The Trajan Canada Specialized Stamp Catalogue (2026)

Sorry / my item was a different in stock item. I probably should have started a new thread. Apologies for the confusion.

Quick update ...

The premier edition of The Trajan Canada Specialized Stamp Catalogue is shipping this week to those who pre-ordered.

Robin Harris
Editor, The Trajan Canada Specialized Stamp Catalogue

This is great news and I'm eagerly waiting for my copy to arrive before
we have another postal strike.

Will there be an electronic version of the catalogue ? Paper catalogues are great, but I live in Europe, so the cost of shipping is considerable.

As far as I know, the folks at Scott Publishing (Amos Media) do not grant licensing for electronic versions of a catalogue such as this.

Robin

My copy of The Trajan Canada Specialized Stamp Catalogue arrived today
via UPS.
Truthfully I didn't expect it this fast and am pleasantly surprised.

Had a quick look at it and at first glance noticed a couple of things without
going through any of the listings.

It is traditional bound compared to the spiral bound of the Unitrade.
I personally prefer the spiral. Easier to turn the pages and lays flat if
I want to scan a snipped of the catalogue.

As mentioned before the layout is three columns per page compared to
two for the Unitrade. This obviously makes for smaller print and images.
No problem for me since I've been used to the very small print in the
Michel Katalogs.

All in all I'm satisfied so far but can only really compare once the new Unitrade
is available.

Edit: Forgot to add that it is Printed in Canada not China which is a plus
in it's favour.

Glad you received your copy so quickly lithograving.

Re: image size
The basic stamp images are the same size (at least compared to the 2024 Unitrade). With that said, the images have been cropped a bit closer and the 3-column format has less overall white space, so perhaps that is contributing to the thought that the images are smaller.

Other specific images may be smaller (not sure which one/s you are referring to).

Other images (for example, most booklet panes, the annual collections and the quarterly packs, to name a couple), are actually larger (again, at least compared to the 2024 Unitrade).

Robin Harris
Editor, The Trajan Canada Specialized Stamp Catalogue

OK I guess I was a bit fast on the draw but I was excited to get the catalogue
and wanted to share my thoughts about it with members here who might be interested
in buying The Trajan Canada Specialized Stamp Catalogue

I do agree that the stamp images are basically the same size as in the Unitrade but
my latest copy is the 2016 so I don't know what the sizes are in the 2024
The black area around the Unitrade stamp images is greater which increases the width and length by approx 1.5 mm

I tried to scan pages from both catalogues together to show any difference but
that doesn't work.
So I took a couple of pics for comparison but even that isnt conclusive.

Here are a couple
UNITRADE LEFT TRAJAN RIGHT


TRAJAN LEFT UNITRADE RIGHT
The paper of the Unitrade is brighter/whiter but not as pronounced as in the
camera pic.



Like I said in my last post I am satisfied with the catalogue and glad I bought it.
It will be fun going over it and certainly will find pros and cons.

Anyway I hope it will be a big seller and I will go to my local library and
ask them to purchase the Trajan.

A quick look at both images show a key difference in the sub-numbering system. Unitrade shows both small letters and numerals varieties, while Trajan uses mostly italic small letters. (compare 91 in Trajan (91a imperf not listed) vs 91 in Unitrade). Can't wait to see my copies of each one ...

I see the imperfs listed in Trajan in a little subsection at the bottom right, still with the 91a

Mine should arrive Friday. Also interested to see how it looks

Hi,

Received mine yesterday, Wonderful!! Love it.

For me they both are great products when it comes to content and so it comes down to one thing and that is ergonomics. I love spiral bindings as another poster mentioned. My Unitrade gets used quite often along with my Scott's and that constantly reminds me of how much friendlier spiral bindings are. Don't know what spiral adds to production cost but would suggest that if not egregious it would boost sales.

I don't collect Canada any more, but I must say that the Unitrade Catalog seems to have more information on values, better laid out. It is easier to see how Mint VF, F or VG stamp values compare to one another. But, we all know how some people tend to only see VF stamps in their collection, so it may only be of limited interest to some collectors.

What always confused me about the Unitrade pricing was the NH% Additional Value column. This was an adder if NH, but only if the stamp was Mint VF. If you are F or VG, then the adder percentage dropped. Quite confusing.

So, if I had to pick out which one I like better now, I would go with the Trajan as it is closer to Scott's system, showing only VF pricing, a Never Hinged value, and a used value (plus sometimes on cover value). People can then use this as a starting point, and decide for themselves if the poor centering is worth 50% of catalog, 25% of catalog, or whatever the market will bear.

Find it interesting that both catalogues use Scott Canada catalogue numbers. The Trajan Canada stamp catalogue seems to use Scott numbers followed along with "a", "b", "c", etc. for varieties. The Unitrade Canada stamp catalogue seems to use Scott numbers followed along with "a", "b", "c", etc. and/or Scott numbers followed along with "i", "ii", "iii", etc for varieties. Assumed that some numbers may be the same for the exact same stamp and/or stamp variety but others may be very slightly different in their specific catalogue number. Will dealers now have to say Scott/Unitrade and/or Scott/Trajan numbers when listing stamps? Also, will Scott be the ultimate decider/arbitrator of what stamp eventually gets what exact Scott variety number? Somehow see Trajan having the advantage of not having to go to change a Scott Unitrade (Roman numeral: "i", "ii", "iii") variety eventually into a Scott (Roman letter: "a", "b", "c") variety which was the case before for sometime. Will there be some kind of specific catalogue numeral differences over how a new variety will be specific number identified? These are some questions to ask regarding these two different Canada stamp catalogues based on Scott numbers.

Mine arrived today and although I haven't had much time with it, my initial impressions are quite positive. I think I like the layout of this better, especially the extensive BOB area. I never found much need for the three/six price columns so the condensed nature and what looks to be a lot more images is quite nice imo.

More time will reveal my overall use of this VS the Unitrade once I start diving down rabbit holes but so far, it is a beautiful product and I'm looking forward to spending more time using it.