A stamp catalog (or stamp catalogue) is a catalog of

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

types with descriptions and prices. The stamp catalog is an essential tool of

philately Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possibl ...

and

stamp collecting Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth ...

. Stamp catalogs are part of

philatelic literature Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history. Background to philatelic literature Philatelic literature is held by stamp collectors and dealers, philatelic soc ...

. Similar catalogs of other collectible objects. such as matchboxes (

phillumeny Phillumeny (also known as phillumenism) is the hobby of collecting different match-related items: matchboxes, matchbox labels, matchbooks, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc. Matchbox A matchbox is a box made of paperboard, cardboard or thin wood a ...

) and postcards (

deltiology Deltiology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , diminutive of , , "writing tablet, letter"; and , ) is the study and collecting, collection of postcards. The word originated in 1945 from the collaboration of Rendell Rhoades (1914–1976) of Ohio and col ...

), have also been issued.

History

The first stamp catalog was published in France by

Oscar Berger-Levrault Oscar François George Berger-Levrault (9 May 1826 in Strasbourg – 24 September 1903 in Nancy) was a French philatelist. The invention of the stamp catalogue is attributed to him and to the Englishman, John Edward Gray. Life Oscar Berger-Levr ...

on 17 September 1861 and the first illustrated catalog by

Alfred Potiquet Alfred Potiquet François-Gabriel-Alfred Potiquet (4 December 1820 – 9 April 1883) was a French official who was responsible for the first stamp catalogue in the world. The 1861 first edition is held by the Royal Philatelic Society London. Al ...

in December 1861 (based on the earlier work). The first catalogs in Great Britain were published in 1862 by

Frederick Booty Frederick William Booty (1841 – 13 October 1924)Schofield, Brian. ''Who Was Who in British Philately''. London: British Philatelic Trust, 2003, p.10.Online version here was an English artist who was also the author of the first postage stamp c ...

,Phillips, Stanley. ''Stamp Collecting: A guide to modern philately'', revised edition, Stanley Gibbons, London, 1983, p.243. . Mount Brown, and Dr.

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for a z ...

. The first in the United States was ''The Stamp Collector's Manual'' by A.C. Kline (a pseudonym for John William Kline), also 1862. Originally catalogs were just

dealer Dealer may refer to: Film and TV * ''Dealers'' (film), a 1989 British film * ''Dealers'' (TV series), a reality television series where five art and antique dealers bid on items * ''The Dealer'' (film), filmed in 2008 and released in 2010 * ...

s' price lists, though today that is less common. The catalogs of some major publishers continue to serve as an official price list for the publisher. For example, Stanley Gibbons in the United Kingdom specifically states in the catalog that the price listed is the estimated selling price by Stanley Gibbons Ltd. On the other had, Scott in the United States does not sell stamps. Rather, the Scott catalog serves as a reference document for expected prices used by buyers and sellers. Over time, as

developed, catalogs tended to accumulate additional supporting details about the stamps, such as dates of issue, color variations, and so forth. As their use by collectors became widespread, the catalogs came to define what was and was not a legitimate stamp, since many collectors would avoid stamps not described in the catalog. In recent years, the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

has become a common resource for information about stamps. Some catalogs have an on-line version while others are available only on-line.

Current catalogs

The following catalogs have a worldwide coverage: * Michel - printed, software and online *

Scott Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sas ...

- printed and online *

Stanley Gibbons The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and phila ...

- printed and online *

Yvert et Tellier Yvert et Tellier is a postage stamp dealer and a philatelic publishing company founded in 1895 in the northern French city of Amiens, where the head office is still located. The logo is a circle divided into a snowflake and a smiling sun. It is a ...

- printed only These are large undertakings, since there are thousands of new stamps to describe each year, and the prices of all stamps may go up or down. For publishers that are not dealers, the prices are estimated by data from dealers and auctions. In addition, the catalog publishers usually put out specialized volumes with additional details, generally by nationality: Michel has a specialized German catalog, Scott a specialized US catalog, and so forth. Many countries have their own "national catalogs", typically put out by a leading publisher or dealer in that country. Postal administrations may themselves put out catalogs, although they tend to be aimed at less-experienced collectors, and rarely provide fully detailed stamp data. Some notable country catalogs include: *ABDA (Philippines) *Aerophil (Switzerland) * AFA (Denmark) *AFINSA (Portugal) *Brusden-White (Australia) *Edifil catalogs (Spain and its former colonies) *

Facit Facit (''Facit AB'') was an industrial corporation and manufacturer of office products including furniture. It was based in Åtvidaberg, Sweden, and founded in 1922 as ''AB Åtvidabergs Industrier''. Facit AB, a manufacturer of mechanical calcu ...

(all countries of Scandinavia) *

Fischer Fischer is a German occupational surname, meaning fisherman. The name Fischer is the fourth most common German surname. The English version is Fisher. People with the surname A * Abraham Fischer (1850–1913) South African public official * ...

(Poland) *Hellas (Greece) *Hibernian Catalogue and Handbook (Ireland) *

JB Catalogue ''The J.B. Catalogue of Malta Stamps and Postal History'' is Malta's leading stamp catalogue. It was first published in 1984 and is published bi-annually by Joseph Buttigieg of Sliema Stamp Shop. It is currently in its twenty-second edition (2014 ...

of Malta Stamps and Postal History (Malta) * JSCA catalog (Japan) ( ru) * JSDA catalog (Japan) ( ru) *KPC- Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue (Korea) *

Lamy Lamy ( /ˈlɑːmi, ˈlæmi/) is a German pen manufacturing company founded in 1930 by Josef Lamy, a former sales representative for Parker Pen. The company acquired the Orthos pen manufacturer to begin production. Lamy offers a variety of ...

(Peru) *Ma catalog (China) *Chan catalog (China) *Yang catalog (China, published in Hong Kong) *Phila India - Manik (India) *RHM (Brazil) *Sassone (Italy) * Sakura catalog (Japan) *NVPH catalog (Netherlands) * Zumstein (Switzerland)

Online catalogs

Colnect
1,432,751 stamps by themes, years, countries, free, with values
FindYourStampsValue
144,383 stamps worldwide, fee based membership, search by keywords, photos
Freestampcatalogue
246,479 stamps worldwide, with topic lists
Italian Stamps Catalog
25,249 stamps, website in Italian
StampData
748,921 stamp types, free, without values
New Zealand Online Catalog
by themes, years and face values
Stamps of the World Wiki
27,757 pages containing 382,414 images, free, without values
StampWorld
840,739, free, with values * The WikiBooks Worldwide Stamp Catalogue Stamp counters updated from the respective websites on 2024-5-29

References

External links

* {{Postal system Stamp collecting Books by type Philatelic terminology

History

Current catalogs

Online catalogs

See also

References

External links