1912 Edition Of Scott Catalog

I've been going back through my collection and found this catalog packed away. Not sure if folks are interested but thought I'd share a few pages. I find this kind of stuff way cool. It only has 12 pages devoted to U.S. general issues. I'm sorting through a bunch of Washington-Franklins so its interesting to see what they were going for back then. They were hot off the presses.

Super cool! Thanks for sharing. Interesting info on rarity sales you don't see in today's catalog!

To keep things in perspective: when looking at inflation/buying power, 1 dollar in 1912 is the equivalent of $281.44 today!

This means that today's prices are 28.14 times higher than average prices since 1912, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index. A dollar today only buys 3.55% of what it could buy back then.

At that rate...
So a Mint #30 at $150.00 in 1912 would have been $42,666.00 in today's dollars.
That #15 at 4¢ would be $11.26 today.

You have slipped a few digits - $1 X 28.14 is $28.14 not $281.44
$150 X 28.14 would be $4,221 not $42,666. The 4¢ stamp would be $1.13

Thanks for sharing this. That catalog looks like it is in pretty good shape!

Nice find! Thanks for sharing this.

SPQR: Yes I did! thanks for the correction.

To add some size perspective, here is the 1907 Scott "all the world in one volume" on top of the 2017 U.S. Specialized catalog. Page size is 4" x 6.5", and only 1-1/8" thick.


And an image I have posted before:

John, is row of Scott catalogs from your personal library? If so, impressive!

Basil

Yes, One can never have too many books!

Indeed.
My Stanley Gibbons shelf.

My earliest of very few Stanley Gibbons: 1920, Part II, Stamps of Foreign Countries:


Which means the U.S. is a "foreign country". Page 815 lists the 5 cent 1847 issue as #1 well before Scott renumbered them:

Fascinating !
What was the Scott number before re-numbering?

I actually have two shelves of Gibbons,
the 1990 tomes are like doorsteps, and need a taller shelf to accomodate.

My earliest Gibbons Catalogue is 1956.
My earliest Gibbons Stamp Journal (hardcopy) is 1928
My earliest Gibbons Stamp Journal (*.pdf) is 1903

The U.S. 1847 issue was #28 and 29 as seen in the first scan of this thread. They became 1 and 2 sometime between the 1943 and 1949 catalogs. Scott had made a lot of changes, additions, deletions, etc., over the years. A chronicle of them all would fill a volume in itself.

Harper1249,

I agree that this stuff is way cool. All I have is a 1958 Harris Catalog.

Jack Kelley