Scott Catalogue Number Changes

You would need to have someone who does get annual updates to give you a copy of the changes page for each year. Some local libraries have new them (not mine). The APRL can provide the page but you need to be a member of APS or APRL and pay a copy fee. It is like $4 minimum with a per page fee.

I misread your original post. I saw the word changes and was thinking you wanted to know if catalog number changed rather than a new issue.

1 If you follow Scott, one option is to subscribe to Scott Stamp Monthly. They publish  all new catalog assignments monthly.  Here is a sample listing update.  The a printed and digital edition.




2. The no cost option is to frequent colnect.com and search by country all new issues. But then you rely on volunteers to update Colnect since it is crowd sourced.

I currently have a library copy of the 2023 Volume 6B and the additions, deletions and changes for volumes 6A-6B are found in the front section, page 26A. Here's a poor scan...(slap my fingers if I've done something wrong by doing this)

I have not seen anyone regularly posting them. As I said in my response:



You can check your local library.

The annual updates (additions, deletions, changes) are what TimG posted. In every new year.

The APRL stands for the American Philatelic Research Library. See stamps.org. You can join the APRL or join APS. Or, get a member get it for you. They can provide copies of any book but there is a handling fee.

Or, ask regularly for someone to post for you. I do not purchase a new set every year since for what I collect (mostly pre-1980) it is not much of an issue.

Check your city/county libraries to see if they keep a current Scott catalog set available for circulation or reference. Even if only for reference, you can simply go there and use your cellphone camera to take a quick picture of the NADC pages. That's what I used to do.

I had toyed with the idea of maintaining a comprehensive list of the NADC since the big renumbering of 1940. But soon realized I had neither the time nor the patience for it.

In 1940, the Scott catalog first began to add prefixes (e.g., B for semi-postal, C for air post...) to the catalog numbers and separated all of them to be listed after the "normal" postage stamps. Before then, certain stamps such as airmails were listed with the normal postage stamps, but other stamps such as officials were listed afterwards. This necessitated a major renumbering of all the stamps, in part, to remove the many large gaps (explained below).

Now for some details...

Scott's original pricelist did not include ID numbers for each stamp.

1888 edition: The new owners introduced ID numbers for each stamp. John Scott had sold the rights to his catalog just a couple years earlier. When first introduced, Scott catalog numbers had no prefixes. Instead, airmail stamps were included in the main listing. For example, the modern US #C1-C3 were the old US #520-522 (and the Jenny invert #C3a was #522a!). For the other stamps that were not normal postage, Scott would skip a huge gap, and start numbering each stamp type/class in a different range. For example, parcel post stamps would start at #1450, official stamps would start at #1500, local post stamps at #1800...

As the years went by, it became apparent that with the "deluge" of new stamp issues, the gaps would not be big enough and the listings would run out of empty gap number space. So...

1940 edition: Scott yanks out all the non-normal postage into what we now call "Back Of (the) Book", and renumbers & adds prefixes to them all, signifying the type/usage of stamp. They also took the opportunity to rearrange/renumber the "normal" stamps. The original Scott US #1 was actually the Alexandria postmaster's provisional! That became the modern US #1X1. The original US #28 (5c Franklin), became the modern US #1 -- making it a somewhat more attainable #1 than that Alexandria postmaster provisional!

That, is what I call, the big "renumbering" of 1940. Did I succeed in confusing everybody more?

k

Exxxxxxxxxcellent. Thanks for that.

Outstanding!  I had wondered when the change came into effect.  I have a few scattered old Scott catalogues, not that I do much with them but I am happy to let them do their part to help fill up the bookcase.  I have editions from 1927 and 1945, and there was no mention in the latter of when the numbering changes were made.  (For what it's worth, the 1945 edition has an explanation of "Enemy Issues" being left out of the catalogue, all stamps from Axis countries which were released after Dec. 7, 1941.)

Ryan

Just for those who are not aware:

Our distinguished member KHJ was on the original 1888 committee that developed & introduced catalog #s. 

Recognizing the error of his ways, he led the charge in 1940 to create the 'back of book' section. (With a collecting affinity for China, he insisted - and was granted - the "K" classification of the Shanghai overprint stamps with his moniker...) (Did any of you think this was an accident or coincidence??)

Ever since 1940, KHJ has been a vocal proponent of re-thinking every catalog number ever issued - each year! To the best of my knowledge, most of the changes each year are at KHJ's insistence, and they simply have long lost patience to argue with him!

(I've always had an inkling that KHJ is actually the majority owner of the Scott Catalogs. But delving beyond the impenetrable firewalls & pdf protections has always proved impossible!)


 

I decline to admit or deny any of the above, to protect the guilty...

Rumor has it, that the US Offices in China were supposed to have "k" prefix instead of "K" prefix, but somebody in data entry left the Shift Lock set on the typewriter.

k

I was aware of renumbering over the years and the history is good to know. What you have posted is clearly under Fair Use for educational purposes.

I guess the remaining question is, when we’re the removed countries reinstated? (Unless I missed that point earlier)

I found the stamp news article that I had read regarding the "enemy issues" supplement. Here is a snippet from the Nov1945 issue of the Airpost Journal of the American Air Mail Society:



It turns out I do have the supplement! It is not ~200pp as suggested in the article. But that is because it mainly includes only the European countries. The Philippines is included, but Japan and other Japanese controlled areas are not included. So it's actually ~60pp.

I'll try to find time later to show snippets of the title page and introduction.

I still cannot state when they returned to the annual WW catalog listings. I have neither the 1947 nor 1948 Scott catalogs.