Documenting Stamps - Part 1

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