Scott is releasing their range of digital stamp catalogs later this year, and I’ve been tracking with great interest any possible clues about the price it will become available. VSC is now having a poll where the editor of Scott catalogs, Chad Snee, is asking whether collectors would prefer to pay $99.99 – $124.99/year or $124.99 – $149.99/year for access to six-volume digital Scott Standard catalog. Not surprisingly, a lot of VSC members have chosen not to vote, and stated directly that neither of the given options attracts them. Is Scott asking too much?
Not so long ago I started experimenting with something I’d describe as mounting collections digitally. In practice, it’s very similar process to creating DIY stamp album pages, but there’s one major exception: the pages are never printed on paper. They remain in digital format all the way, meaning that I even mount my stamps (or more precisely images of them) digitally too… Below is a small teaser how my collection of “Russian Empire era Finland” looks when done like this.
Though I’m much in love with my printed set of stamp catalogs, I have no doubts that sooner or later eBooks will triumph over printed matter. Right now one of my largest annoyances is the fact that though eBooks seem to be this seasons hottest gift ideas, there is nothing but few oddball philatelic publications available. Nothing from Amos (publisher of Scott), nothing from Schwanberger (publisher of Michel), and nothing from SG (publisher of Stanley Gibbons). Why?
Though I have a somewhat good eye vision, I use high resolution scans as my aid more or less constantly. Below is a small example of 1988 Japanese stamp that I thought might contain a scratch flaw.
In my opinion one of the hardest (but also the most interesting) challenges of stamp collecting are long definitive sets that span into all possible directions. The most notorious ones, like UK Machin stamps and Norwegian posthorns feature hundreds of major types scattered all across the stamp catalog timeline, and the varieties easily double or triple the number of items to collect. These are a huge challenge to keep track for anyone.
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 
In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. The idea of stamp inventory program (and other other stamp collecting software) is to be of assistance when either one hits the collector. On simplified level, a stamp inventory solution keeps track of what’s inside the collectors collection, and what it might be worth. In my previous post about stamp collecting software I pretty much axed dedicated software solutions and hailed Microsoft Excel. With this post I’ll show you in more detail how I keep track of my collection.
This week I’ll be dealing with topics related to stamp collecting on “PC / Internet era”. Let’s begin with one of my favourite topic: why most postage stamp collecting / inventory programs suck? This is a rather long rant, so sit back and take a hot cup of your favourite drink while reading 