Every Home Should Have One (at least!)
My primary collecting area is the King George V period, so
my preferred catalogue is the Stanley Gibbons British Empire & Commonwealth
1840-1970 catalogue. Widely respected, and considered the best resource for
Commonwealth issues, the SG is, however, not the only catalogue required if you
want to delve even further into a particular country or period.
This is not news, but it did come into focus for me when
browsing The Gibbons Stamp Monthly archive on CD (available at
www.stanleygibbons.com) . The archive includes
every article from the Gibbons Monthly Journal, Gibbons Stamp Weekly and Gibbons Stamp Monthly from 1890 to 2009, and it’s a mind-boggling
resource that I heartily recommend.
My favourite column in the archive is “Under the
Magnifying Glass”, where reader-submitted errors and varieties are scrutinised
and discussed. What I noticed was that many varieties, including naked-eye
varieties, are identified with sheet positions, confirmed as constant, yet they
have never seen the light of day in the catalogue.
This intrigues me, but I assume that the catalogue would need
to become a multi-volume tome if all of the accepted, recognised varieties were
to be included.
So how do you become aware of what other varieties exist
that should sit side-by-side with the SG-listed varieties in your collection? There’s
really only one answer. Specialised catalogues, especially those issued in the
relevant country, should be your next port of call.
