waddsbadds!

A lot of good advice here already, several people have mentioned used book sellers, jleb1979 mentioned the high costs of shipping.A good alternative to that is Better World Books which ships books free within the US,they also have a great charity program which donates books to schools in need.And if you have any books you want to get rid of,they will accept donations and even let you print out a prepaid shipping label. As for catalogues for other countries you might collect,AFA is excellent for Denmark (one of my areas of interest),but the drawback is that it's written entirely in Danish, and the prices are in Danish kroner, still you can figure out a lot of the words,and things like relative age,watermark,perforation,etc you can get from Scott,and they easily translate. Another good one for the Scandinavian countries is Facit, published in Sweden, (prices in Swedish kroner of course) but written in both Swedish and English which is a huge plus. Again you can pick up older ones fairly cheaply. Good luck!

You are going to have a surprise, I warrant.
Unless you go to a high level club in a City, you will find a local club like a knitting circle!
From the 4 clubs I have belonged to, you sit around a table, usually 10-15 collectors, have a chat about the kids, the weather etc.

Club secretary calls to order, discusses things from pass meets, people make comments, cups of tea are made, with bikkies, a 30 minute auction may occur, people disposing of duplicates, you raise your hand, "I am looking for used catalogues" tra la la la
There are always a handful of ladies collecting.. It's all just a bit of a giggle and highly enjoyable.

Have no fear........

1 club met behind the retail shop of washing machines,
another, in the boardroom of a small independent news paper.
Take a dollar or two for the bikkies.

Well, good news - I was able to get a 2000 Scott Specialized Worldwide 1840-1940 including US (good condition) from Half Price books - but sold and distributed by Better World Books. I got it for $20 which in my opinion is fantastic compared to ebay, Amazon and other places that I searched - wow, crazy high prices. I can't wait to get it.