Top 5 free stamp catalogues online
One of the frequently asked questions by newbie stamp collectors seems to concern free online stamp catalogues. So, I thought it would be useful to put a resource post about the available alternatives. I hope You all enjoy the following sites 
PostBeeld Freestampcatalogue.com
PostBeeld catalog
Pros:
- Lists impressive number of stamps (estimate: 300,000+ items).
- Most listings contain a somewhat good quality image of stamp/set.
- Provides somewhat consistent cross-references to Scott/Michel/SG/Yvert numbers
- Somewhat easy to navigate around
- Multi-lingual
- Possibility to search by topic and other criterias
Cons:
- In reality the site is a combination of stock lists and buying lists of the largest stamp dealers in Europe
- Thus it does not list/contain every issued stamp; main focus is on 20th century stamps while rare and valuable stamps are missing altogether.
- Due to same reason, the catalog does not contain philatelic background information (such as perforation, printing methods etc)
- nor does the site provide any kind of values for stamps (besides buying / selling prices)
Overall verdict: Personally I find myself using PostBeelds catalog when traditional catalogs (Michel, Scott etc) fail to provide accurate image of stamp. But otherwise I don’t use the site at all.
Stanley Gibbons Allworldstamps.com
Site address: http://www.allworldstamps.com/
SG AllWorldstamps
Pros:
- Lists all the major stamps issues between 1840 and 2005 (approx 400.000 items).
- Based on Stanley Gibbons “Stamps of the World” (SOTW) printed catalog – thus uses SG catalog number system
- Provides values for stamps / sets
- Provides access to most of the philatelic background information (except images) found on SOTW
- Very easy to use and navigate
- Possibility to search by number of criteria
Cons:
- Does not contain images
- The catalog is outdated (no updates since 2005?)
Overall verdict: I find myself using allworlstamps.com when I need a quick check over SG value for some item. For more complex and detailed listings however a paid SG MyCollection is a must have.
Colnect
Colnect stamps
Pros:
- Lists roughly 100,000 stamps with average quality images.
- Provides some philatelic background information for stamp sets / issues
Cons:
- Does not provide consistent philatelic background information for issues (some issues may have plenty of information, some nothing)
- Does not provides values for stamps / sets
- Somewhat difficult to move around
- Sometimes very heavy/aggressive with advertising
Overall verdict: Personally I don’t use Colnect much due to their pushy marketing. But it’s a nice asset to have for checking images (similar to PostBeeld’s catalog).
Stampedia
Stampedia catalog
Pros:
- Lists over 10,000 stamps with extremely good quality images.
- Looks superb and is very easy to use/navigate
- Provides some interesting charts (such as annual stamp production)
Cons:
- Does not provide references to popular catalog numbers
- Does not provide philatelic background information for issues
- Does not provides values for stamps / sets
Overall verdict: I’ve been tracking Stampedia’s development from early stages, and I seriously hope it will continue to develop and success. It has plenty of potential IMHO.
Stamps of the World
Stamps of the World catalog
Pros:
- Lists over 1,000 (estimate) stamps/sets
- Provides basic philatelic background information and good quality images
Cons:
- Very hard to navigate
- Very noncomprehensive
Overall verdict: This is one of many collector-to-collector type of Wikipedia-like projects I’ve been following. Like with Stampedia, it’s still on early stage, but I seriously do wish it the best.
Closing words
Though getting something for free is great, the harsh and undeniable truth IMO is that none of the above don’t stand in comparison to commercial catalogs (Michel, Scott, SG, Yvert etc.) and their offerings. But despite their lackings, these free websites do IMHO play a major role by opening up otherwise so closed information more wider audience.
Please feel to share / add Your insights and experiences for this post.
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Great post!!!
I only knew the first one, I will have to surf the others…
For stamps issued after 2002, I use http://www.wnsstamps.ch/en
Depending on which country you search, it may be very updated.
Interesting post. I was wondering what exactly you found on Colnect to be “pushy marketing”. Currently there’s one AdSense block for ads on some of Colnect’s page.
As Colnect is not only a catalog, its main purpose is to allow collectors to manage their personal collection and coordinate trades easily, there are some actions which would require a user login. Creating an account and managing your personal collection are, however, always free.
Thanks
@Pablo: I knew I forgot something…WNS website is definitely worth mentioning.
@Amir… Hi Amir, it’s great to have “The Man” behind Colnect to respond. With pushy marketing I’m referring to Your Facebook activity.
You may not remember, but we’ve been Facebook friends by your personal request. Few days after my approval I received first Colnect marketing email, some days later another, then third, fourth,fifth…
I have no problems receiving marketing emails IF I have knowingly signed up to receive them (like with Facebook groups or fan pages), but unsolicited bulk email marketing (or let’s just call it as is- pure spam) from private account is something I take very badly.
And sadly this was not limited to single time. After I had befriended You, I was foolish enough to give Your friendship (requests) another try later. And same stuff happened again.
Colnect is a nice site to have, but the marketing practises at FB did leave a bad taste to my mouth… But that’s just my personal experience with You.
Hello I appreciate you very much for mentioning our stampedia project on your blog post.
There are many hints in your post. We want to improve stampedia,so please watch our project for the future.
Though we have only listed two countries (France&Monaco) now, we think to list three more countries soon. Those countries are UK,Germany and Ireland with perfect stamp images so we hope more and more collectors come to use stampedia.
Thank you.
It was my pleasure James(?),
I have high hopes with your project, because the results of first few steps look stunning IMHO. Any website that follows such a good quality is worth (at least random) praise IMHO
Hi keijo,
I was just wondering if you had any experiance of Stanley Gibbons My Collection and would really like to hear your opinion of it. I am interested in joining but can find no reviews of it on the net.
I have really enjoyed reading your blogs and have found them both interesting and informative.
Keep up the good work
Sam
Hi Sam,
I gave it a test spin last year. As a summary I’d say that If Your collection is organized according to SG “Stamps of The World” catalog, then you’ll like it. But if you’re accustomed to Michel/Scott/SG country specific volumes etc. then you will very likely be disappointed.
Cons: It’s based on Stamps of the World (SOTW) 2007 – meaning it’s outdated and heavily simplified (omits perforation,watermark etc varieties totally). Pros: Low price, somewhat easy to use invontory management (with some odd quirks), export to excel and other reporting functions are useful.
Hi Keijo,
Thanks for your advice, I Think I will leave it a while and see if they update it to a more up to date Catalog before buying. It would be helpful if they put a demo on the website so we could try before we buy.
Thanks for your help.
Sam
I began to use Colnect as a way of keeping track of my stamps.
One of the challenges is that it relies heavily on user input – re the catalogue being comprehensive.
I could not find the majority of my stamps – variations are especially scarce.
I was excited about having the opportunity to provide them with some information and help them update the catalogue, but after 3 attempts and no responses, I gave up with it.
I’m still a newbie, and Ive got no idea how to start putting my stamps into some order. I dont even know how to get my enveloped ones off the envelopes!
I’m still a newbie, and Ive got no idea how to start putting my stamps into some order. I dont even know how to get my enveloped ones off the envelopes!
Hi Louella,
I know this may sound like on “old fashioned” advice in these “everything is online”-days, but… Take a visit to your local public library, and ask for some (basic) stamp related books. Then simply read, digest and play around with proper time and interest.
Just to update the information about SG MyCollection… I just read/heard that SG is in the process of redeveloping it, and the upcoming version of MyCollection will be based on ‘live’ data (meaning it will be constantly up-to-date with most recent catalogs).
@Keijo – Sorry for my belated reply. I didn’t get a notification email from your site and so I didn’t get to check it again.
I don’t send people any marketing messages using my Facebook account. You might have done “like” on Colnect’s Facebook page http://facebook.com/colnect which sends regular updates to page fans. You can, of course, unlike the page at any time if you find the stream of updates pushy.
There was a single event of a competition where I requested help from all my Facebook friends to help Colnect. I’m very sorry if that was interpreted as marketing spam. If there was any other such event, which I currently don’t remember, please accept my apologies.
If you wish, I’d welcome an update to your post here, or perhaps even another post as Colnect’s stamp catalog is now getting closer to 150,000 UNIQUE stamps (you won’t find listing of the same item over and over again as in sellers inventory) and TONS of information has been added since you last wrote about it. The catalog is being maintained by volunteers and it’s really been showing amazing growth in recent months. Yes, we don’t have all the stamps of the world there just yet, but we’re getting there
If you reply here, please feel free to alert me via email for a quick response.
Thanks and happy collecting
Hi Amir,
Re, the FB issue… I do know with certainty that I did not like the Colnect fan page (as I’m very picky with what I Like). And If I recall properly, the situation occurred before FB introduced fan pages… But let’s just call it water under the bridge.
Re, updates on article… that’s the reason the articles have open comments. Anyone’s welcome to add new information, updates, questions etc. For example I have no objections if You (or someone else at Colnects marketing staff) decides to post new stamp figures every now & then (say 2-3 times a year).
best,
-keijo-
Hi again Keijo, I heard from Klaus since the last time I visited you here. I have since contributed many stamps along with their specifics and it has been a fantastic way of me learning about them and their history. Not to mention, Im now counting perforations and measuring them by the mm *beaming smiles*.
I working backwards and so far so good!
Cheers Lou
hi Lou,
great to hear You’re having a good time. And congrats for becoming an editor
Very weird…did you notice on the top of this page (or any other in this blog) appears two advert for trade stamps?…I think is not all the time but eventually…oi Keijo is a new patron? good boy! LOL!
ah…OK, reading the previous comments, I see that we aware of this spam?…chiky monkeys!…on the other hand…if they give some dosh, good!
@Fred… Actually all the pages on this blog have had 3 “Google AdSense ad units” (one on top of page, one on bottom, one on right side) for about as long as I can remember. They are a form of contextual advertising (meaning that every user is displayed somewhat different ads based on their location and interests). Every time somebody sees an interesting ad and clicks it, Google contributes a small sum of money to me (which I use to cover the running costs of this blog).
Well Keijo, nothing wrong with that…it happen that, was the first time I see them…never notice it before, thought had been since years ago…sorry for that, but if you say they do that to you…I will contribute to the cause…clicking now and then…for sure, L O L!!!
@Fred… I think you are suffering from “ad blindness” (see this Wikipedia entry about it). It’s somewhat common, and definitely nothing to worry about.
Amazing yes! but no, no worries…as they say I’m just looking for the things I really want…the rest don’t make me move…
that’s why you can see things on the stamps, (unlike me)that make this site unique!…L O L!
I happened to find this website when searching for a good free online catalogue. I think that you may have saved me some time! I then enjoyed reading one of your posts about what makes a happy stamps collector. I found myself nodding my head. I then read a series of comments (above) and I appreciated the ongoing dialogue. Great, I’m on board, and I’ve signed up for the weekly newsletter. Now to try your IQ test below. Hm, isn’t that second image from Korea?
@William – Welcome aboard. I hope you enjoy the blog contents and company
PS. The Yin/Yang symbol can be seen on several places. But true, on (South) Korean stamps you’ll see a plenty of it.
Thanks a lot!!!! I found your review very helpful.I am rekindling my childhood hobby and all those days of sitting at the British Council Library poking through the SG stamps of the world catalog have been wonderful. I had no idea of the Michel or the Scott catalogue!
If i wanted to get my hands on a used Catalog of SG or others for stamps prior to 1980 which edition should i look for. I would appreciate any hints which would help me search for a comprehensive used catalogue of the stamps of the world. Thanks and have a great day
Alan , India
Hi Alan,
Re, second hand catalogs… My advice would be to focus on local sources whenever possible. I know that this approach is challenging, but I have good reason for my recommendation. Most international online auction sites (such as eBay or Delcampe) do have a wide range of used stamp catalogs at cheap prices. But… Most of these items are from international sellers (USA, UK , Germany etc). Once you add international postage costs, custom fees etc. on top of the paid price, your cheap 2nd hand catalog costs pretty much the same or even more as a brand new catalog straight from the publisher.
Colnect’s stamp catalog now lists over 208,000 stamps and it keeps growing everyday. Only in the last 30 days, over 10,000 stamps were added!
You can easily browse stamps by themes (tags), years, countries and more.
I’d be happy to see you take another look at the catalog and perhaps change your review for the better
Thanks and happy collecting
@Amir… Similar growth has occurred for pretty much every entry on this list. If I have the time/interest, I’ll try to make an update to this entry sometime in early 2012.
HI There
Any new developments on stamp collection programs?
Please could I have a copy of your excel spreadsheet…would love to try it out…
GREAT SITE….THANK YOU!!!!!
@jpotgieter…
Yes and no.
The free alternatives are pretty much the same state as they were when I wrote the original piece in may 2010. More stamps are included to their listings, but they are still very much incomplete if thinking the big picture of 600,000+ stamps issued worldwide. Only the commercial offerings from publishers (=Michel, SG and Yvert) can provide over 90% coverage with images and proper catalog details.
SG managed to launch a new version of their MyCollection tool late last month. I’ve read some mixed reviews about it. Likely they’ll need at least another 4-6 months to take out the worst rough edges.
As for Michel… Likely there will be a new version of MichelSoft sometime next year. The progress with their online catalog is dead slow (it would have so much potential if done properly).
I’m not sure what’s going on with Scott digital catalog. I would have expected them to hit the holiday/Christmas sales (it would have made a very nice gift), but nothing available so far. Not sure what’s going on there. Maybe early next year Amos will announce some news.
Thanks for the good round-up. I am really surprised there isn’t a complete user-contributed catalogue out there. There’s a great music discography site called Discogs which is entirely built by user contributions and that has millions of entries. I would have thought that there is a lot of similarity between stamp and record collectors, and I’m sure if the site was easy to contribute to, it would grow very fast.
@Robin…
True, there is a lot of similarities between record and stamp collectors. But… One of the major obstacles standing in the way of public/open online catalog is that stamp collectors/philatelists use mainly copyrighted/proprietary catalog numbering systems on pretty much everything they do. In order for such site to prevail, either collectors should have to abandon the use of existing numbering schemes (very unlikely), or the catalog publishers would have to give up some of their copyrights and allow more than ‘fair use’ (again very unlikely). So in a way it’s catch-22…
And true, there are some user powered sites (catawiki,colnect etc) that state catalog numbers (Michel, SG,Yvert – but no Scott due to different copyrights on EU and US). But I seriously doubt their future and usefulness. Right now they nothing more than ‘a collection of pictures’ (=highly incomplete). They have a very long road ahead before becoming truly usefully references / catalogs. But I have the time, and maybe in 10-15 years time, they have matured enough to be a true option for traditional catalogs.
Keijo,
Colnect has recently announced over 222,222 stamps on our catalogs: http://blog.colnect.com/2012/02/milestone-222222-stamps-featured-on.html
There were nearly 7,000 stamps added during the last month. It’s not only that the catalog is growing but that it’s growth rate is growing big time.
Yes, I agree it will take time to list all world stamps on Colnect’s catalogs but mind that other community-generated projects have not reached their achievements in a day.
As a community we have the power to improve our catalogs much better than traditional catalogs have done in the past and we will.
Colnect is already a very worthwhile alternative to traditional catalogs as it enables you to easily have a common language with collectors around the world when you manage your own collection, wish and swap lists on Colnect easily.
So no, it’s not perfect yet and never will be perfect but it’s an incredibly easy and useful resource and will become a strong name in the collectibles world as we progress together.
Amir @ Colnect
@Amir…
I agree it’s growing nicely, but still a long road ahead. Of the 222,222 stamps how many do have full philatelic details (perforation, watermark, print method etc)? And how many of those details are accurate? I don’t mean to undermine what You have accomplished, but I’m simply stating that there’s an enormously long road ahead before reaching the level of traditional stamp catalogs, and even longer road if trying to surpass them.