I have a full set (4 volumes in those days) of 1984 Scott Catalogues in just about pristine condition. I've not participated in the auctions yet. Is this something worthwhile listing for sale? Anybody have any ideas on a fair price?
They may not be worth bothering with. Listed stamps values are ancient history, and many older listings will be out of date. I only got rid of my own 1984 Scott a couple of years ago. I just put them in the recycling bin. You could buy a much newer used set for relatively little money.
But I do know people (including myself) that have a selection of earlier catalogs as a form of reference. At first blush, 1984 does not seem that long ago, but it *is* about 35 years.
I'd offer it up here on SOR, where you wouldn't encounter any kind of selling fees.
(Without doing some research first, I'm not sure what would be a reasonable asking price.)
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"You gotta put down the duckie if you wanna play the saxophone. (Hoots the Owl -- Sesame Street)"
If you collect up to a specific time, a set of catalogs after that date makes a great inventory checklist. You can check off stamps you have - use different marks to code mint, used, space filler, etc. You can write notes and reminders to yourself and you can use a highlighter on things like the small print stuff that Scott hides here and there. If you run into cases where the same general design was used for several sets over a long period, color code them with a highlighter. Spain has several of those - the Castle series, the Tourist series, the New World series, etc.
Generally speaking, I collect up to the end of the colonial era and the parent countries to the same end. That means I end in the mid 1970s. I picked up a 1979 set and use it for this. The only real issue I've had was when Scott, in its infinite wisdom, decided that many 100-year-old Portuguese Ceres stamps were suddenly two or three different items.
I might be a wacko, but as someone who has very little interest in keeping up to date with values I am using a 1970 Scott catalog of U.S. stamps that I picked up at a library sale a couple of years back as my main reference book. It is an excellent hardback with dust jacket with special sections detailing the Danish West Indies. I wouldn't get rid of it for the world.
If someone collects worldwide to 1984 they probably collect all worldwide, and are going to want more contemporary catalogs are going to list the stamps from the last 30+ years.
Also, Scott Catalogues update more than just the values.There are also Catalog number changes, additions, and deletions.Here's an example from the 2008 catalogue.
I was recently stymied, while working on Greece. Then I found out Scott made massive changes in 2015 an 20166, with the 2016 catalogue having a page and a half of additions and changes devoted to that country. So, very old catalogues are really not very useful beyond being historical curiosities.