Identification
How to Use a Stamp Catalogue
A stamp catalogue lists a country's stamps in order, each with a catalogue number, a description, an illustration and a price for different conditions. To use one, identify the country, find the right issue by date and design, then narrow down by the details, value, colour, watermark and perforation, until you reach the exact stamp and its catalogue number. In Britain, the Stanley Gibbons catalogue is the standard, and its SG numbers are used throughout the hobby.
At a glance
What a stamp catalogue is
A stamp catalogue is the reference that organises and identifies stamps. It lists each country's stamps in order of issue, giving every stamp a catalogue number, a description, an illustration, and prices for the usual conditions, typically mint and used.
By matching your stamp to its entry, you find out exactly what it is, what to call it, and roughly what the catalogue values it at. In Britain the Stanley Gibbons catalogue is the standard, and its numbers, SG numbers, are the common language of British collecting, as our guide to SG numbers explains.
How to look a stamp up, step by step
Identify the country
Catalogues are arranged by country, so start there. For foreign stamps, our guide to identifying the country helps.
Find the right issue
Within the country, stamps run in date order. Use the design and approximate date to reach the right issue or set, as our guide to dating a stamp explains.
Match the design
Compare your stamp with the illustrations to find its design within the issue.
Narrow by the details
Where one design has several listings, narrow down by value, colour or shade, watermark and perforation, as our guides to watermarks and perforations explain, until you reach the exact entry.
Read off the number and details
The catalogue number, full description and prices are now yours.
Reading the entry
Catalogue prices are a guide
A catalogue entry packs a lot into a little space, and it helps to know how to read it. The number identifies the stamp; the description gives its value, colour and key features; the illustration confirms the design; and the price columns give catalogue values for the listed conditions, usually mint and used. Footnotes and headings flag watermarks, perforations, papers and varieties. The one thing to remember is that catalogue prices are a guide, generally well above what stamps actually sell for, as our guide to catalogue value versus market value explains.
Getting the most from a catalogue
A catalogue rewards a little patience and good tools. Work in good light with a magnifier, a perforation gauge and, where needed, a watermark detector, the equipment our guide to stamp collecting equipment describes. Take care to match every detail, since a small difference, a watermark or a perforation, can mean a different and differently valued stamp. And treat the catalogue as a guide to identity and relative worth, not a price list. Used this way, a catalogue is the collector's most useful single reference, and the foundation of accurate identification.
Frequently asked questions
Identify the country, find the right issue by date and design, then narrow down by value, colour, watermark and perforation until you reach the exact stamp, its catalogue number and its prices.
The standard British stamp catalogue, which lists stamps with SG numbers used throughout the hobby. Our guide to SG numbers explains how the numbering works.
Because catalogue prices are a guide, generally well above actual selling prices. Our guide to catalogue value versus market value explains the gap.
Not to begin, but a catalogue is the most useful single reference for identifying stamps accurately and understanding their relative worth, and most collectors come to rely on one.
Country, issue, details, number
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Founder and stamp dealerLast updated June 2026