Help Needed For Starting Out With Sg Specialised Catalogue

Hello all,

I'm Stu, living in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. I hope this is in the right forum - this is my first post.

Having done nothing with my stamps for many years (they're in stock books, envelopes etc right now) I want to bring some order to my stamps and think the specialised catalogue looks fun to use!

I have been gifted a 1993 version of the SG four Kings catalogue so thought I would start there as it looks like an excellent hobby during the approaching winter to sift though my old stamps with magnifier, watermark detector and a wee dram (I have a lot of GVI and will start there I think.)

So a few questions if I may;

Is the 1993 version fine to use or are there benefits from a newer version of the four Kings catalogue perhaps?

What would you recommend for watermark detection?

Are there any tips you could offer me for starting out with a specialised collection? For example how to display them and what album to use?

I really would appreciate any advice at all you could offer me as I begin my philatelic journey and thank you indeed for your time.

All the very best to you,
Stu

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

Welcome to the forum!
Some of your questions, the watermark one for instance, are searchable on here. There is a search button on each page, close to your login spot.
As for an album. I have a couple of specialized collections, and it is very hard to find albums for those. Hence I print my own. I use AlbumEasy, and you can find that here: www.thestampweb.com . It is a free program, and you could possibly already find what you need from a fellow collector.
Good luck!


Peter

Additions, primarily, will be in the range of watermark and other varieties. There will be more background information. Maybe a shade or two will have been added. But there will not be much difference to the listings.




There are fluids that will not affect the gum of unused stamps. For used stamps a black receptacle with a little water will do it. There are also very expensive electronic devices.
Most of the time, a good scanner with a black background will do the trick for British stamps from this period.




You may struggle to find a pre-printed album. For a specialised collection, consider using blank pages and make your own. It depends om whether you collect mint or used, or rather how much you spent on stamps, what would be a good system. If you buy top quality unmounted mint stamps, consider the top range blank pocket systems produced by mostly German publishers. You, however, may want to start with Vario pages or a stockbook.
If you are not spending much on your stamps, you might consider cheaper systems using hinges. Stanley Gibbons has such albums, but there are cheaper alternatives.

edit:
Be aware you may have gaps. If you do not want them, using hinges, and even more so using mounts may become expensive if you move stamps around when you add stamps or decide to hide the gaps because you cannot find stamps.

One tip: if SG lists ten shades, ten stamps in different shades may still be one shade from the listing. Collecting according to that catalogue is mostly about shades. And there are a lot of people around who sell shades for what they are not.

An example for specialised George V photogravure issues as per that catalogue's listing on Lindner T Blanko pages.

When you like to add to your George VI stamps. You will find the basic stamps in your catalogue,

A few thoughts, in no order:
—Lighter/watermark detection fluid are old, reliable standbys. As budget allows, other possibilities like multi-wavelength lamps open up.
—There are several definitions and degrees of "specialized." These range from just focusing on the Four Kings era (and ignoring shades and watermarks), to really specializing on the period, with shades, watermarks, errors, etc. Let yourself be open to wherever the hobby takes you.
—GB or Commonwealth?
—Preprinted albums do exist, from SG and Scott to Lighthouse and Lindner (and others). Each is a trade-off between price, availability, and comprehensiveness. Your choice may influence how you collect, and will definitely influence how you display.

Those pre-printed pages only have spaces for basic sets, not as per SG Specialised 'Four Kings' that is a GB and not a Commonwealth catalogue. Maybe only SG has an album that lists according to the SG Concise.

Specialising in the 'Four Kings' era ignoring shades and watermarks, you might better go for SG Collect GB.

The 1934 etc set that NSK showed is a good example of the scope for gently moving from the basic set to a more detailed group without enduring too much pain. The lower values come in three different sizes - fairly easy to differentiate, and cheap. Your own self-designed pages - whether hand-written or computer designed - really are the best way to go. A printed album will require lots of additional pages, and you may not end up with the optimum arrangement.

And then you can move on to inverted watermarks from booklets (two of the sizes).
The inverted watermarks on the large formats (due to incorrect feeding of German presses requiring upside-down feed).
Coil stamps with sideways watermarks.
Coils stamps with sideways inverted watermarks from another printing press.

Which, by the way was the answer Stampguy64 could not give to my question about 'evil twins.'

To my point, "specialized" means different things, it's a matter of degree. Some of us "specialize" in Asia as in "I only collect stamps from Asian countries." Others may "specialize" in German and American treaty ports in China, etc.
The OP may find that for them, Four Kings GB means one example of each, new or used. Or it may mean watermarks, shades, and errors. Or just the seahorse issues. After all, they were given a specific 30 year old catalog to start, that's not necessarily where they're going or where they'll end up.

I am assuming a 1993 catalogue has only B&W photos. A newer one will be better, that goes without saying. It all depends on how long your interest lasts and how much satisfaction you get out of stamps.

So does the 2005 12th. edition I still use.

Peter, thanks very much for the welcome and search info! I'll look into the stampweb site tomorrow.

NSK, I am extremely grateful for your time in giving me such a lot of information! I'm wondering about formatting my own page to print out (I do have some reams of lovely heavy paper that might do) and finding A4 pockets for them.
I see Lindner do a T-Blank pocket for A4 but I'm not sure if that would be suitable. I think I'd like them in mounts (edit. hmm...maybe. Not sure if that is best) for easy access and then printed details beside the stamp of shade/wmk etc. This will take some planning!
Thank you for the photos you posted.

Classic paper, your thoughts are much appreciated. Being open to where the hobby takes me sounds just right for me.

GeoffHa, I quite agree that self-designed pages would seem the best way to go.

Thanks you for your responses, I'm feeling quite fired up!

Tweezies, whatever you do, keep us in mind and show us what you are doing


Peter

Tweezles,

Be careful to use archival-quality paper. Our moderator, Don, has posted a lot about papers and how the acid papers can destroy your collection.

I agree. And specialising in Seahorses would make a stunning collection.

Still, it is good to keep in mind pre-printed albums will - with a rare SG exception - only provide spaces for the basic stamps. You will have to add blank pages if you want any of those things 'where they'll end up." This is what I found out when I started to specialise - well more generalise - my GB collection and started 'investing' in Lindner.

I, now, have DAVO albums that hold my GB special stamps up to somewhere in the 1990s, after that, they are all over the place. I, further, have too many Lindner binders for my permanent stamps. And still, I cannot fit all special stamps in my DAVO albums. I cannot fit the left and right side bands, just one of them. Nor can I fit the missing 'T' in 'T SHEMZA.'



Had I just concentrated on seahorses, my DAVO part I would hold a set of four, when there are three printers that printed 10 of them, and a set of three. Other than that, the album would have been empty. I would hen add blank pages for the remaining stamps, and, maybe, the overprinted Ireland*, Levant, and Morocco Agencies stamps.

* Now, did I not complicate that by collecting Ireland as well.
(taken from danstamps54 'Pre-1940 Ireland Overprints On Steiner Pages' thread: