ScottV Stamps

Here is an odd collecting style I have seen a few times now: someone builds a collection of postmarks but trims them right through the stamps to fit into some fixed boxes on the page. I don't get it.  Yes, you are focusing on the postal marking, but the stamp is part of the usage.  I have seen other postmark collectors trim the envelopes all to some specific index-card size, to fit in a card file.  I always trim mine to about one or two millimeters from the edges of the stamp and markings -- they come out as a wide range of different sizes of paper, but it feels the most natural to me.  I recall distantly that the Postmark Collectors Club used to print the "official" rules for how to collect these.  Well, the PCC is still around and has a good introduction, saying you can collect them any way you like.

I went ahead and subscribed to the digital Scott's Stamp Catalog this year.  I have a set of 2021s that's getting pretty old, and we had been using the library's set of 2023s but we're returning those this weekend. The digital set is pricey at $549 for the year but it doesn't weigh 80 pounds and take up a whole shelf in the other room.   The physical copies are over $650 now and the next year starts coming out in March.   The digital catalog should update as the new volumes are published. I like the digital version a lot.  It's convenient having every volume on my tablet or laptop or the desktop in the office where we print orders from, wherever I need a price.   You can keep the main page open and click a volume to see all the countries.  Click any country and it loads the catalog pages for that country in a new tab.   Each country has a list of sections with an entry for the start,  #500, #1000 and so on.  So...