Monday Morning Brief | New Scott Classic Specialized catalog

The 2018 Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers is here! Scott catalog managing editor Chad Snee reveals a few highlights, and pulls the curtain back a bit on the editorial and valuing work already underway for the 2019 Scott catalogs.

Full Video Transcript:

Greetings fellow stamp-hobby enthusiasts and friends! Welcome to the Monday Morning Brief for November 20, 2017.

In case you missed it, the 2018 Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers is fresh off the press and available for purchase.

This volume, which focuses primarily on the stamps issued from 1840 to 1940, is widely regarded as the best single-volume reference work for stamps of the classic era.

All told, there are more than 17,000 value changes in the 2018 edition, with slightly more than 2,000 changes concentrated across the listings for Italian States.

Hundreds of new listings were added, and collectors of New Zealand and Saudi Arabia will be particularly pleased to see dozens of new listings.

With the publication of the 2018 Classic Specialized catalog, the Scott editors are turning their attention to the 2019 catalog season.

Work on volumes 1A and 1B, which combined provide basic listings for the United States and countries of the world A through B, has been underway for several weeks.

What trends are we seeing?

It is still early in our editorial and valuing cycle for the 2019 catalogs, so we can’t be too specific at this point.

In general, though, we are seeing a market for classic-era stamps that is steady or gently rising, depending on the country in question.

A representative example is the 5-shilling high denomination of the 1932 Antigua definitive set, which rises from $150 to $160 in used condition.

For stamps issued during the mid-1930s through the 1970s or so, values for unused stamps are trending downward. In contrast, values for used stamps are moving up, a reflection of the scarcity of postally used examples with contemporaneous cancellations.

Most collectors have filled these spaces in their albums, and stocks of these stamps are plentiful and rising as more collections are dispersed into an already saturated market.

What this means is that values for these stamps will continue to soften in the years ahead.

The outlook is much more upbeat for stamps issued during the past 10 to 15 years or so. Here we are seeing modest increases in value, punctuated with stronger gains among popular topical issues.

The 1997 Birds set of 18 from Botswana, for example, glides up from $30.05 in mint condition in the 2018 catalog to $34.70 in the upcoming 2019 edition.

In the months ahead, I’ll keep you posted on our progress with the 2019 Scott catalogs. Please do tune in.

For the Scott catalogs and Linn’s Stamp News, I’m Chad Snee. Have a great week enjoying our wonderful hobby. Cheers!