2024 Scott Classic Specialized [worldwide]

In the case of the Classic Specialized, specifically, it went color about 20 years ago, which was a milestone, but then they continued to add new items pretty much every year. Railway parcel stamps, semi-official airmails, steamship companies, locals. It's a pretty long list.

There are lots of things added to the Classic that never made it into the main catalogue. (I think. I stopped updating the main Scott set years ago; mine is so old, it's only six volumes. And I bet I haven't cracked one open in five years.)

"Whether the digital offerings make sense will vary from collector to collector. A two-year subscription to Yvert's 1840-1940 and two 1941-60 volumes will set you back around €50, which is around a third of the cost of buying hard copies of the three books. An annual sub to the France and Monaco catalogues is around half the price of buying the two.

DJ - I seem to remember that you'd tried some of these?"

Yes I have subscriptions to both Michel Online and Yvert Online. They both give access to their full global catalogue line, and Yvert let's you choose specific volumes as well. Only real quibble I have with Yvert is that it tends to load pages quite slowly at least for me.

Subscription to full Michel is about US$250/year, Yvert I believe around US$150. And as new volumes are released you are auto updated to latest version (Yvert) or latest data (Michel, which is not based on a PDF model but rather searchable database)

Compare that to Scott's frankly extortionate US$550/year price for access to the base set of catalogues in digital form, not including US or classic specialized. That is simply way too much for the average collector and, I would argue, most dealers. And if there was anything that is going to drive users to free online catalogues, this one is a big contibutor. Trust me, I know from experience with my work with one online catalogue that there has been quite a spike in USA-based users in the past couple years since Scott changed its digital purchase access.

Thankfully I purchased my digital edition with the 2021 edition which was the last edition you could buy and permanently keep. I have a subscription to Scott Stamp Monthly so can keep up with new issues but when eventually Scott does pull the plug access on my 2021s the only ones I will buy is Classic Specialized and USA specialized, and only in hardcopy.

All interesting thought-provoking comments.

I have purchased and used Scott catalogs (Classic Specialized, US Specialized and the basic set) for decades now. Well, maybe the "now" part is wrong. My last hard copy purchase of a Scott catalog product was six years ago. There is a reason beyond money for that. I found that I was obtaining much more information from the internet than I was from my Scott catalogs. It was not a conscious decision. It just happened albeit slowly. The values became less and less relevant. I could find "real" sales data easily online which made the catalogs even more irrelevant than they already were. Scott numbers are ubiquitous, so I did not have to go to the catalog for a number. Many online resources offered more information and tools when it came to identifying stamps. Online also allowed more detail in many ways than the catalogs. I could magnify images, find obscure details, read experts and other collectors' comments, study forgeries, reprints & fakes, access certificates, find cancel information etc. I could read foreign websites and auction house listings because of translate capabilities. And it only cost me the price of an internet connection or free wireless plus whatever I donated to worthy sites. The days of sitting at my desk with Scott in hand were over save for special occasions. What do I miss about it? The tactile and emotional part. I am a child of the era when you checked out books from the library and it still holds a special place for me. But Scott is officially a dinosaur and there is no way that their hard catalogs see another 20 years of production IMO.

If anyone's interested, Yvert's Black Friday sale has, inter alia, its 1840-1940 catalogue @€44.50 and the two volumes of its 1940-60 catalogue @€19.95 each. All half-price.

https://www.yvert.com/CT-2160-selec...0titre%20-5-

I haven't updated my Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 for ten years, so it might be time for an update. Might have to have a quiet word with Santa.

Thanks Geoff, I wonder how much the postage is!!

I'd make an uneducated guess as in the region of €30. I'd pay a tenner to have catalogues shipped to England from France, rather than lug them on the Eurostar, but intercontinental postage rates are horrendous.

Geoff, thanks for posting this! I did place an order for the Classiques du Monde. I've used a few times, a copy that I shouldn't have been using, and have wanted to buy one and now feel much better about it!

Ray