the "Encyclopedia of the Colors of United States Postage Stamps" is by far my favorite. I got my copy while they where still under $200. My 2nd favorite is "The Micarelli Identification Guide to US Stamps". This one is still affordable and if you do not have it, you really should get a copy! I actually use BOTH books together to ID old stamps and their colors.
Oh, yes that another great one, Don't they list for about $100 also? I have a real old one. Maybe I could find a used one cheap that is not ten years old?
The Regency/Superior website has a sale on the 2014 catalogue for $89.99 + tax (if applicable) + shipping. Not a bad price considering, but I guess it is about $100 when all is said and done.
The free catalog sites online (cannot afford to buy those books ). Not because those are free, but also because I could access those sites anytime.
In my opinion, a collector has to have a catalog for the countries he/she collects! A person can't know what they have, its value, or what they don't have without the catalog. Don
One more, I always loved this one, because it was all in color. I see now it is spiral bound! Which is much nicer than my last copy which was 600 pages and tightly bounded. Here's their link, direct from the Post Office: https://store.usps.com/store/browse/productDetailSingleSku.jsp?productId=S_891300 Steverd
The three volume set of Lester G. Brookman's United Stamps of the 19th Century, I bought mine probably 15 years ago, but now the The U.S. Philatelic Classics Society offers free downloads of that and the many books the society holds the copyright to. Take a few minutes and take a look, they are all free, just click the title you want. http://www.uspcs.org/resource-center/electronic-library/
Thanks for the link littleriverphil! I saved all three volumes in the pdf form. Anyone interested in U.S. classics ought to download them as they are classic reference material.
eBooks are very useful and much less expensive than the hardcopy books. But I still prefer the hardcopies whenever possible. I may be prejudiced since I also collect books. My favorite reference for US material (and I am still assembling a library) are Johl's Commemorative Set, the two Frangipane volumes and Sloane's Column.
I have Lester G. Brookman's United Stamps of the 19th Century; Postage Stamps of the United States 1847 - 1961 by the Post Office Department, Washington, DC; and lastly I have United States Postage Stamps of 1869 by Jon Rose. The one catalog that I use for identifying the older U.S. stamps is actually online at..... http://www.theswedishtiger.com/ID.html Click on the stamp thumbnails and you get all kinds of great information.
I have the 1869 Cover Census by Rose and the 1869 Postage Stamps is on the way. In another post I noted I am looking for issues of the 1869 Times and the 1869 Registers for 1976,77,78 and 82. The Brookmans are of course awesome. Those were three I fortunately kept during my 40 years away from collecting. I might bite for the 2016 Scotts Specialized, the latest I have is 2011. Good link, thanks! I'm getting lots of great websites from StampExchange members!
