A short review of Michel online stamp catalogue
As some know (or may have noticed from my earlier writings), I’m a great fan of Michel’s printed worldwide stamp catalogue series. I use Michel as my primary source of generic information for worldwide stamps. The problem with printed catalogues however is, the price levels get out date rather fast and new catalogues cost huge sums of money. For example Michel Europe catalogue is currently 7 volumes, Übersee (outside Europe) is 11 or 12 volumes – all costs between 50 and 100 euro brand new, and even few years old used prints cost 20-30€ each. That’s way more than I’m willing to spend for catalogues… Luckily there’s Michel Online Catalogue for scrooges like me.
The good
It’s cheap. Or I wouldn’t call 72€/annual fee (basic version) cheap for any (paid) website access, but it’s way less than the printed catalogues.
It’s constantly up-to-date. Michel provides 2-3 data updates a year to bring in new issues, updated prices, fixes with details etc.
It’s pretty complete and sufficient for non-specialist use in most cases. I think all countries / areas listed in print catalogue can be found from the online version too.
The bad
It’s simplified… If you are accustomed to fine level of detail, that ships with printed catalogue, then this product is not for you. You will still find types, subtypes, watermark differences etc., but the “enlightening” footnotes etc. minor details, that accompany the printed catalogue are missing in large parts.
Summary tables are not available. For example getting a decend one page listing of issued Machin issues is impossible. Michel’s representative suggested using “Search”-functionality to get similar listing, but it fails miserably if one needs to differentiate printing methods etc. with one look.
Pictures are occasionally of very poor quality or missing…And with very poor quality, I do mean images you can’t use for identification. With premium account, some of the images can be enlarged…. The other problem are missing images. For most countries these do not exist, but for others, like Ajman, missing stamp images are more a rule than exception.
A 1:1 screenshot that shows the problem with some of the stamp images. Can you id the stamps based on this image?
User interface is very clumsy. Especially the “ads” are very irriting.. I hope they will make some improvements with the user interface and usability over time. There are also occasional issues with ordering of results (click image below to see full screen image, opens in new browser window).
Notice anything funny with this listing?
The english interface is very limited though Michel markets the english edition as well. I’d say that only 20-30% of stamp information is available in english, rest is german only.
The verdict
As overall verdict, Michel’s online catalogue is far from the quality of printed catalogues. However, it is still a work in progress (even after 3+ years) and there is hope that things will get better over time.
The main value of service is for printed catalogue owners, who will benefit from updated prices and new issue information. Without printed counterparts, I would not recommend this service to anyone.
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The biggest problem I have with any website is reading white on black or any other dark colour.
I’m sorry, your blog just doesn’t work for me. After I read about 10 lines my eyes were buzzing and my heady was all blurry (or something like that!). I don’t think that 10pm is the reason.
I’m sure you have a lot of good things to say, but I can’t read any more.
Take a look at some others and see how easy they are to read by comparison.
Hi Ian,
When I originally chose the sites design, I knew my choises of colours could cause mixed feelings with readers. It was a risk a I took willingly…
I know from experience that there’s no way to please everybody, so I’ve added a sidebar feature that allows users to select alternative color schemes for this blog. It should also work with all modern web browsers that support JavaScript.
I hope it will enhance the reading experience you have with this site.
best,
-keijo-
[...] to Michel Online stamp catalogue, there are approx. 158,000 stamp sets issued between 1840-2008. Assuming a single set is stored on [...]
Hello Keijo
I experimented with the Gibbons online a few years back… as I recall, my only concern was my pocketbook although at the time it was not complete… not caring about up to date valuations, I am satisfied with the various hard copy catalogs that I have scavenged over the years. That said, I find that I need to surf the internet looking for pictures to assist with difficult identifications from time to time
any comments on the GIbbons online?
Hope it is finally spring in the northern latitudes!!!
Regards
Dell
PS received your return cover last week…. hope to get into it in the next week or so
Hi Dell,
Yes, it’s spring.. Or to be honest, it seems we skipped spring, and moved straight to summer. It’s +27 celsius degrees and sun is shining. Very abnormal weather for this time of the year here up north.
As for Gibbons online… I used it randomly last year. It had several features I liked (like possibility to export data, and inventory). But the (major) downside for me was that it was based on simplified Stamps of the World listings.
Dear Mr.
Greeting from Ashraf M. Nasr from Egypt. Regarding to your Sit., I am looking for exchange between my stamps to Michel Catalogues Issues. I have a large collection of Stamps from Egyptian & Middle East Stamps, Rare stamps, Errors, Proofs & FDC … etc. How can we might be co-operate !! Selling, buying & swapping …
Thanks
Ashraf Nasr
Hi Ashraf,
please see my stamp exchange page for detailed instructions on how to exchange stamps with me.
best,
-keijo-
Hi Keijo,
Could I get a copy of your template?
I also studied dozens of stamp software and dislike most programs because they are too cumbersome.
Thanks in advance!
Carlo
@Carlo… Sure thing. Please check your inbox.