Scott Catalogs

Hi

I once asked Scott about that. Scott stupid answer: Because collectors buy sets not individual stamps.

We really should have a board category for "Dumb Scott Answers".

Jerry B

Frog, I am really sorry to hear about your poor experience and resulting frustration with Scott catalogues. As with Nelson, since I only collect from the classic period, I rarely have to deal with the problems with the cataloguing of the issues of the more recent years.

The best I can do is to offer you my sympathy!

I think the value in a single number for a pane with different stamps and letters designating the individual stamps is that it allows for simple identification of the entire sheet. If numbers were assigned to individual stamps, how would you describe their parent? #### through ####+X?

The single # with letters indicates an association between the individual stamps that would not be apparent if each had its own number.

Steve, many of the stamps mentioned in my post,No almost all,were not issued in panes which means it's an artificial grouping although it is sets.And exactly the situation Madbaker states.I believe it's a matter of Scott's becoming more and more useless to the collector with common sense.What, the old people that make up the majority of their market should be willing to adapt to their new wave thinking?How about adjusting their thinking to the market they deal with,would not that be the way a normal business would operate?
No matter, whatever they do we as collectors must accept it. SAD

No that's not it Steve but looking at that and now look at Bhutan(I have no Scott's here) A most unequal treatment would you not agree? The same in some cases for other areas.A crazy approach for the go to people.

Steve now if you really want to get confused,looking at the listing you might think given their description all stamps look like A14b. Not the case at all there are five designs as the notes after numbers show. It follows through the rest of the country for the next fifty years as well.Not saying it's a country collectors chase but it certainly wasn't approached in any orderly manner for those that might.

firstfrog2013 ... That is definitely nice lot you've got in there, I can even spot 'deluxe sheets' (those single stamp 'sheets') which are unlisted in Michel as well. The CTO's are usually pretty easy to get, but hold on tight with any mint (non-CTO) items you might have. They are not as rare as genuine postally used, but still scarce. 

As for why unlisted by Scott... Long and complex story. You might want to read todays SCB (Agency stamps - the good, the bad, the ugly - 12 page story if printed)...

-k-

Hear hear.

-k-

Hi

Just as an aside. The old Minkus catalogs listed stamps like these. If you see one offered it may pay to grab it.

Jerry B

As a young collector (a "still living with the parents" collector, that kind of young) I used to borrow Scott catalogues from my local public library and I would order & organize to my heart's content - they had newer editions permanently shelved in the reference section of the library but there were some older copies available for borrowing, so I'd take those home.  Everything that was listed in the "For the Record" section (or anything that didn't even make that grade, like Christmas seals and such) went into a cardboard box.  I hated throwing stamps away (and still do) so nothing got tossed, it just went in that box instead.  Well, the calico cat found the box and decided it made a good litter box replacement, so out went all of those stamps.  In the years since, I've accumulated many more catalogues so I would now have listings for many of these dearly departed stamps.  And in other cases, such as Bhutan or Panama or Ecuador (among others), stamps which were formerly in the "For the Record" section are now listed in Scott.  Some, such as the Bhutan stamps for the history of steelmaking that were printed on thin sheets of steel foil, are things that I have never since come across again (at least not in such nice condition, I have a few of them but they're rusty!).  Grrrr ....

The catalogue listing snip that Steve showed earlier (Bhutan 84, 84A, 84B, 84C, etc.) is one of the examples of a set formerly unlisted in the main Scott catalogue that had been relegated to the "For the Record" section.  They're numbered that way because there wasn't enough room allocated for all the catalogue numbers needed for each individual stamp in the set.  For whatever reason, an editorial decision was later made to put all of those stamps back into the main listing so they had to get creative with the numbers to avoid changing all the later issue numbers.

Ryan

For the WW collector Scott, Y&T & Stanley Gibbons offer a decent general perspective but they are limited.
Michel has far more to offer but only a few in English.

I am presently working on Spain articles so Scott is no help - 80 pages on Spain
Michel, some improvement 300 pages on Spain
Edifil Specialized Spain, more improvement 500 pages

but still not what I need so the next giant step:
"The Tort" 1850-1900 - 3 volumes 1200+ pages

Need even more specialization:
6 Cuartos 1850 - A. Ayrivie - 355 pages on just 1 stamp - the list goes on

All this to say that Scott, SG & Michel are just general options and each will have more focus on areas that they have strengths in.
If you really want to get into a country, you need a lot more than just a general catalog.

Frog, I think I found the origins of your problem in the 1986 specialized catalogue you sent me. I was flipping through the ads in the back of the book, (because that is what I do when dies 3 and 4 appear the same and I have three shades of red and only one is listed, because surely the answers I seek can be found in advertisements for buyers of Afghani stamps)and, mini rant aside, I found something you might find interesting.





So, it looks like they did ask stamp collectors what they would prefer, and the respondents of the survey simply didn't realize what a pain their decision would turn out to be.

I share this frustration. Add to that that Scott rounds up or down the actual perfs on non-us stamps.

Scott will be splitting all volumes into two volumes next year to reduce size of each book. You supposedly still have to buy both (like Vol M- S book 1 and book 2).