Was at the library this morning and in the reference section saw they had the 2018 catalogues.
Looks like they are cutting back on the ever-burdensome size by (possibly) splitting them in two.
They only had 1A, 1B, 2A, and 2B. I didn't look through them all, but they seem to roughly correlate to Vol1 (A-B) and Vol2 (C-F). They had no idea when others would be coming in and there are none on the borrowing shelves yet.
Personally, I loved them! In part, this is a reflection of my ADD - I have found the previous volumes so comprehensive that I skip back and forth aimlessly, and waste far too much time. I'm thinking that having smaller volumes may help more in concentrating attention on a few countries at a time. Also, found the images very crisp.
Forgot to see what the current "minimum CV" was, but assume it would stay at 25c.
I bought a USA only section of the 1A section of the new Scott 2018 catalog through ebay and saw the first four volumes, i.e. 1A/1B, and 2A/2B at a stamp show I visited last month. Since then the 3A/3B volumes were released and the 4A/4B volumes will be out July 1st. They definitely are easier to handle.
Right now my mainstay catalog is a 2006 USA Specialized and a 2006 Classic 1840-1940 plus a recently purchased 1975 Scott catalog set (it seemed appropriate as that was when I restarted my stamp collection after college and I have so far only collected stamps up to that date other than a few additional years for a USA and a Canada collection that I have). The Canada collection is my newest and it has been a lot of fun finding items that are sub-$1 whereas my USA collection is mostly a done deal since all stamps left are $500 and up each. Since I have been paying for college tuition for the last 8 years for my daughters and my son starts in August, $500 individual items don't happen anymore .
Hopefully there are not too many Scott catalog number changes since the 1975 catalogs for the stamps they cover. I need to get the changed numbers pages from more recent catalogs so that I can log any changes to the 1975 catalogs numbers.
I have really appreciated the online collections for Antonius Ra and Dr. Chen as they have been a godsend for identifying correct stamps for my International 1840-1940 collection. A couple of blogs, http://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/ and http://globalstamps.blogspot.com/ have been great encouragement for the world wide collections. I have been working at it off and on for about 10 years now and am up to about 7,000 different in that album and just over 14,000 different in a Minkus Supreme Global 1840-1968 album. There is some overlap between the two but so far the Minkus album is almost completely mint wth very few stamps over a $1 in the catalogs to which I have access whereas the International collection has mostly used stamps with a tendency to concentrate on stamps that are quite a bit older.
I have rambled on here quite a bit. I would be interested in hearing what others have been doing with their collections as well. I will admit that one of the best things I have done recently was buy a startup album and start working on it starting with common issues. I've, also, started updating spreadsheets with information about some of my more active or complete country collections other than my USA collection for which I've kept a record for some time. Dilip Limaye's work on building a spreadsheet that will have entries for all International Part I spaces and defining a template and some recent completeness tracking spreadsheet offerings for tracking the degree of completeness for the various countries represented in an International I collection have really motivated me to do some spreadsheet captures of my various collections.
"Dilip Limaye's work on building a spreadsheet that will have entries for all International Part I spaces and defining a template "
Can you clarify this? Is there a spreadsheet available?
The worldwide countries I collect are scattered in 3 to 4 catalogs so I just purchased extracted pages. I put them in protective sleeves so easier to handle plus you can scan them to make them searchable.
Details? Are examples viewable online? I'm no longer collecting, but worked on country-specific spreadsheets a decade or more ago and am curious to learn more about Dilip Lemaye's work.
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"I no longer collect, but will never abandon the hobby"
"Hopefully there are not too many Scott catalog number changes since the 1975 catalogs"
Sorry, but your catalogs are a half-century old, and Scott has, and continues to make, many changes to the listings as they create major catalog numbers by breaking out perf, paper, watermark varieties, etc. from Portuguese colonies, British Commonwealth, Argentina, and Russia, just to name some areas off the top of my head. There are many more.
Thanks for the information on the changes to the catalog and what prompts a lot of them. Good to know and I may need to re-think my catalog choices.
I will admit the 150th year of the catalog for 2018 is interesting as a motivator for an upgrade. Do they make hardcover versions by chance?
I tried using a subscription to one of the current digital versions for a country only but found it to be quite irritating to use on my single monitor computer setup.
The only hard cover is the Classic Specialized (1840-1940), which is the year span where a good number of the changes are. However, many additions also exist in the 1970s and 1980s British Commonwealth definitives with year dates in the design.
Do you know off hand if the minimum has gone up to 50c or if Finland has experienced a big increase this year?
When I was at the library yesterday I was writing down 2018 catalog #s and values for some Finland stamps I was adding to my Steiner Pages. But this morning as I was adding them to the pages I had a half dozen that were 50c from the 2018 catalog but all 25c in the 2016 version I had at home.
I have not the heart to purchase a 2018 set of the Scott catalogs....i do not have a stamp budget as such...but i spend pretty much the same amount on stamps year after year...about what a set of the new catalogs cost. The choice is between stamps and the catalogs...stamps win !
"I have not the heart to purchase a 2018 set of the Scott catalogs..."
I hear you! Way too much money. I had a 2004 full set (that I got with THE HOARD).
Are there public libraries in the U.S. that would they carry the Scott's catalogs?
I think we're pretty lucky in that every one of our branches here in London (20 or so I think) has some in the circulation (can borrow) section as well as some branches in their reference (cannot borrow) department. And the demand is fairly low so I have often renewed for a couple months before I hit the max.
They usually get the new versions (2018), keep the previous year (2017), then offload the prior year (2016) after about 9 months.
I've asked many times where those old copies go, and if I could purchase them, but it is as close to a State Secret as you can find up here.
Dave,
My local library has recent Scott's catalog. I'm not sure about other branch's in the city. The Main branch in center city (Philadelphia, PA, USA) Has a large philatelic library with numerous volumes on Philately. These books can't be removed from the library but are available for viewing in a secure area of the library. Just let one of the librarians know which books you want to view. I haven't been down there recently though. I've got a decent library of my own mostly specialized US. My most recent Scott's is a US Specialized, 2003.
Down here south of the border some public library's have an inter library loan program where you can borrow books from a different library and have them shipped to your local branch.
Here is a clip about a famous Philadelphia citizen you may heard of.
Benjamin Franklin, Friend of Libraries. Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. Franklin is probably best known in the library community for founding the Library Company of Philadelphiain 1731. It was America's first lending library and can lay claim to being the predecessor of the free public library.
My Scott US Specialized is a 2004 that I bought on eBay years ago. It's an old library copy from Queens, NY. I also have a 2016 Harris catalog that is spiral bound and lays flat. All the stamps are in color too. I got it on sale at Hobby Lobby for around $10.
Funny thing, when I want to look up a catalog number quickly, I always reach for the 1999 Scott Pocket Stamp Catalog that sits behind my computer. It's small and easy to flip thought.
You can tell I don't give a darn about published catalog values. Any stamp is now worth at least a quarter! We are all rich!
I have not seen a Dutch library that had even a single volume of Scott's. Most of the time it is a simplified Stanley Gibbons, or a few Michel or even Yvert&Tellier. I often wonder who does the procurement for libraries and if they have any clue because the last serious users of Y&T are being carried to their final resting places as we speak. In the 80s Yvert was leading over here (I remember having glared over these unclear pictures and mysterious descriptions as a young boy), but it has now been almost completely replaced by Michel.
The libraries over here once per year sell off the books that are written off, and occassionally a catalogue pops up. I ended up with some volumes from Michel for 1 or 2 euros each. Never mind they are from 5 years ago, for that money I can live with that.
Finally gave in and bought a 2017 Scott Classic 1840 to 1940 catalog from Amos Media. I decided the $95 discount from the 2018 catalog list price was the better choice than spending the money on the 2018 version. Given that every 2016 Scott Classic catalog I have seen available on eBay has eventually sold for $90 or so it seemed like the best deal.
Still haven't found a suitable full set 2016 or later catalog at a reasonable price to provide more complete coverage than the 1975 catalog set that I have (and color pictures!) but talked with the owner of a new to me local stamp dealer who said he normally gets some offerings from Amos Media of leftover sets at much lower costs after the full set of the new year is available so maybe something will come out of this. I had a really enjoyable visit to the store which has stamps, coins, and comics and managed to get quite a few additions for the Canada collection on which I have been working actively lately.
I am now complete from Scott #231 through 1977 except for one stamp which we couldn't locate in his stock (although he is sure it is there somewhere and will keep looking for it although he hasn't found it in two weeks so far). I actually found a new offering for it online on eBay last night and ordered it. Given that this will be the third time I have placed a bid/order for the stamp on eBay it will be interesting if it gets delivered this time since the other two winning bids ended up being cancelled by the seller. This has now happened six times this year for won and/or Buy it Now offerings (Some may be because they were relatively low value items and, possibly, the offerings were restricted to in country offers. ).
My current set is 2014 including 2014 US Specialized. I also have a 2010 Classic Specialized. At some point I will pick up a 2017 set in a few years. I don't really have a huge need to update the classic specialized as the only thing that changes are the prices and I can look them up in my regular catalogs. I do use it often then when cataloging older stamps (which is mostly what I collect anyway).
I finally broke down this year and bought a set of 2017 Scott catalogs after the 2018's got released. I found the set at quite a good sale price from a dealer. I am still using my 2009 US Specialized as I don't mess much with US stamps.
I am currently using a 2004 Scotts Specialized and a 1999 Scot Pocket Stamp Catalog. When I need to see something in depth I use the 2004, when I need a quick ID of a catalog number, the 1999 weighs less!
My 2012 scotts are still doing the heavy work...i used to buy a set every 3 years..Bobgggg is correct..its better to spend the money on stamps than catalogs.
A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent). 24 Oct 2017 12:17:32am
re: Scotts 2018 Catalogs - Comments?
My librarian emailed me to let me know the 2018 catalogues had started coming in a few months ago. I've many things to do before I can get back to cataloguing my collection so it is good to know what each catalogue covers. She does her best to let me know which countries are in each catalogue so she can set them aside for someone to drop them off. They even gave me an extension because I need someone else to read them so when I get my paws on them I can keep them up to 9 weeks!
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"
My librarian emailed me to let me know the 2018 catalogues had started coming in a few months ago."
As of early October, my local library branch had all but the last two volumes of the 2018 Scott catalogue on the shelf. I haven't checked since then and they may have those last two volumes by now. Since that library branch is less than a mile from home, it's a convenient way to check for listing changes and current stamp values.
The only problem is that the volumes are no longer on the reserve shelves and anyone can check them out. I was sorry to see that change take place!
EDIT: I was told in early October that volumes 1A and 1B were checked out. Today (10/24/2017), they were still missing and a different librarian did some checking and discovered the system database shows no Indianapolis library branches received 1A and 1B. Only volumes 2A through 5B are on the shelf at my nearest branch. 6A and 6B haven't arrived yet.
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"I no longer collect, but will never abandon the hobby"
I have been getting a new Scott US specialized for the last 5 years or so. My Dad had been giving me one for Christmas but last year I started giving one to him for Christmas. I collect modern US varieties so checking on changes and build my excel inventory file. The values are less important.
As of late there has not been many editorial improvements in modern varieties except Scott's focus on errors. If you look at the summary of new Scott numbers all but one are an error.
I have occasionally my older ones to APRL but likely resell or trade for something I need.
Al
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nlroberts1961 12,8 cm Kanone 43 L/55 in blueprints only 24 Oct 2017 10:36:08am
re: Scotts 2018 Catalogs - Comments?
I get mine from used booksellers usually $3 - $6 a volume postpaid which is hard to beat. My current set ranges from 2011 - 2014 with a 2011 specialized which is more coverage than I need given I don't collect current issues.
I have also picked up an old set of stanley gibbons commonwealth and GB specialized for similar amounts as well as a 2013 unitrade. As long as you don't mind ex library, booksellers are cheaper than dealers for catalogues.
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"Euros think a 100 miles is a long way, Americans think a 100 yrs is a long time..."
Received my new 2017 Classic Specialized Catalogue for 1840-1940 and spent the last hour and a half reading through it. : Amos Media included a thoughtful circular for the new 2018 Classic Specialized Catalogue which comes out November 1st.
Given that the last one I got was from 2006 it has been quite interesting and it definitely looks like it will be a worthwhile purchase.
A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent). 24 Oct 2017 10:23:30pm
re: Scotts 2018 Catalogs - Comments?
What's the price tag on the 2018 Classic? It is something I'm considering since I currently use Stampworld and my 1961 2 volume Scott.
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"Let's find a cure for Still's Disease, Breast Cancer and Canine Addison's Disease. We CAN find a cure and save lives!!"
A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent). 25 Oct 2017 09:25:59am
re: Scotts 2018 Catalogs - Comments?
Geez Louise! That's a bit steep.
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"Let's find a cure for Still's Disease, Breast Cancer and Canine Addison's Disease. We CAN find a cure and save lives!!"
I need to get a new classic catalog too. I have asked Santa for one for Xmas, but I usually try to get one that is a couple years old, much more reasonable price. I have a 2011 edition now. Hoping to get a 2016 or 2017 edition.
I also have a dozen or so various catalogs I've picked up here and there - some J. Barefoot, some Scandanavian, etc......just miscellaneous stuff for miscellaneous stuff
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