Stamp collectors know the fun or sorting through new acquisitions
to see what treasures they hold for their collection. However, the downside to
this is the documentation of those same stamps which might take longer than the
sorting itself!
This topic is a 3 part series on how I document my
stamps. If there is a rule on how to
document stamps, I have not seen anything of the sort. This method is my
method, it may or may not work for you but I would recommend it to anyone who
is interested. It requires a few basics to start the documentation so let’s get
to it.
The first thing, besides stamps that is, is a good reference
source. This comes in many different flavors so which ever works for you is the
best. I personally use Scott’s Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, the 2008
edition, as well as Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 10 Russia, Part 16
Central Asia and Part 19 Middle East. There are also two other books that I use
as reference guides, Unitrade’s Stamp Collector’s Handbook and Linn’s World
Stamp Almanac Millennium Edition. These form the basis for my documentation
needs.
There needs to be said a few words about the Stanley Gibbons
Stamp Catalogues however. I mainly collect Central Asia and the Middle East,
while also collecting worldwide stamps, so these catalogues are vital to
documentation if you collect this area. Part 19, Middle East, is superior to Scott’s
for a couple of reasons. Firstly it lists many of the stamps from countries not
listed by Scott or not accurately documented enough. This includes stamps from
Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaima, Sharjah and its dependences, Aden and its two dependences,
The Kathiri State of Seiyun and the Qu’aiti State in Hadhramaut, Ajman and
Manama, Fujeira, South Arabia, the Trucial States, Umm Al Qiwain and finally
Yemen of all flavors.
This not only allowed me to accurately find which weren’t
actually stamps (also called Cinderella’s) and which were and furthered allowed
me to fine tune my collection. If you collect the Middle East, I highly
recommend that you buy this catalogue as a supplement or as a standalone to
your documentation. I’ll list the ISBN numbers at the end of this post so that
you can go to Amazon or your favorite bookseller and find it.
However, as much as I appreciate these catalogues, I high
don’t recommend that you buy Part 16 Central Asia unless you collect the Middle
East. It has a huge error which has duped me into buying it. The title “Central
Asia” is incorrect. Instead of documenting what is accepted as Central Asia, it
documents Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan which are not part of Central Asia at
all. This shocked me as I was expecting to get all 5 Central Asian states
(Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) but instead
got the three countries. The only silver lining is that if you collect
Afghanistan then it lists many of the stamps which are not found in Scott’s
once again. It’s a high useful tool, but if you’re looking for Central Asia
exclusively do not get it. The binding
on the book is weak as well, and within a few buys of me buying it, the section
starting with the table of contents till page 4 have separated from the binding
and I don’t open it very far in the fear that more pages will become unstuck.
Use with caution would be my advice.
If you are looking for Central Asia then you’ll have to get
Part 10 Russia. Not only does it list Russia but it also lists former
territories of the USSR as well. This is where you’ll find Central Asia. It
also, like before, lists the stamps that Scott doesn’t list as well. It also
lists Mongolia which is a bonus as well. If you collect this area, I highly
recommend this book. Unlike Part 16, the binding seems to be better so there is
no fear of it falling apart.
Finally we get to the Scott Catalogues. My edition is 2008
which is fairly old by now. I don’t expect to see a great change with the
numbers of the newest editions and the only thing I would say might change is
the values. They might rise and fall but as I’ve not done a comparison as of
yet I don’t know what changes I can expect. Scott Catalogues are expensive so I
was lucky that I acquired the complete collection of EBay in CD form. These I
would say are a must have to document accurately. The listing are fairly well
done and I do not have a hard time searching for many stamps however, a few odd
ones still stump me.
Lastly you do not have to buy the catalogues
yourself, you might only need one volume if you collect a single country or do
not have enough to buy the whole set in one go. There is another source where
you can acquire it for free, that is your local library! They might have either
the older ones or the newest ones in their system so you might get it for a
couple of weeks to try it out. That’s what I did for some time. They also might
sell the older sets so ask around your library when the newer editions are
released.
The last two books the Unitrade’s Stamp Collector’s Handbook
and the Linn’s World Stamp Almanac are reference guide that I use. They might
or might not be helpful to you. Not only does it generally have a list of identifiers which are vital is you
get a stamp entitled “SPIDAM FRAMCAOS” and want to know what in the world it is (it’s
actually French Sudan). I would not classify this as vital, since there are
many forums for stamps where helpful people will identify stamps for you, but
if you get tired of scanning and posting pictures, it is an easier way to go. A
last note about the Linn’s World Stamp Almanac, my edition is the Millennium Edition
meaning 2000, there might be a new version or there might be not. I haven’t
checked. I feel that while I don’t really need the newest edition for the stamp
identifiers or much of the information, such as postal history, if you feel
there is some vital information that is out of date, then by all means buy a
new edition. I only recommend this because of its vital identifiers which
should not, in my opinion, be updated or different from newer editions, but I may
be incorrect so look and see for yourself!
That’s all for this edition of Documenting your stamps. Next
week the discussion will be about how to actually document stamps and what
method should you use. See you next week!
Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogues
Part 10: Russia ISBN #: 978085259624
Part 16: Central Asia (Turkey, Iran, And Afghanistan) ISBN#:
9780852596234
Part 19: Middle East ISBN#: 9780852587194
Unitrade Stamp Collector’s Handbook ISBN#: 9781895909609
Linn’s World Stamp Almanac ISB N#: 09404043854
