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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations 
June 15-16, 2002:


From Pricelist to Bible.


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.


The Scott Postage Stamp catalogues are the dominant guide to stamp
collecting in the U-S. The books not only provide approximate values, they
also, to some extent, determine what's collectible. Is that latest flag
stamp a new issue or just a variety of an old one? Is it a MAJOR variety?


And you can't even DISCUSS a stamp without giving its Scott number.


But the catalogues didn't start as reference books...they were PRICELISTS.
The J-Walter Scott company sold stamps, and these were the catalogues of
what it had available.


What brought all this to mind was that Scott pricelist number three, from
18-67, will be on display at the major stamp show and convention in Atlantic
City this August. Just 20 years after the U-S issued its first stamp, it
only took Scott ONE PAGE to list EVERY AVAILABLE stamp worldwide.


Today, you need at least six volumes, at about 40 dollars apiece, and Scott
no longer sells stamps, just books and supplies.


And that's stamp collecting this week. 


I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 


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