Which Catalogue Do I Use

A common question received by the Sales Division is: “When I want to sell my stamps through the Sales Division, which catalogue should I use?”

While any generally recognized catalogue may be used to help determine the prices you charge for your stamps and covers, our sellers use one catalogue more than all the others combined: the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue. More than 90 percent of the books submitted to the Sales Division use it as the pricing reference. However, there are alternatives that address stamp values in the market where the catalogue is published. After Scott, the most popular catalogues with worldwide listings are Michel and Stanley Gibbons, but they are used mainly for descriptions and values of stamps from the German areas and the British areas, respectively. The Yvert-Tellier and Zumstein catalogues have worldwide listings, but are used for French areas and Swiss areas, respectively. All five catalogues mentioned above are published every year. Other yearly publications are Brookman, Minkus/
Krause, and Unitrade.

“Are there any catalogues that can be used instead of those listed above? How would you price stamp varieties that are not listed in Scott?”

Many collecting interests have catalogues or publications that are the definitive references for their areas; however, these publications are updated less frequently than the yearly catalogues already mentioned. How much less frequently will depend on the popularity of the collecting interest and/or the willingness of a collector or publisher to take on the task of updating the listings. Catalogues are printed in the language of the country where they are published and users should be aware that the values in the foreign catalogues are not given in U.S. dollars. For example, Michel and Yvert-Tellier values are given in Euro dollars and the Stanley Gibbons values are in British pounds. The catalogue values entered in the APS sales books may be in a foreign currency, but the net prices must be in U.S. dollars.

Popular Catalogues
The list of catalogues below is by no means complete, nor is it intended to steer the seller toward one catalogue rather than another. Sales Division sellers have used all of these catalogues as references, since they can help find more information on the specialties they serve. The catalogues are listed with the specialties for which Sales Division sellers tend to use them. The listings showing “10yr” are those that have not been updated during the last ten years.

You might find the more popular catalogues in your local library. The American Philatelic Research Library (APRL) has all these titles available on loan through the mail: 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823; or visit the APRL.