Linn's Has Been Sold

...fortunately, to the right folks.

https://www.linns.com/

Scott Stamp LLC acquires iconic brands from Amos Media Co.

Scott Stamp LLC, a new company formed by longtime philatelic leader, Jay Bigalke, and fellow philatelist, David Fritz, has acquired the Scott Catalog, Scott Stamp Monthly, and Linn's Stamp News from Amos Media Co.

The acquisition places these cornerstone publications of the stamp hobby into the hands of passionate collectors dedicated to strengthening and modernizing philately for future generations.

Product sales will continue to be available through AmosAdvantage.com, and subscriptions can be purchased through Linns.com. Both will operate in partnership with Amos Media Co. during the transition period.

"It's incredibly meaningful to see these trusted names in philately return to collector ownership," said Jay Bigalke, President and CEO in Scott Stamp LLC. "Our mission is simple: to honor the legacy of Scott and Linn's while investing in new tools and ideas that help the hobby thrive."

"This is a great day for stamp collecting," said Don Sundman of Mystic Stamp Company and one of several collector-investors supporting the new venture. "The Scott Catalog and Linn's have guided generations of collectors—including me—and now they'll continue to do so under leadership that truly loves the hobby."

"We're proud to have been stewards of these important brands for decades," said Rick Amos, CEO of Amos Media Co. "Jay and David's passion and expertise ensure that the Scott and Linn's legacy will continue to inspire collectors for many years to come."

Additional details about the transition and a road map of upcoming plans will be shared soon at scottstamp.com and linns.com.

Godspeed to them, but I fear the writing is on the wall for our beloved hobby's publications.

I wouldn't be so sure. From personal discussions I've had with Jay in the past, I think that many of our complaints about the Scott Catalogue, especially as related to the pricing and availability of the digital versions, and expansion of content and features of the digital versions, were due to the (luddite) mindset of those at the top at Amos. I think there were things that Jay wanted to do differently, but was shackled by those he worked for.

I'm tentatively optimistic about this move.

Tigerdude, thats old school, blackboard, "writing on the wall".
It is mostly "digital", in the cloud today, at least for now! But print does preserve the knowledge for future generations if formats change, or fail to continue to be updated.

What is missing is a discussion about the supply side of Amos, who will retain ownership of the albums, pages, mounts,classification tools and similar "non-periodic" production and sales.

I do wish good luck for the new periodical company. There first challenge will be to figure out a way to get the catalogs into libraries. It is a tough sell for libraries to drop over $1000/per year for print references good for a year. If available as an inexpensive digital version libraries can circulate, that would be a blessing for the hobby.

It would be interesting to see how much the ink, paper, printing and binding costs are for catalog production. Remove that and profit margin will define the value of the digital version of the content to which a profit margin can be affixed. Of course that profit margin needs be reduced since the is a greatly reduced capital outlay without the printing production costs.

Edited to remove an unneeded "s."

I consider this good news. The pricing of the digital version was a killer to me when it was near the same price as print version. I assumed Sundman was going to buy it at some point. The digital version does not compare to other online resources in terms of search and data available.

The high pricing has been more for the intellectual property of the Scott numbers than just a traditional profit margin.

One online quote is about 20 dollars a copy for a 400-page 8 inch by 10 inch-sized hardback with colour print on all pages, in a run of 1,000 copies. That's probably a high quote.

What'll bump up the cost will be the hundreds of hours spent doing prepress using QuarkXPress on a G4 Mac, outputting to a Zip drive and then sending said Zip drive to the printers, who will of course then return it with a sarcastic note.

In any event if the new owners make an effort to straighten out old errors, include more unlisted government issued revenue items and as able have relevant pricing and cost this is good news for the catalog users. I wish them well.

Yes, this probably good news. Hopefully, they can return some sanity to the Scott catalogue

And get the 2026 catalogues printed and distributed on time, although since we're already half-way through October and with the sale just now consummated, logic suggests that is improbable. Realistically, I don't expect to see the 2026 US Specialized Stamps & Covers arriving until Q1 2026. Please - prove me wrong!

We'll be lucky if the 2027 catalogues get back on the traditional October issue date.

Clarify please. Is this a it is good or it is bad statement? Cannot tell having never seen the digital version.





Once digitized the value of intellectual property drop significantly. If it does not, it is copied legally or not legally.

The vast majority of information is not changed. Just the pricing and the added recent issues.

Now one smart move by the new company is to have an announced final print version which show sell quite well. Then after the force digital, once purchased sell just annual modules of new issue update, new additions of previously not covered items and pricing updates.

Prediction: Digital only will not sustain the company.

Please see my initial response to the news. Those and the following comments apply to the u s specialised edition. As for a final print version without major revisions imo it's not a cure-all. Printing every other or every few years with a yearly price supplement / new issues update would be okay if reasonably priced. A digital version without changing anything is not going to get a collector to buy. Selling digital sectional versions would also be an option.

If you look at Yvert's digital offering, you find a range of packages, area catalogues etc available on one and two-year subscriptions.

https://www.yvert.com/273-bibliotheque-en-ligne

I will buy a scott catalogue with updated prices and maybe a good cut off date like the pre 1940 book.

I have not seen the very latest online catalog but what I saw previously was something closer to a digital version of a printed version. The search was somewhat limited. I know they now have large images. It was not taking full advantage of digital.

Back in 2000s, they released PDFs of printed version but ended that after all the piracy of CDs.

I don't consider the print versus digital piece of this to be a significant part of it. Clearly the cost to keep these going is high, a yearly worldwide sub is $550. I guess the people who are buying yearly supplements for hundreds of dollars for last year's issues keep it going.

The Scott cats I use are from 1971, I consider newer volumes actively worse - too large and filled with too much new stuff I don't care about. You don't have to be a genius to see that most of us in this hobby are old. Honestly I don't see how Scott's is still in business at all.