So, I read a passing comment that Europeans hate the Scott catalog. Is this true? If, so, why is it? If now, why do you think this person would have that impression?
I have never owned one but have been 'advised' that it contains errors and Gibbons has more accuracy. I do like Gibbons and would need a great incentive to change.
I think that the retail market is more accurately reflected by Stanley Gibbons across the pond than the Scott catalog. A complaint of Scott has always been their perceived inflated "values" which is why they went through their "value revaluation" a number of years back. A collector of American stamps can do no better than the Scott Specialized Catalog which is why I buy it, but also collecting Germany I use a Michel rather than a Scott. Scott cannot even approach the varieties that Michel lays out.
First and foremost a stamp catalogue is only a guide and the monetary value of stamps really depends on the trade of the day. The merican use Scott, the British or most othe english speaking coll4ctors use Gibbons. Most European collectors use Michel. Belgian, Frensh, Dutch, Scandinavians, Greek, Austrians to mention a few have their own editions, even more spezialised then Michel because they are area consentrated. Gibbons, Scott & Michel attempted to do the whole World but they now see it is too much and the internet also added to its demise. So in Future you would have only the net to look up every stamp, to your cost of course. A stamp is a picture and that is why Michel is the more easier catalogue to work with. Gibbons now show more varieties - errors - flaws, a step in the right direction to keewp sales going. Scott is probably tops with the US Spezialised edition and the other may be good for reference. Here (NZ) suprisingly many do use Scott and perhaps those that collect Br. Commonwealth use Gibbons too. Only those that collect on the German area use Michel. We here have three catalogues which seemed to compete with each other since their inception years ago. So it is not surprising that some prefer one catalogue above any other, which really is a distinction of philatelic adaption.
I mainly used scott nowadays as my GB collection is pretty complete, i did use SG for my Gb collection though as it shows a lot more detail i do not really worry about the valuations on any catalogue as i have no intention of selling my collection, and the stamps that are put on ebay and such like i put up for 1 pence each and if i get more then that is a bonus lol i just find the PDF version of Scott so much easier to work with, and i think philatica is correct in saynig that the WWW will be the only way forward soon for identifying and valuing stamps
If this is a statement of fact you should name your source. Otherwise you should mention the fact that it is your opinion, otherwise it looks a bit like preaching, in my opinion of course.
I agree with you on the dealer front, H. When it comes to ebay and the like though, any price is just a figure to work from, do you not think?
Its not a surprise people have preferences, and not an issue either, of course. Nor is it surprising that some catalogs are better in some regards than others. I'm not interested in the value of stamps either beyond noting it as part of their metadata (such as condition, perforation etc). So, it seems that its not hated (at least among Brits), but rather is not the preferred catalog. Fair enough
Name the source of what ? Preaching ! Not at all, all fact - based on the source - my experience. BTW the 'merican' was not meant derogative, just left out the 'A', comes from finger-flaws LOL
and i replied as well do you not know that GB is part of Europe these days lol (although some may wish we were not)
I wish to state without fear of contradiction, that I have no relationship what so ever with the French ha ha ha ha.
Tu, I only have the Scott's to go on. I might get a SB for myself as a birthday gift, but as of this point have no comparisons. As I said, I'm sure all catalogers have strengths and weaknesses. And everyone can have their preference of which they prefer. Steve, I was in Paris for a few days and really liked, but my interst is mostly the countryside, esp. around the rivers.
I guess I can "sort of" respond-- I'm a Danish national and grew up using European catalogs; now I live in the US. I use Scott because... well, I have to. If I visits shows or dealers in the US, their stocks are arranged by Scott number. I think Scott is at least a decent catalog for US. For the most part, I don't like Scott all that much-- it has an assortment of "usability" issues that make it difficult to use, especially if you're a novice. I've gotten used to these idiosyncrasies after using the catalog for years... Most catalogs I grew up with have stamps numbered pretty much by date of issue... helps you understand where they fit, in the scheme of things. Scott groups things "by set," but then they seem to run out of numbers (or end up with huge gaps) and PARTS of the set ends up listed elsewhere. Also, anything with a normal "postal" (retail customer) usage is part of the main book in Europe. I find having semi-postals and airmails as BOB items a bit odd... especially since a lot of places don't actually TELL you something is an "airmail" stamp. I know they do it to "save space" but "common design types" annoy me. Just picture the stamp, don't send me off to some other book to spend 10 minutes trying to figure out where and what "common design type 43" looks like. Watermarks-- "watermark 114" is meaningless to me. If you don't picture it with the stamp, at least call it "watermark large crown" or whatever. Scott has a very low level of detail when it comes to anything other than US. For example, for many European countries, there were separate tagged/untagged stamps issued between about 1960 and 1970... almost every catalog other than Scott lists and prices these; Scott barely mentions their existence. Scott's pricing is all over creation, again for non-US. For example, there are a number of items from Denmark and Norway I can buy at FULL Scott and turn around and sell for twice the money in Europe... at 1/3 of the local catalog price there! I can understand regional differences... but a magnitude of 6-8 TIMES different? Not so much. What DO I use? SG for anything BC related; Michel for most of Europe; Facit for Scandinavia; Zumstein for Switzerland; Y&T for France and French related... ~Peter
