Continuing on from Part 2:
2004 (tenth edition). The color imaging was now within a few percentage points of completion, with dozens of firms and individuals contributing stamps for scanning (including upgrading the quality of some previous images). More than 1750 major and minor listings were added, including 95 forerunners for Aden, additions to Lombardy-Venetia and Austrian Offices in the Turkish Empire used in Albania, 330 Albanian forerunners, 40 Great Britain stamps used in Ecuador, Portugal stamps used in Funchal, and 288 major varieties of France used in Monaco. Listings for several countries were expanded to distinguish paper and perforation varieties as well as new shade varieties. One thinks that not that much needed to be done with major countries, but Great Britain, for example, had 93 new minor numbers. Cover listings were added for ten countries not previously included. Tannu Tuva collectors were particularly well served with not only 72 minor varieties but also 103 major number. most notably for the 1934-43 issues which have never appeared in a Scott catalog. And throughout the catalog were new explanatory footnotes.
2005 (eleventh edition). A new coated paper was used for this edition and unspecified "more perfected printing techniques." There were some 75,000 value changes and 1600 stamps were newly listed. More than 600 forerunner and special use stamps were added with the most in Great Britain stamps used abroad. The editor noted that the collectors of GB forerunners emphasize clear, readily identifiable cancels as many of the stamps themselves are "notoriously poorly centered…Because of this, it is not uncommon to find that values for British stamps used in the United Kingdom are substantially higher than for the same stamps used abroad, although the latter are much scarcer." Among non-UK forerunner, there were additional listings from Austria, Lombardy-Venetia, and Crete. The British Commonwealth, France and colonies, Portugal, Egypt and Mexico. Egyptian Suez Canal Company issues appear for the first time. One usually doesn't think there would be major numbered regular issues or commemoratives from the Classic period still to be added, but this edition included for the first time the 1938 Submarine issues from Spain (#605A-605G) which had been previously excluded because of their philatelic nature.
2006 (twelfth edition). More than 75,000 value changes were recorded, many of which were for listings (such as covers) that do not appear in the "regular" Scott catalogs. Several hundred new minor listings were added for a variety of countries plus a handful of major numbers for countries such as St. Christopher. The Western Ukraine was thoroughly reorganized and revalued. Eritrea now included cover listings. The image-scanning project neared 99% completion with this edition.
2007 (thirteenth edition). This was the first edition to include the 1920-1928 Colombia SCADTA Consular overprints (which did not appear in the Scott US Specialized Catalog until 2012). As usual there were hundreds of minor varieties as well as a few major numbers added for countries throughout the catalog. For example, Victoria had 50 new minor numbers and there were almost as many for Sudan.
2008 (fourteenth edition). In addition to the many valuation changes that first appeared in the standard Scott catalogs, there were 12,000 changes for issues that are found only in the Classics Catalog! In addition, there were more than a thousand new numbered items in the 2008 edition. Several French areas countries received significant attention, as did Hungary and British colonies. In a number of places, items that had been mentioned only in footnotes (such as some of the French Peace and Commerce keytype stames for its colonies) now have their own numbers. French Guiana, Fiume, Hong Kong, Hungary, Dungarpur, Morocco, and Czechoslovka's Legion Post in Siberia also received attention.
2009 (fifteenth edition). This edition won a gold medal in the APS's literature competition. There were over 26,000 value changes for stamps that are only listed in the Classics Catalogue--double the number from the previous year. The main reason for the number of increases was the weak US dollar. Austria boasted the largest number of increases in valuation. Editorial enhancements added 23 pages to this edition, including first time listings for the Canadian Semi-Official Air Post stamps and the forerunners for Puerto Rico. Eight new countries received cover listings. New major numbers were added for Afghanistan, Queensland, Rhodesia and Tasmania plus many new minor numbers including some for the US.
2010 (sixteenth edition). The scanning project has evolved from its goal of simply including an image of the stamp to concentrating on images of VF condition stamps and paying more attention to color accuracy. There were also new images for surcharged and overprinted stamps. Coverage for British stamps used abroad, including pre-stamp markings, was improved and two new Indian Feudatory States joined the catalog. Additional French Railway Parcel Post stamps were added as was some additional detail for French Colonies such as Memel. All in all, there were some 2,300 new numbered listings, far more than in any previous edition. Countries with new numbers included Cilicia, Belgian Congo, Ruandi-Urundi, Fiume, Hungary, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Sweden.
2011 (seventeenth edition). The 17th edition sold out in the first 6 months. There were more than 10,000 Classics catalog-only valuation changes. Among the nearly 1,000 new numbered listings in 2011 was Greece 47g, the 20 lepta ultramarine Hermes head from 1875 with its control number both inverted and on the front, catalog value $210,000. While most of the other additions to this edition were minor Scott numbers, there were a handful of new major numbers for Albania, German stamps used in Austria after the Anschluss, and Cyprus. New minor numbers appear in Alaouites, Bosnia and Herzegovina (248! new varieties), French Congo, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Martinique, Mauritania, New Caledonia, Ile Rouad, Rhodesia, Russia, Senegal, Somali Coast, and Syria.
2012 (eighteenth edition). To be released in November 2011.
The famous stamp collector Josiah Lilly said that there were 100,000 postage stamps he wanted for his collection and he succeeded in acquiring 77,000. My considerably easier target is 35,000 of the more common stamps from 1840-1940 contained in the Scott Blue International Album Volume 1. This blog will record my progress, provide general information about Classic era philately and hopefully encourage other "Blue" collectors.
2 comments:
What is clear is the amount of work and refinement that has accumulated over the years with the Scott Classic. Working over the last year with the Classic, my admiration definitely has grown.
Yet, if one is collecting the British Commonwealth in a "serious" way ;-), then a 1840-1970 Stanley Gibbons is probably necessary. The Scott (at least by the opinions of many in the commonwealth community) comes in second here. I did check out some of the Falkland Islands early issues, and the SG parsed colors much more finely, and gave them major numbers.
Then if one talks with a collector from (non Romance language) Europe, he will tell you a Michel is necessary, and is more detailed than Scott. ;-)
And so it goes...
Jim, as you know, the question about comparative coverage of catalogs comes up often on the various discussion groups, and each time it does, I think it would be interesting to find a way to do with catalogs what you are doing with the Blue, Brown, and Steiner pages on your blog.
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