Scott Catalog

A subsidiary of Amos Press, Scott Publishing Co. annually releases updated versions of the Scott Catalog which is a comprehensive listing of postage stamps from around the world that are recognized and accepted by its publishers as having been issued solely for postal usage.

For quick and easy identification of the stamps listed within the pages of the Scott Catalog, a rather simple system was created.  Regular mail stamps are assigned digital numbers whereas the more specialized stamps are identified with the same digital numbers prefixed with capital letters such as the letter “B” for semi-postal stamps (issued to raise money for charitable causes) and the letter “C” for airmail postal stamps.  To identify stamps with errors or small disparities, a lower case letter is assigned as a suffix such as “C385a” or “576b” and so on.  Having such tremendous commercial value in the world of postal stamps and being easily recognized by most major collectors and dealers in the United States and Canada, publishers of the Scott Catalog have copyrighted their numbering system and granting or denying the right of usage is solely up to their discretion.

The highly esteemed Scott Catalog has been recognized as the foremost authority on postage stamps and issues related to their collection and trading, it has become the most often referenced stamp catalog, and most American and Canadian dealers and collectors will refuse to trade in stamps that for one reason or another (their obvious issuance for non-postal purposes, trade embargoes or other commercial bans on certain nations) failed to qualify for listing within its pages.

Having been granted with a very wordy title (“Descriptive Catalogue of American and Foreign Postage Stamps, Issued from 1840 to Date, Splendidly Illustrated with Colored Engravings and Containing the Current Value of each Variety”), the first issue of the Scott Catalog was published in 1868 by J. W. Scott, an avid stamp dealer in New York.  This issue consisted of twenty one pages and its publisher claimed to have listed all the stamps of the world along with the current prices of each.

Eventually, Scott Publishing Co. ended its interests in stamps but continued to release the Scott Catalog which expanded to include more factual details about each stamp, each stamp’s most recent trading trail, and the printed price of each listed stamp evolved into a commercial value gleaned from a complex market analysis.

The Scott Catalog grew and matured right along with global philatelists (postage stamp collectors) and their ever increasing sophistication.  Hence, its most recent publication which came out in 2008 appeared in six large volumes with the United State’s postage stamps being displayed in the first volume along with stamps from countries beginning with the letters “A” and “B.”  The other six volumes listed postage stamps by their issuing countries organized in alphabetical order (Vol. 2: Countries C – F; Vol. 3: Countries G – I; Vol. 4: Countries J – O; Vol. 5: Countries P – Si and Vol. 6: Countries So – Z).  The sum total of pages of the six-volume 2008 edition of the Scott Catalog amount to well over five thousand, and it is also available in printed versions as well as on CDs and DVDs.