Seeking Advice about older Scott Reference Books

I like the idea of just buying the pages for Japan if that is the only country that you will collect. Books are very bulky and take up a lot of room on the stamp desk  Pages can be stapled and folded much more easily and will take up a lot less room. 

When I first started out collecting a year or two ago, I purchased a 2006 Scott Catalogue set.  I discovered that this was the first year that the catalogue was published with color photos of the stamps.  I also discovered that they had an issue with publishing and had to print a special set of pages for the US in 2006 to make up for what they forgot.  If color images are important to you get a 2006 or newer catalogue.  

thanks for the posts and suggestions guys. I will look at those options. much appreciated.

Chris

I do not consider the Scott catalog to be a specialist catalog.

I have taken the plunge and purchased the Scott Specialty pages for Japan from 1988 to 2004, i will need to add up to 2008 at least but want to budget my purchases a bit as these some of them are very expensive and I still need to get Scott Speality Catalog No. 4 post 2016 which will have images in color i hope.

Chris

Another option would be the online catalogue Colnect

colnect.com/en/stamps/years/country/108-Japan

The catalogue is a Wiki where information from all the major catalogue publishers is synthesized together. Listings include catalogue numbers for most items from Scott, Michel, Gibbons, Yvert and Sakura, as well as technical details of each stamp listed and images.

As it is based on the wiki principle it is not 100% complete, as all information is contributed by volunteer users, but with over 14000 items listed for Japan, it is a good reference for most issues, especially modern issues, and more is as contributors add missing items.

As Colnect is basically a reference catalogue for identification, it does not provide valuation.


Basic reference use is free

For most post-1945 commemoratives of most postal administrations, Colnect is fairly complete in terms of the data, so I think for most common stamps it is fair to say it is a good reference as well (with ability to create inventories an additional benefit beyond the original purpose, which was to be a trading platform for collectors)

Varieties come as contributors contribute, the reality is most collectors who use Colnect do not help contribute missing items, and most also only have the mainstream catalogues, very very few have specialized catalogues. But missing items are added to the catalogue everyday so the gaps continue to be filled in as quickly as they are received for processing. That in the end is the limitation to any Wiki based reference.

Re catalogue numbers visible when buying, perhaps post a thread in the suggestions forum at Colnect to see what others in the user community think of the idea.