Talk:World Stamp Catalogue

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Is anyone still working on this project? Kempm 21:08, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

I'd like to propose a different way of adding stamps to the catalogue. The current way, adding stamps into the catalogue is using the tabular template. However there are a few things missing.

What we need, in my view, is:

• Picture of the stamp
• Date the stamp was first released
• Date until this stamp could be used
• Common description of the stamp
• Designer of the stamp
• Company that printed the stamp
• A big room for stamp values (First Day Envelopes, Misprints, Mints, Used, etc)
• Number of stamps printed
• Paper used
• All other things related to the stamps, like background stories, etc)

Further, to avoid long pages, that take up much server load to show all these stamps, I would like to propose deep linking stamps. Common way to do it: World_Stamp_Catalogue/Region/Country/Year.

In my view Catalogue Number is no longer important because there are several companies out there, that all use their own numbering. Also these numbers can vary every year. So my proposal for this would be to leave out the Catalogue Number field from now on. Kempm 11:07, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Basic example of the proposal can be found at: World_Stamp_Catalogue/European_countries/Stamps_of_Faroe_Islands/1975 I think what is needed is a nice way to arrange the text. If some standard can be found for this, it would be nice. My webdevelopment skills are not very well developed, though :/ -Kempm 12:44, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

I only just became aware that this project was started. I find the tabular format interesting, and a possible basis for future development. The additional material that you suggest is mostly very interesting, but we have to accept that much of it cannot be added without extensive research. Adding what is possible should not be restricted by what we cannot find easily.

Values are a subjective question of supply and demand. Even the Scott Catalogue recognizes the valuation problems when it puts a value in italics. There is more to this than the number printed and the age of the stamp. For example, a good quality German stamp will do much better in a European auction than in a North American auction. A key topical stamp will have a higher value because it will be demanded by both the collectors of the topic and of its country.

I disagree about catalogue numbers. The catalogue numbers developed by the existing catalogues, especially the four major ones, have their idiosyncracies. There are also unresolved copyright problems over the use of these proprietary numbers. Scott has actively protected its numbers, and although Krause-Whitman's dispute with them did much to put Scott's copyrights in doubt the out-of-court settlement meant that the question was not publicly answered. Having a numbering system that is free of copyright restrictions and that can be used uniformly around the world has a certain appeal. Eclecticology 02:30, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Nice to see someone working on this project. Welcome Eclecticology.

I understand that values are a difficult topic, but I was more thinking about a system like this: January 16th, 2004, bought stamp 234 mint for 100 euro. Someone else writes: June 23rd, 2005, bought stamp 234 mint for 150 dollars. Or Michel catalogue 1999 values stamp 234 at 100 Deutsche Mark. Something like this should give a pretty good idea of a value of a certain stamp. (In my view catalogues are mainly used to catagorize one's own collection, and for stamp values, therefore stamp values are very important, and should not be omitted).

You clearly know more about the catalogue numbers than me. Any idea how Michel catalogue numbers relate to Scott's numbers. And if they differ what numbering do you suggest this project will follow? --Kempm 10:08, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

OK just noticed your work on Stamps numbering. Seems good, that concern of mine has been solved. Thanks --Kempm 10:23, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for noticing. This seemed like a quiet corner to work, and there's no shortage of work. With the numbering I chose to start with an issue from China because the complexities there would be more likely to force me to deal with the problems. Already I have needed to make some adjustments to the scheme as information is processed. I find working with images to be a tedious process; when I put them on line they never seem to look like the original stamp that I scanned. In the short run I at least hope to upload enough to be able to illustrate significant differences between stamps. When I bought my scanner several years ago it was with the intent of being able to resolve tiny details that differentiate between two stamps. Scanning whole pages at such a resolution would give ridiculously huge files, but makes sense when zooming in.

Another thing that I hope to develop is a co-ordination between catalog numbers and the names for image files. The question of copyright is somewhat different in this subject area. Fair use claims are essential, and there does not appear to be any attempt by any modern government to stop the use of stamp images in dead-tree catalogues. Wikipedia currently allows fair use images for stamps as long as they are used to illustrate an existing article. This would not be consistent with the strict prohibition against fair use in Commons. For the forseeable future, however, I see most of my efforts directed toward stamp designs that were first issued more than 50 years ago, and which would at least fall within the Berne Convention view of public domain. It's also a convenient way to add a little control to my personal time management.

Values are a tough area to research. Speaking for myself I tend to buy in bulk and am a poor record keeper. It can sometimes be many years before I even discover that I have a relatively more valuable variety. My collection accumulation is unmanageably large, and I also have a substantial collection of philatelic literature that I can use as references.

If others want to start uploading images that would be appreciated. If they want to work on the stamps of particular countries and years they only need to let me know and I can shift my priorities for number development. Eclecticology 22:37, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] US Stamp section

I just added the module World Stamp Catalogue/United States, which is a copy of what I had created as a Commons article (Stamps of the United States) based on the US stamp images there. I have not yet made an attempt to conform to the World Stamp Catalogue format or content. I mainly wanted to provide an indication of what US stamp images are available on Wikimedia Commons. Feel free to do any constructive reformatting that would help. Some scans from my personal collection are shown in commons:User:Nonenmac/postage stamps. — Nonenmac 03:06, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Is this project still alive?

Recently, a website called Colnect started presenting a collector-generated stamps catalog that is open to the public. It appears that collectors there are more motivated to update the catalog because they can later use it to manage their own swaps with the aid of that catalog. Perhaps it's worth some while to look there and perhaps cooperate with it?

[edit] Image policy?

Whats our image policy? The Commons policy only? Fair-use also? Can we take fair-use images from language wikipedias?

AshLin (talk) 05:48, 3 April 2009 (UTC)