"I know most of you are only trying to get a few cents per stamp so looking up the numbers would be a lot of work for little return."
Sorry - I really meant no offence. It really is a lot of work for no return and I really have no right to complain unless I have been there! Please, no offence meant to any seller!
My problem can be solved by just taking a bit more time and have more patience going through the approval books. I'm retired so I have lots of time and really didn't mean to upset anyone. Please forgive!
I would just add that if someone asked more than say 30 cents for an approval listing then it likely indicates they do know a catalog number and and value unless they are winging values.
Harvey, no need to apologise, no offence taken as none was intended by your post.
It is, as Ian points out, a long standing problem. I have tried both with and without catalogue numbers, sales were not enhanced even without putting a higher price on the numbered books.
I have also tried giving advance notice, by way of a forum post, of the catalogue numbers by approval book page, no increased interest or sales.
I personally find that if a book is in year/issue/set order then it is easier to see anything needed. I hate books that jump all over the years.
None of us are going to get rich on the sales but we do manage to fill gaps in collections because the common items are just not available very often.
Having said all that some sellers books are a pleasure to view, others I lose interest in very quickly, especially if I have to scroll the screen sideways or increase screen size to properly see the stamps.
Not sure there really is a solution other than buying only from books of the more organised sellers.
Back again.... I've been checking out a lot of books over the last day or so. If they are sort of in chronological order it would be great, but not really necessary if it's Canada or US since I know those collections better. Places like Russia and Poland are a real problem since they have so damn many stamps, but even that can be handled with more patience on my part. The only real problem is stamps with watermark or perf. differences that are not numbered - please try not to do that unless you just want us to take a chance. And maybe that is OK as well since most of you really don't expect a huge return. If you do have more costly items I suggest you put them in the auctions with them identified. But even then the prices are very fair to low in most cases, so it is hard to complain much.This will be my last complaint, but the stamps I have bought so far from the books happen to be the ones that are identified. You guys really are offering a huge service for little return - please continue and ignore complainers like me. I really do appreciate what you are doing!
Harvey:- No offence was taken by your initial post.
It is always better to remind everybody just how much work is required to make up an approval book.
Each seller has their own way of producing a book and we are all at different levels of health, wealth and experience. As are all buyers.
The one joy of stamporama is that the Approval Book system is fairly unique to them. You do not find it anywhere else on line.
Like all systems it does not fulfill everybody's wants, needs, requirements and foibles but it enables us all to add to our collections at reasonable prices.
You may find that some sellers list the odd book of higher priced stamps where all the details buyers are looking for are provided.
As SOR has members from all over the globe, who use different catalogues, which one should they use when listing and which one does the buyer use when buying? An unfixable issue methinks
I know it's a problem and I know most people on E-Bay use Scott's. I'm kind of sorry I suggested the books be numbered. How about using numbers for higher end stamps and keeping the rest the way it is. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. My problem is with Russia and Poland where there are too many stamps for me to remember what I'm missing - that's my problem not your's. No one should expect someone selling stamps for a few cents to number stamps ( any # ), how about anything over a few dollars or any questionable stamp be numbered. If you use a system other than Scott's then there must be a place on line for number conversion.
No number conversion is available because different catalogs recognize different iterations of the same stamp by different means (perfs, colors, etc.) Gibbons will recognize over a hundred different colors, Scott will recognize 3. Think of just watermark identification on early Mexico, Brazil and Hungary.
Stamporama already has hundreds of rules (have YOU personally read through all of the rules?). Adding Scott numbers to each page also requires a different layout when mounting them for jpegs if you use stock sheets for mounting.
I suggest that you set up a few approval pages yourself and get a feel for just how time consuming it can be.....
Just trying to be realistic here.
I am one of the sellers who includes Scott numbers on my approval sheets. I have only recently started doing this, but I had been placing the stamps in chronological order. I realized that in order to place in chronological order I needed to identify the stamp in a catalog. Since I was already looking up the stamp, it was not that much more effort to record the catalog number as well.I do not check watermarks or perforations while cataloging stamps because I don't want to spend that much time on stamps selling for a few pennies. I generally assume that such stamps are the most common variant. I do use the Scott catalog because I assume it is the most commonly used catalog by the users of StampoRama and it is the catalog that I have access to.
I agree with those who have mentioned the amount of time and effort involved in putting together approval book versus the relatively small amount received from sales. I absolutely would not be offering approval books as a way of earning income. I am retired and do not need the income, but, if I did, I could make more per hour as a school crossing guard. I commend all those who do post approval books here. I believe they are providing a great service to their fellow collectors by providing an opportunity to obtain stamps for their collections at very reasonable prices. I only do this because I enjoy working with stamps, although sometimes while assembling a book I do ask myself, " Am I really enjoying this?"
I would just like to say here how much I appreciate the sellers
who put up approval books and post to the auctions -
the time and effort involved is greatly appreciated by many
of us, myself included.
'
I have no dog in this fight.
I've never even looked at one of the approval books, let alone created one or bought from one.
But I gotta ask:
Q/ When you (as a buyer/shopper) look at a stamp in an approval book, you don't know whether/not you own it unless it comes with a catalog number?
Wow. Maybe you need to narrow your collecting interests. Maybe you need to take a walk thru your albums, stockbooks, and glassine piles before you go shopping. Maybe you need to accept the Free Market solution, to wit:
Shop the sellers who add catalog numbers, don't shop the sellers who don't, and let prices & practices sort themselves out.
But appealing to authority to impose a rule on people with whom you may never do business strikes me as unappealing as tanks in the streets on the 4th of July quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
"I am one of the sellers who includes Scott numbers on my approval sheets."
"I do not check watermarks or perforations while cataloging stamps because I don't want to spend that much time on stamps selling for a few pennies. I generally assume that such stamps are the most common variant."
Many early stamps that are face alike may be one of 4, 6, 8 or more separate catalog numbers depending on perforations or watermarks, all cataloging 25 cents each. Someone who has 7 out of the 8 face identical stamps is not helped if your catalog number is incorrect. It is far worse to deliberately put down a catalog number that you know may be incorrect than it is to leave the catalog number blank.
Just my opinion.
"It is far worse to deliberately put down a catalog number that you know may be incorrect than it is to leave the catalog number blank. "
"It is far worse to deliberately put down a catalog number that you know may be incorrect than it is to leave the catalog number blank."
I do disclose the fact on every book I post that catalog numbers may not be correct. If a buyer is looking for a particular watermark variety, having a blank catalog number is not going to help him identify the stamp from an image. If he is looking for a perforation variety, I suppose he could determine that from the scanned image. I am not interested in the tedious task of checking watermarks or perforations on a stamp that I am selling for 6c. The catalog numbers I provide with my scans constitute extra information which some buyers may find useful. They are NOT a representation on my part that item shown has been accurately cataloged.
I see everyone's point and I understand how much work it would be, so I think things should stay as they are. The only thing about watermarks and color variations is that if I am looking for a variety I should go with the auctions rather than approval books. And as far as not really knowing what I have, collectors of countries like Russia or Poland or other countries that put out hundreds of stamps per year, even if you have a cutoff date (1985) as I do, it is damn near impossible to remember everything you have or don't have. I find with those countries I am missing a stamp or two per page after about 1940. I mostly concentrate on older stamps now but would like to fill the newer gaps. What I follow is a want list with Scott numbers. I need to start another list for the newer stamps that might go like this " wildlife series 1969 warthog" rather than #3644. Please keep doing what you're doing and ignore my complaints - I'm an "old retired fart who spends half of his time removing his foot from his mouth". You're doing a great job - KEEP IT UP! Your auctions and approval books are a great help to any collector!
"It is far worse to deliberately put down a catalog number that you know may be incorrect than it is to leave the catalog number blank."
"If a buyer purchases an item with an incorrect catalog number, then the item is considered to be "not as described", and the buyer is usually entitled to a refund (including shipping costs), if the buyer so wants. When in doubt, leave it out."
A catalog number is a precise identification that pinpoints what a stamp is. The wrong catalog number provided is still a representation of an identification of a stamp, despite it being wrong.
"I am not interested in the tedious task of checking watermarks or perforations on a stamp that I am selling for 6c."
"I am retired and do not need the income, but, if I did, I could make more per hour as a school crossing guard. I commend all those who do post approval books here. I believe they are providing a great service to their fellow collectors by providing an opportunity to obtain stamps for their collections at very reasonable prices. I only do this because I enjoy working with stamps, although sometimes while assembling a book I do ask myself, " Am I really enjoying this?" "
" If you don't know the correct catalog number, then it is best not to provide a catalog number."
"Sometimes the seller has only one catalogue or set of catalogues to work from.
[i]Not all catalogues go into detail of perfs, watermarks etc etc etc.
Stanley Gibbons Stamps of the World, in six volumes that cost $300.00 a set, does not give any of the differences of Perfs watermarks etc.
What is a seller supposed to do ? Spend several hundreds of Dollars so they can supply the odd requirement of one buyer or two ?"
Nowhere did I say that. What I am saying is that if a seller is using a catalog that has a stamp which can be #86. 98. 126. 189. 176 or 345 depending on the watermark and perfs all at minimum catalog value they should not just arbitrarily pick one number - just leave the catalog number blank. If there is only one stamp identified in Gibbons instead of the 6 identified in different sets in Scott than using the Gibbons number is fine - same with Minkus, Yvert, Michel and all the other catalogs used. But if you are using Scott and are not going to take the time to identify the stamp just guessing so you can enter one of the six numbers in the example is not right.
If my want list includes #176 from the above example and I have all the other stamps and I purchase what a dealer says is a #176 that is what I want the stamp to be, as that is the stamp that I need. Does that make sense? Why put down a number that you have no clue if it is correct or not? Ethics here ........
" If there is only one stamp identified in Gibbons instead of the 6 identified in different sets in Scott than using the Gibbons number is fine - same with Minkus, Yvert, Michel and all the other catalogs used. "
I had no idea the catalogs were so different. Does that mean that an album based on Stanley Gibbons would not have varieties for perfs and watermarks. That would make life much simpler. How about paper varieties? How about other numbering systems? Then why in H___ does almost everyone use Scott's numbers if other numbering systems are easier. I've been a collector since 1972 and this is the first time I heard this. Just curious, and I know this is changing the thread, but what numbers do Minkus albums use. I use Scott's to label the stamps, but they don't match the book numbers.
"... I had no idea the catalogs were so different ..."
"... Then why in H___ does almost everyone use Scott's numbers ..."
"Does that mean that an album based on Stanley Gibbons would not have varieties for perfs and watermarks."
I'm not familiar with Gibbons,but lets say we all switched to their catalogs. What would happen to US collections which seem to be centered around perforations and watermarks? We would only have about half the US stamps in the first part of the album. Does Gibbons list the watermarks and perfs as (a), (b), (c), etc or do they acknowledge them at all? Do they acknowledge paper varieties - that means Canada #32 with only 3 existing copies would not be searched for! How did Scott become the all powerful source that it has? I'm really curious also about the other numbering systems, even Minkus seems to have it's own system. Wouldn't the sensible thing be to use a much simpler system than Scott's? Or is it that collectors prefer the complications that Scott's offers? I'm an ex math teacher and I remember a French School of Mathematicians who tried to standardize Mathematics. I believe they were called The Bourbaki School and they failed drastically. Maybe stamp collectors should do the same thing and all use the same system!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Bourbaki
I hadn't read the post by Brechinite when I wrote this. Maybe we should all switch to Stamps of the World catalog!
"Why put down a number that you have no clue if it is correct or not? "
"Ethics here ........"
Stamp catalogue producers are in business to make money. Not just to sell stamps.
Gibbons produce its Stamps of the World catalogue every year.
They also produce about 20 "Specialized" catalogues covering geographical areas eg Portugal and Spain, New Zealand, France etc which are produced every few years. These catalogues are much more detailed than "Stamps of the World".
Getting Collectors and Catalogue producers to agree commonality would be like getting every ice cream manufacturer and ice cream eater to agree on one recipe and one flavour!
OK - I was going to resist putting my 2 cents in on this again - but for some reason I am wide awake tonight - must be the fireworks ! My books are organized in basically a year order (and if I have alot from a single country - I break the books down into year ranges). Sometimes I go the Scott way and put the back of the book items after the regular ones and sometimes I go with Minkus and mix them in based on the years.
There was a period of time when I was providing the Scott # on every single stamp in my books. It made NO Difference in my sales overall and for me it was very time consuming especially when the books drop off now sooner than originally. I now started to provide the Scott # on all approval pages that were greater than 25 cent items. I have made some mistakes when providing a catalog number - either I need a new pair of glasses or I just transpose a number. I always give refunds if that happens. I polled some of my regulars awhile back and they told me they were fine without providing the # most of the time. If there is an issue with a watermark or perforation - I try to indicate which stamp it is - in those cases the # does help. Of course I could still make an error with the watermark of perf - so nothing is perfect ! Steve
Steve, I'm curious, how do you organize your books in chronological order without identifying each stamp in a catalog?
Hi,
I have been breaking up a huge collection my father had accumulated over the years. A good part of the collection are in albums which are already in a semi good year order. Sometimes a stamp will be out of year order - but I usually can realize that as I am creating the approval book. My father had identified in pencil the catalog value on the some of the higher value stamps in pencil - so I check those against a catalog to see the more current value. In other cases where I am creating an approval book from a stock book or an envelope of stamps - I do need to use the catalog to get it sorted in a semi good year order. For many of the countries I can just look at the stamps and can identify them by looking at them if they are from a certain era - I guess collecting myself for 50 years makes it easier. I just do not like the time to write down the #'s on the approval book pages for each individual stamp that are common issues. Steve
"... Maybe stamp collectors should do the same thing and all use the same system! ...
... Maybe we should all switch to Stamps of the World catalog! ..."
Yes, I've collected since 1972 and have always used Scott's. I knew there were other catalogs but I have always been a solitary collector. This is the first stamp group I have ever joined, I think it was Groucho Marx who said something similar to " I would never join a group that would consider me as a member". As a resident of a small village outside Halifax and in a province where stamp clubs for adults don't seem to exist, I have had no exposure to other systems. I have had the same stamp dealer since 1972 who uses Scott's numbers and any site I buy from uses Scott's numbers I have managed to stay ignorant of the other systems. I always assumed the numbers were a bit different and that was it - I never realized how different the systems were. Yes, I'm an ignorant (happily so) 67 year old collector who is now amazed that there is a system that totally ignores watermarks and perforations. I guess we are never too old to learn, but I will continue with the Scott's system, it's too late to change when all your collections are labeled with Scott's numbers. So if I bid on your auctions I will probably only buy if the stamp has a Scott's number. But, no number at all is fine as long as the stamp is identifiable. Call me an old fart who is set in his ways!
"Call me an old fart who is set in his ways!"
I have just bought from approval books for the first time and I have a suggestion. The items I bought are from the US and I know my US and Canada collections very well. Then I started looking through Russia and Poland. In most cases for these countries I am only missing the odd one here and there, so with a bunch of Scott numbers written down I went in to have a look. I know this is an awful lot to ask, but I think if I were trying to sell from an approval book I would have the stamps numbered to make it easier on the buyers.I know most of you are only trying to get a few cents per stamp so looking up the numbers would be a lot of work for little return. I would be willing to pay a bit more if I didn't have to be leafing through my whole album. People auctioning their stamps tend to number their stamps, why not appraisals. I'm sure this has been mentioned before. I saw one person who had the numbers listed in the front of the book and I bought from this person. I know it's a lot of work for the seller, but it is impossible to buy a lot of stuff if you have to keep messing with your album. Comments?
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"I know most of you are only trying to get a few cents per stamp so looking up the numbers would be a lot of work for little return."
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
Sorry - I really meant no offence. It really is a lot of work for no return and I really have no right to complain unless I have been there! Please, no offence meant to any seller!
My problem can be solved by just taking a bit more time and have more patience going through the approval books. I'm retired so I have lots of time and really didn't mean to upset anyone. Please forgive!
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
I would just add that if someone asked more than say 30 cents for an approval listing then it likely indicates they do know a catalog number and and value unless they are winging values.
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
Harvey, no need to apologise, no offence taken as none was intended by your post.
It is, as Ian points out, a long standing problem. I have tried both with and without catalogue numbers, sales were not enhanced even without putting a higher price on the numbered books.
I have also tried giving advance notice, by way of a forum post, of the catalogue numbers by approval book page, no increased interest or sales.
I personally find that if a book is in year/issue/set order then it is easier to see anything needed. I hate books that jump all over the years.
None of us are going to get rich on the sales but we do manage to fill gaps in collections because the common items are just not available very often.
Having said all that some sellers books are a pleasure to view, others I lose interest in very quickly, especially if I have to scroll the screen sideways or increase screen size to properly see the stamps.
Not sure there really is a solution other than buying only from books of the more organised sellers.
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
Back again.... I've been checking out a lot of books over the last day or so. If they are sort of in chronological order it would be great, but not really necessary if it's Canada or US since I know those collections better. Places like Russia and Poland are a real problem since they have so damn many stamps, but even that can be handled with more patience on my part. The only real problem is stamps with watermark or perf. differences that are not numbered - please try not to do that unless you just want us to take a chance. And maybe that is OK as well since most of you really don't expect a huge return. If you do have more costly items I suggest you put them in the auctions with them identified. But even then the prices are very fair to low in most cases, so it is hard to complain much.This will be my last complaint, but the stamps I have bought so far from the books happen to be the ones that are identified. You guys really are offering a huge service for little return - please continue and ignore complainers like me. I really do appreciate what you are doing!
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
Harvey:- No offence was taken by your initial post.
It is always better to remind everybody just how much work is required to make up an approval book.
Each seller has their own way of producing a book and we are all at different levels of health, wealth and experience. As are all buyers.
The one joy of stamporama is that the Approval Book system is fairly unique to them. You do not find it anywhere else on line.
Like all systems it does not fulfill everybody's wants, needs, requirements and foibles but it enables us all to add to our collections at reasonable prices.
You may find that some sellers list the odd book of higher priced stamps where all the details buyers are looking for are provided.
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
As SOR has members from all over the globe, who use different catalogues, which one should they use when listing and which one does the buyer use when buying? An unfixable issue methinks
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
I know it's a problem and I know most people on E-Bay use Scott's. I'm kind of sorry I suggested the books be numbered. How about using numbers for higher end stamps and keeping the rest the way it is. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. My problem is with Russia and Poland where there are too many stamps for me to remember what I'm missing - that's my problem not your's. No one should expect someone selling stamps for a few cents to number stamps ( any # ), how about anything over a few dollars or any questionable stamp be numbered. If you use a system other than Scott's then there must be a place on line for number conversion.
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
No number conversion is available because different catalogs recognize different iterations of the same stamp by different means (perfs, colors, etc.) Gibbons will recognize over a hundred different colors, Scott will recognize 3. Think of just watermark identification on early Mexico, Brazil and Hungary.
Stamporama already has hundreds of rules (have YOU personally read through all of the rules?). Adding Scott numbers to each page also requires a different layout when mounting them for jpegs if you use stock sheets for mounting.
I suggest that you set up a few approval pages yourself and get a feel for just how time consuming it can be.....
Just trying to be realistic here.
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
I am one of the sellers who includes Scott numbers on my approval sheets. I have only recently started doing this, but I had been placing the stamps in chronological order. I realized that in order to place in chronological order I needed to identify the stamp in a catalog. Since I was already looking up the stamp, it was not that much more effort to record the catalog number as well.I do not check watermarks or perforations while cataloging stamps because I don't want to spend that much time on stamps selling for a few pennies. I generally assume that such stamps are the most common variant. I do use the Scott catalog because I assume it is the most commonly used catalog by the users of StampoRama and it is the catalog that I have access to.
I agree with those who have mentioned the amount of time and effort involved in putting together approval book versus the relatively small amount received from sales. I absolutely would not be offering approval books as a way of earning income. I am retired and do not need the income, but, if I did, I could make more per hour as a school crossing guard. I commend all those who do post approval books here. I believe they are providing a great service to their fellow collectors by providing an opportunity to obtain stamps for their collections at very reasonable prices. I only do this because I enjoy working with stamps, although sometimes while assembling a book I do ask myself, " Am I really enjoying this?"
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
I would just like to say here how much I appreciate the sellers
who put up approval books and post to the auctions -
the time and effort involved is greatly appreciated by many
of us, myself included.
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
'
I have no dog in this fight.
I've never even looked at one of the approval books, let alone created one or bought from one.
But I gotta ask:
Q/ When you (as a buyer/shopper) look at a stamp in an approval book, you don't know whether/not you own it unless it comes with a catalog number?
Wow. Maybe you need to narrow your collecting interests. Maybe you need to take a walk thru your albums, stockbooks, and glassine piles before you go shopping. Maybe you need to accept the Free Market solution, to wit:
Shop the sellers who add catalog numbers, don't shop the sellers who don't, and let prices & practices sort themselves out.
But appealing to authority to impose a rule on people with whom you may never do business strikes me as unappealing as tanks in the streets on the 4th of July quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"I am one of the sellers who includes Scott numbers on my approval sheets."
"I do not check watermarks or perforations while cataloging stamps because I don't want to spend that much time on stamps selling for a few pennies. I generally assume that such stamps are the most common variant."
Many early stamps that are face alike may be one of 4, 6, 8 or more separate catalog numbers depending on perforations or watermarks, all cataloging 25 cents each. Someone who has 7 out of the 8 face identical stamps is not helped if your catalog number is incorrect. It is far worse to deliberately put down a catalog number that you know may be incorrect than it is to leave the catalog number blank.
Just my opinion.
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"It is far worse to deliberately put down a catalog number that you know may be incorrect than it is to leave the catalog number blank. "
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"It is far worse to deliberately put down a catalog number that you know may be incorrect than it is to leave the catalog number blank."
I do disclose the fact on every book I post that catalog numbers may not be correct. If a buyer is looking for a particular watermark variety, having a blank catalog number is not going to help him identify the stamp from an image. If he is looking for a perforation variety, I suppose he could determine that from the scanned image. I am not interested in the tedious task of checking watermarks or perforations on a stamp that I am selling for 6c. The catalog numbers I provide with my scans constitute extra information which some buyers may find useful. They are NOT a representation on my part that item shown has been accurately cataloged.
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
I see everyone's point and I understand how much work it would be, so I think things should stay as they are. The only thing about watermarks and color variations is that if I am looking for a variety I should go with the auctions rather than approval books. And as far as not really knowing what I have, collectors of countries like Russia or Poland or other countries that put out hundreds of stamps per year, even if you have a cutoff date (1985) as I do, it is damn near impossible to remember everything you have or don't have. I find with those countries I am missing a stamp or two per page after about 1940. I mostly concentrate on older stamps now but would like to fill the newer gaps. What I follow is a want list with Scott numbers. I need to start another list for the newer stamps that might go like this " wildlife series 1969 warthog" rather than #3644. Please keep doing what you're doing and ignore my complaints - I'm an "old retired fart who spends half of his time removing his foot from his mouth". You're doing a great job - KEEP IT UP! Your auctions and approval books are a great help to any collector!
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"It is far worse to deliberately put down a catalog number that you know may be incorrect than it is to leave the catalog number blank."
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"If a buyer purchases an item with an incorrect catalog number, then the item is considered to be "not as described", and the buyer is usually entitled to a refund (including shipping costs), if the buyer so wants. When in doubt, leave it out."
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
A catalog number is a precise identification that pinpoints what a stamp is. The wrong catalog number provided is still a representation of an identification of a stamp, despite it being wrong.
"I am not interested in the tedious task of checking watermarks or perforations on a stamp that I am selling for 6c."
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"I am retired and do not need the income, but, if I did, I could make more per hour as a school crossing guard. I commend all those who do post approval books here. I believe they are providing a great service to their fellow collectors by providing an opportunity to obtain stamps for their collections at very reasonable prices. I only do this because I enjoy working with stamps, although sometimes while assembling a book I do ask myself, " Am I really enjoying this?" "
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
" If you don't know the correct catalog number, then it is best not to provide a catalog number."
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"Sometimes the seller has only one catalogue or set of catalogues to work from.
[i]Not all catalogues go into detail of perfs, watermarks etc etc etc.
Stanley Gibbons Stamps of the World, in six volumes that cost $300.00 a set, does not give any of the differences of Perfs watermarks etc.
What is a seller supposed to do ? Spend several hundreds of Dollars so they can supply the odd requirement of one buyer or two ?"
Nowhere did I say that. What I am saying is that if a seller is using a catalog that has a stamp which can be #86. 98. 126. 189. 176 or 345 depending on the watermark and perfs all at minimum catalog value they should not just arbitrarily pick one number - just leave the catalog number blank. If there is only one stamp identified in Gibbons instead of the 6 identified in different sets in Scott than using the Gibbons number is fine - same with Minkus, Yvert, Michel and all the other catalogs used. But if you are using Scott and are not going to take the time to identify the stamp just guessing so you can enter one of the six numbers in the example is not right.
If my want list includes #176 from the above example and I have all the other stamps and I purchase what a dealer says is a #176 that is what I want the stamp to be, as that is the stamp that I need. Does that make sense? Why put down a number that you have no clue if it is correct or not? Ethics here ........
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
" If there is only one stamp identified in Gibbons instead of the 6 identified in different sets in Scott than using the Gibbons number is fine - same with Minkus, Yvert, Michel and all the other catalogs used. "
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
I had no idea the catalogs were so different. Does that mean that an album based on Stanley Gibbons would not have varieties for perfs and watermarks. That would make life much simpler. How about paper varieties? How about other numbering systems? Then why in H___ does almost everyone use Scott's numbers if other numbering systems are easier. I've been a collector since 1972 and this is the first time I heard this. Just curious, and I know this is changing the thread, but what numbers do Minkus albums use. I use Scott's to label the stamps, but they don't match the book numbers.
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"... I had no idea the catalogs were so different ..."
"... Then why in H___ does almost everyone use Scott's numbers ..."
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"Does that mean that an album based on Stanley Gibbons would not have varieties for perfs and watermarks."
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
I'm not familiar with Gibbons,but lets say we all switched to their catalogs. What would happen to US collections which seem to be centered around perforations and watermarks? We would only have about half the US stamps in the first part of the album. Does Gibbons list the watermarks and perfs as (a), (b), (c), etc or do they acknowledge them at all? Do they acknowledge paper varieties - that means Canada #32 with only 3 existing copies would not be searched for! How did Scott become the all powerful source that it has? I'm really curious also about the other numbering systems, even Minkus seems to have it's own system. Wouldn't the sensible thing be to use a much simpler system than Scott's? Or is it that collectors prefer the complications that Scott's offers? I'm an ex math teacher and I remember a French School of Mathematicians who tried to standardize Mathematics. I believe they were called The Bourbaki School and they failed drastically. Maybe stamp collectors should do the same thing and all use the same system!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Bourbaki
I hadn't read the post by Brechinite when I wrote this. Maybe we should all switch to Stamps of the World catalog!
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"Why put down a number that you have no clue if it is correct or not? "
"Ethics here ........"
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
Stamp catalogue producers are in business to make money. Not just to sell stamps.
Gibbons produce its Stamps of the World catalogue every year.
They also produce about 20 "Specialized" catalogues covering geographical areas eg Portugal and Spain, New Zealand, France etc which are produced every few years. These catalogues are much more detailed than "Stamps of the World".
Getting Collectors and Catalogue producers to agree commonality would be like getting every ice cream manufacturer and ice cream eater to agree on one recipe and one flavour!
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
OK - I was going to resist putting my 2 cents in on this again - but for some reason I am wide awake tonight - must be the fireworks ! My books are organized in basically a year order (and if I have alot from a single country - I break the books down into year ranges). Sometimes I go the Scott way and put the back of the book items after the regular ones and sometimes I go with Minkus and mix them in based on the years.
There was a period of time when I was providing the Scott # on every single stamp in my books. It made NO Difference in my sales overall and for me it was very time consuming especially when the books drop off now sooner than originally. I now started to provide the Scott # on all approval pages that were greater than 25 cent items. I have made some mistakes when providing a catalog number - either I need a new pair of glasses or I just transpose a number. I always give refunds if that happens. I polled some of my regulars awhile back and they told me they were fine without providing the # most of the time. If there is an issue with a watermark or perforation - I try to indicate which stamp it is - in those cases the # does help. Of course I could still make an error with the watermark of perf - so nothing is perfect ! Steve
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
Steve, I'm curious, how do you organize your books in chronological order without identifying each stamp in a catalog?
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
Hi,
I have been breaking up a huge collection my father had accumulated over the years. A good part of the collection are in albums which are already in a semi good year order. Sometimes a stamp will be out of year order - but I usually can realize that as I am creating the approval book. My father had identified in pencil the catalog value on the some of the higher value stamps in pencil - so I check those against a catalog to see the more current value. In other cases where I am creating an approval book from a stock book or an envelope of stamps - I do need to use the catalog to get it sorted in a semi good year order. For many of the countries I can just look at the stamps and can identify them by looking at them if they are from a certain era - I guess collecting myself for 50 years makes it easier. I just do not like the time to write down the #'s on the approval book pages for each individual stamp that are common issues. Steve
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"... Maybe stamp collectors should do the same thing and all use the same system! ...
... Maybe we should all switch to Stamps of the World catalog! ..."
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
Yes, I've collected since 1972 and have always used Scott's. I knew there were other catalogs but I have always been a solitary collector. This is the first stamp group I have ever joined, I think it was Groucho Marx who said something similar to " I would never join a group that would consider me as a member". As a resident of a small village outside Halifax and in a province where stamp clubs for adults don't seem to exist, I have had no exposure to other systems. I have had the same stamp dealer since 1972 who uses Scott's numbers and any site I buy from uses Scott's numbers I have managed to stay ignorant of the other systems. I always assumed the numbers were a bit different and that was it - I never realized how different the systems were. Yes, I'm an ignorant (happily so) 67 year old collector who is now amazed that there is a system that totally ignores watermarks and perforations. I guess we are never too old to learn, but I will continue with the Scott's system, it's too late to change when all your collections are labeled with Scott's numbers. So if I bid on your auctions I will probably only buy if the stamp has a Scott's number. But, no number at all is fine as long as the stamp is identifiable. Call me an old fart who is set in his ways!
re: this might be a lot to ask but...
"Call me an old fart who is set in his ways!"