Interesting catalog announcement from Michel

On 5 April 2019 Michel published a new catalog titled MICHEL Raritäten: Marken, die Sie kennen sollten! Cost is around 30 Euros. To quote from their English prospectus:

So you can join the debate: MICHEL introduces issues that are either world-famous, extremely pricey or extraordinary in other aspects.

First edition!
    History, development of the value in the past decades and things worth knowing regarding significant stamps from around the world
    A “must-know“ for anyone interested in “social philately“: issues that have been well-known or famous for a long time as well as those that are currently “hot“
    All chapters are illustrated with high-resolution colour pictures, diagrammes and other graphs
    Extensive background stories and further details
    Perfect for collectors and everyone who wants to become a collector.

Presumably there will be few stamps in this catalog that are in the Big Blue (perhaps US #1 and 2) so why mention it here? Well, for one, I think it is an interesting concept which would, of course, be relevant to those working on the Brown Internationals.

But, second, is the intriguing end of the prospectus:

"The exciting launch of the new MICHEL Rarities series that focuses on highlights of philately. The second volume, featuring first issues worldwide, will follow in December [2019]." Now number ones of the world is surely a topic that would be interesting to many of us.

April 1 Breaking News: Another (Yawn) Big Blue world record set

Phillip Tellick was certified by Guinness World Records this morning as the 1000th person to complete a Scott International Volume One this year.

As a consequence, Bob--proprietor of the moribund Filling Spaces blog--says that he may stop tracking completed Big Blues. He went on to explain: "Filling the album is obviously no longer a challenge. I wouldn't be surprised to find someone's pet wombat has accomplished the feat." (As Bob's own Big Blue is barely 70% full, it is possible that he is out searching for a stamp collecting wombat at this very moment.)

[Coincidentally and this part is not made up, Guinness recently awarded a world record for largest stamp collection: 400 million. My guess is the organization isn't clear about the difference between collection and accumulation.]

Czur Aura Book Scanner

UPDATE: Numerous delays but the ship containing my unit will arrive in LA by the end of May and presumably I will have the scanner in early June 2019.

Although I no longer have the need I once did, I continue to be fascinated by inexpensive, non-destructive approaches to book scanning. On paper at least (no pun intended), the Czur Aura scanner looks like a viable solution. It is still a crowd funding project, but 50x the amount needed has been raised, and shipping is projected for December 2018.

According to the website, the scanner will:

* Digitize books without unbinding them;
* Convert them to PDF, editable Word (2.5sec/page);
* Scan a wide range of documents and objects up to A3 size (i.e., what the US calls tabloid);
* Double as a versatile lamp with 4 light settings.

The company estimates that a 300 page book can be scanned in 30 minutes if saved as jpeg images. (There is foot operated button included for speeding up the process.)

You can buy the scanner at the moment for $179 (shipping extra). A battery powered version is $30 more for those wanting to take this portable device to libraries and other locations.

Lots of information can be found at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/aura-speeds-simplifies-all-your-scanning-needs#/

I have ordered the scanner and will report back on the results of scanning pages in the Blue Volume One as well as other philatelic materials.

2019 Scott Classic Catalogue

Right on schedule is the November release of the 2019 Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue Of Stamps And Covers 1840-1940. One new thing about the Amos Website is that they are finally showing some actual examples of pages and listings. Here is a summary of what Scott thinks are the most important aspects of the 2019 edition. This is an abbreviated version of what is given on the Amos website:

    Classic Germany received a complete review this year, resulting in more than 1,900 value changes, with a mix of increases and decreases. Increases are especially notable among never-hinged and on-cover values.
    Collectors of Portugal and its colonies should pay special attention to Mozambique Company. The listings from Scott 1 through 104 have been completely reorganized by the paper on which the stamps were printed, and by perforation gauge. More than 160 value changes were made
    Almost 1,200 value changes were made to the listings of the Colombian States of Antioquia, Bolivar, Boyaca, Cundinamarca, Santander, and Tolima.
    Significant value increases are found among the listings of Transvaal.
    A complete examination of Australia resulted in more than 700 value changes, with more decreases than increases
    New never-hinged listings have been added to Jordan, Kuwait, and Lebanon
    Almost 770 value changes were recorded for Italian Offices Abroad in Aegean Islands.

As a reminder, you can type "Classic catalogue" in the search box in the upper left hand corner of this page to see changes in earlier editions. I had access to the actual catalogs until recently, so my comments for many of these are rather more detailed.

William H. Gross Collection Catalog

Robert A. Siegel has just published their sumptuous auction catalog United States Stamp Treasures: The William H. Gross Collection which can be downloaded as a PDF. Although collectors will focus on the mouth watering items with their thorough documentation, I did want to mention the interesting introduction by Scott A. Trepel titled "The Sixth Wave."

Mr. Trepel divides formation of the greatest stamp collections into six waves. The first wave collections were largely worldwide and put together by the titans of philately, of which Ferrary was arguably the greatest. (I particularly like Trepel's observation that "... these [first wave] collectors had to collect in Ferrary’s world, which limited the availability of many outstanding items"). Many of these collections were dispersed around the First World War in turn making possible the Second wave. Caspary and Burrus are among this group. The Third wave dates from the 1950s and these collections are almost all specialized with Lilly being a notable exception. Trepel's remaining waves are seen through the lens of United States collections, with the sale of the Gross collection making possible a sixth.

For each of these waves, in addition to the collectors, there are also associated legendary dealers and auctioneers who were instrumental in their formation, such as the Weill Brothers. (Included in the catalog are thumbnail photos of some of the most famous collectors from each of these waves.)

April 1st Breaking News

In a surprising move, Scott announced today that they are discontinuing the International stamp albums. According to the press release: "We have been producing the International album since 1914. And even though our expenses are negligible to sell an incomplete album with errors and omissions that have been there for decades, been there, done that."

Scott says it will concentrate on albums targeting Bitcoin collectors. But they promise to remain philatelically forward looking. "When someone issues Bitstamps, we will be ready."

Large Big Blue on eBay

I was not going to write about this album because I suspect anyone who reads this blog will already know about it from the Stamp Community forum. But as a matter of historical record, KReleya (Ken Stamps) recently picked up a very clean Scott International Volume One from Rasdale and is selling it on eBay. There are around 32,000 stamps and 168 complete countries.

Here is a link to the thread on the forum: https://www.stampcommunity.org/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=59366

The first lots are already on eBay. Try searching for Super Scott Intern Album.