Difference Between Scott And Stanley Gibbons

Hi NSK,

Stanley Gibbons Part 4 Catalogue (Benelux) contains stamp listings for Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

@Nuc5

Thanks. I am aware of it.

It was a response to the preceding post by Rob Roy about a collector who appeared to refuse to recognise Ireland's independence from the UK and had included Éire's issues with UK issues in a stamp album.

In 1830, the Netherlands experienced a similar secession, when what now is 'België' ('Belgium' is just Latin for 'Netherlands') revolted and gained independence. Because it cut off what now is 'Nederland' from 'Lëtzebuerg,' the latter also became an independent country ruled by the Grand Duke, who was also the Dutch King.

I do not collect Belgian or Luxemburg stamps and use NVPH for my Dutch stamps.

Edit: added that it concerned a stamp album.

I Guess Scott is best for the US, Gibbons for GB and possibly the commomwealth, Unitrade for Canada, Michel for Germany, Yvert and Tellier for France etc etc. None are complete and none have all the information

But as soon as you start to collect a country in depth you rapidly leave the catalogues behind and move onto specialised literature.

AQ

This is 100% correct.

Eventually you end up compiling your own catalogues!

Coming in very late on this old topic, so this is merely an addendum.

I collect Ireland and find both Scott and Gibbons useful. Scott offers more illustrations for the early Irish stamps, which are actually British stamps overprinted for use in the newly independent Ireland. Gibbons, which publishes a separate Ireland catalog, offers almost no illustration of those early overprints, presumably because they are illustrated elsewhere (without the overprinting) in Gibbon's British coverage. (The "separate" Gibbon's Irish catalog is actually just the Irish pages lifted from the Gibbon's Commonwealth catalog. So Gibbons has it both ways: they keep Ireland a colony in one catalog and grant it independence in another one.)

In any event, the Gibbon's Irish catalog does have some useful details that have helped me several times to identify stamps more confidently than I was able to with Scott.

All that said, the bible for Ireland collectors is the elegant, and beautifully designed Hibernian Catalog, most recent (and probably last) edition 2020, which is the work of Roy Hamilton-Bowen, the dean of Irish philately.

Although southern Ireland became an independent republic in 1949, Gibbons retains issues to 1970 in the Commonwealth catalogue, as it does with other countries that became republics - India etc. Gibbons's Irish catalogue goes beyond the 1970 cut-off, so the two catalogues cover different periods. Failure to illustrate base stamps with their overprints is an enduring irritation.

Ireland was not a colony. It was part of the UK and then a dominion of which the sovereign of the UK remained sovereign of Ireland until it gained its independence in 1949.

The Hibernian is a must for collectors of Ireland.

Gibbons tends to focus on the overprints when stamps are overprinted, rather than keep repeating thumbnails of overprinted stamps that are not detailed enough to identify individual overprints.

I wasn't aware that polictical statements are now acceptable on this board. Having lost one family member in the troubles just remember you may be pressing nerve points of other members.

Chesham85, Point well taken. I've deleted my reply. —Aquinas

OP did not say what she/he collects, but if it is WW, the difference between available Gibbons and Scott options is pretty dramatic

Gibbons' "Stamps of the World" is updated annually (current edition 2024). It comes as 6 volumes, organized alphabetically by country. It's 6,000 pages and costs about 250 GBP. Gibbons describes it as a comprehensive but "simplified" catalogue--it omits "specialist information, such as watermark, perforation or shade changes." Sounds like it would be fine for a generalist WW collector who wants to collect "one of each stamp."

Scott's "Standard Postage Stamp Catalog" (latest edition 2025) also comes as 6 volumes and, like Gibbons, is organized alphabetically--though US and UN are in Vol, 1 with "A" countries. All told, it's more than 10,000 pages and costs around 850 USD if bought directly from the publisher. So it's much bigger, more detailed, and more specialized than Gibbons "Stamps of the World." It might be too much and too costly for most generalist collectors. However, Scott also sells each volume separately, so if you happen to collect US and Australia, you're in luck: both countries are in Volume 1.

As others have saidd, catalog choice depends on what you collect, where you live, and how specialized you want to get. And, I would add, what language(s) you read and how much you want and can afford to spend.

For British collectiors, Gibbons offers "Collect British Stamps" ("straightforward listings"), "Great Britain Concise" ("more comprehensive"), and the "Specialist British" ("most detailed listings"). And Gibbons also offers a wide range of area and country catalogues.

Scott offers the "Specialized US" (comprehensive and detailed) and the "Specialized Classic," which covers worldwide stamps issued from 1840 to 1940. But Scott does not publish area or country albums as Gibbons does. For coverage of, say, Germany, you'd have to buy the Scott volume with the "G" countries. If you read German and live in Europe, however, Michel would likely be a far better choice.

I collect Ireland, and I use (1) the Scott Ireland pages (I check Volume 3 out of the local library), (2) the Gibbons Ireland catalog, and (3) the specialized Hibernian Catalog. All three are excellent and provide different and useful kinds of information..

Folks, the catalog is the spaces in your stamp album :)

That is nice if you collect Panini UEFA EURO 2014 stickers and do not venture beyond what someone else has considered collectable.

Here's a "rant" against the Scott Catalog. I think it's mostly on target: Scott is not much interested in the ordinary collector but has put its emphasis on selling to dealers--and, I would add, to libraries. They want to maximize annual sales, and most ordinary investors don't want (or can't afford to) buy a new catalog or re-subscribe to the digital one every year. The rant includes comparisons with Gibbons and Michel.