Okay so I went ahead and got a mix of Austria stamps just because the price was something I could afford. I have a friend that collects worldwide, not to sort and put in albums, she only puts them in stock books to look at like a big picture book. So I am going to give her a bunch of them. Beings neither of us know anything about foreign stamps I was wondering if anyone here could point me to maybe a web site or something where I might be able to try identify these stamps. I thought it might be fun to see if I can figure out what I might have but have no clue where to start. Thanks for you help.
Carolee
cornerpost I was looking at the site you mentioned I was looking at 1867 Newspaper stamp with numbers 46 and 46A. Are the 46 and 46A the Scott catalog numbers for those stamps or just the web site way of numbering the stamps? Sorry for the newbie questions. Just trying to learn a little.
They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin 04 Dec 2014 12:16:52am
re: Austria
Scott uses a letter prefix (I believe PR) on newspaper stamps, so those numbers would not be Scott catalog numbers..
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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -Edmund Burke"
Thank you Bobby. I a least have some idea of a few of what I have. Using that web site and the year I can go to the library and look at the Scott catalog if they have one for Austria. I sure like this selection of stamps I have gotten. LOL what am I saying I like all my stamps
They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin 04 Dec 2014 01:17:16am
re: Austria
"...what am I saying I like all my stamps"
Spoken like a true philatelic fanatic!
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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -Edmund Burke"
As Bobby guessed the numbers aren't Scott's - they are the site's own numbering system. Scott are a bit jealous about their numbers, but it's easy enough to use the site and then find the equivalent Scott numbers. Enjoy Austria - they have had some beautiful stamps.
Merv
A good general site for world wide stamps. provided that you are not looking for specialised details is "colnect". Be warned that this is not a complete list of stamps but for most highly collected countries it is up to 90% complete - but only on a simplified "face different"basis. I use it for more modern stamps issued since my last catalogue - get the year and purpose of the issue then search for more details on google. Works more than 70% of the time.If you don't know the approximate date of issue it is a little tedious but somewhat easier than trawling the internet.
This thread looks to have run its course but thought I would add a pitch for Austrian stamps as someone else did above. Many of Austria's issues are beautifully engraved and I think the country should rank high in terms of collecting interest. The between-wars issues are especially great although some are getting expensive.
For us, here in the States, the Scott Cat. is the bible of stamp collectors as much as we despised it. I try to make sense of the article on Linn's and since I was getting a headache I figure that better quit while I am ahead. I would like to know the rational for numbering basically two identical stamps with different numbers, let's say 145 and 146 and then two completely different stamps as 101 and 101a.
Tony
My understanding re catalogue numbering is that for a notional country numbers 100 and 101, though similar, arrived or were processed at the same time and so given consecutive numbers. Number 100a, however (possibly a different perforation), only arrived weeks or months later and had to be 'slotted in' in that manner to avoid renumbering, which no-one likes. It's possible that 100 and 101 were officially authorised by the issuing country, while 100a only surfaced after sufficient numbers of stamp collectors had noticed the difference and contacted the catalogue editor.
Is this how it works? (Having a Scott intern on the membership would be handy for this website!)
I can understand the numbering issue with def. stamp and trying to keep them on a chronological order, but my beef is why, for example, the flags issued during the bicentennial era of the US have different numbers while the endangered wildlife or comics have all the same number and only a letter added to differentiate them?
Tony
Tony, you cite some of the inconsistency problems that exist within the Scott catalogs. Through the years there have been several different editors of the catalogs. Each added their own cataloging manners. I was told by Scott that the subsequent editors rarely go back and make "adjustments" to earlier listings to bring them in line with the current editorial standards of the catalogs.
While there are basic "laws" in the Scott catalog listings and most must be obeyed, there are plenty of nebulous areas where the inconsistencies come in.
I believe that at least twice, a Scott editor went back and totally revised the catalog numbering. Later there were some minor tweaking of some listings, and the editors got hammered by dealers and collectors for doing it. The problem with changing numbers is that most people do not buy a new catalog set every year. If a number is changed, then it is no longer good in all the previous editions, and confusion reigns.
I think that it has been too long since Scott did a realignment. Some countries don't even have a #1! There are many stamps that should be combined into sets (remember that Scott is NOT a chronological catalog), and too many gaps in numbering, even within sets. Many countries have had many stamps added. These countries now run more with stamps with letters than numbers (125, 125A, 125B, 125C, etc.). Minor numbers and minor letters are very inconsistent. Many should be grouped into sets of their own.
As is commonly stated about me, just some things from my list for when I buy Scott.
AntoniousRa,
Nice collection! I have mine arranged with vario pages that way I can relocate the stamps at will. Hard to tell about the issues from 1889-1907 without perf. count, seems like you have everyone represented. I only lack on mine #71 plus some of the 10 1/2 perts. otherwise fairly complete but with room to add more.
Tony