Volume 1 includes listings for the United States, plus countries of the world beginning with letters A and B. These begin with Abu Dhabi and end with Bushire. In addition to the United States, other notable countries include Australia, Brazil and the United Nations. All Scott catalogs include both existing countries and those that no longer exist (but at one time produced stamps).
Volume 1 includes over 60 countries (past and present). The main countries included in Volume 1 are as follows:
United States - Afghanistan - Aitutaki - Albania - Algeria - Andorra (French / Spanish) - Angola - Anguilla - Antigua - Argentina - Armenia - Aruba - Ascension - Australia - Australian Antarctic Territory - Austria - Azerbaijan - Bahamas - Bahrain - Bangladesh - Barbados - Barbuda - Belarus - Belgium - Belize - Benin - Bermuda - Bhutan - Bolivia - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Botswana - Brazil - British Antarctic Territory - British Indian Ocean Territory - Brunei - Bulgaria - Burkina Faso - Burma - Burundi and the following entities: United Nations - New York, United Nations - Geneva, United Nations - Vienna.
From the Scott Editors by Jay Bigalke
Another catalog season is upon us as we continue the journey of the 156-year history of the Scott catalogs. The 2025 volumes are the 181st edition of the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue. Volume 1A includes listings for the United States, United Nations, and countries of the world Aden through Australia. Listings for Austria through B countries of the world can be found in Vol. 1B.
This year’s covers feature a postal theme, a nod to the United States Postal Service’s 250th anniversary in 2025 with a photograph of a letter carrier courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
The United States 1985 21.1¢ Envelopes coil stamp (Scott 2150) is shown on the Vol. 1A catalog, and the Bosnia and Herzegovina Serb Administration 2018 90-pfennig Mail Carrier and Steps of Mail Delivery stamp (600) is featured on the Vol. 1B catalog.
Because Vol. 1B is a continuation of the first part of the Vol. 1 catalog, the introduction pages are not repeated in each volume this year.
The market in classic U.S. stamps in the second half of 2023 was a bit erratic. Whereas prices at auction for very fine stamps were quite consistent in the first half of 2023, prices in the second half of the year were sometimes very strong in one auction and clearly lagging in another auction. Such price fluctuations occurred even in auctions conducted by the same auction house.
One consistent trend seen since the release of the 2024 Scott Specialized Catalog of United States Stamps and Covers is the somewhat lackluster performances of the unused 1875 special printings of the 1873 issue (Scott 167-177), the 1880 unused special printings of the 1879 issue (192-204), the 1882 special printing (205C) and the 1883 special printing (211D).
All of these expensive stamps have dropped in catalog value by approximately 5 percent. The 1875 unused special printings (Scott 180 and 181) produced a mixed valuing situation. Scott 180, the 2¢ carmine vermilion stamp, dropped from $70,000 to $65,000, but the 5¢ bright blue (181) rose slightly in value, from $450,000 to $460,000.
On the bright side, several scarce classic stamps and varieties thereof that are seldom seen for sale appeared at auction in late 2023, and they did very well.
Scott 25A unused is a stamp not often seen in true very fine grade. That 3¢ rose type II stamp with gum moved from $9,000 in the 2024 U.S. Specialized catalog to $12,500 in the 2025 Vol. 1A, and the same stamp without gum jumped from $4,000 to $5,000.
The 1861 3¢ rose with double impression (Scott 65f), known only used, moved smartly from $11,000 to $17,500. The used vertical pair imperforate horizontally of the 1861 10¢ green (68b) skyrocketed from $30,000 to $67,500, after the finer of the two known examples sold at auction in late 2023.
In 20th-century issues, the 1901 1¢ Pan American stamp with inverted center (Scott 294a) dropped slightly from $12,500 to $11,500 in unused condition. On the upside, the 1903 $5 dark green definitive (313) in mint, never-hinged condition moved from $8,500 to $10,000.
Scott 406b, the 1912 2¢ carmine type I Washington stamp with a double impression, had been valued used with a dash prior to the 2025 Vol. 1A. It is now valued at $650. Other 20th-century stamp varieties that showed large value increases include Scott 515c unused and mint, never-hinged, 527c unused, and 528Ag
unused.
Back-of-the-book issues were quiet in the last half of 2023, but it should be mentioned that a great many very high grade examples of postage due and Official stamps were sold at auction. Though a large majority of those offerings were stamps in grades higher than very fine, the Scott catalog benchmark, the interest in and sale results for stamps in very high grades bode well for the general market for very fine examples.
In the Confederate States of America listings, the rare unused example of the New Orleans red postmaster’s provisional
(Scott 62X6) is valued for the first time, at $18,500.
The important new listing of the 5¢ postmaster’s provisional stamp from Millbury, Mass., on white print paper (Scott 7X2), rather than the bluish letter paper of the other unique Millbury variety (7X1), has been brought forward from the 2024 U.S. Specialized catalog into the Vol. 1A listings, so that both catalogs now list these two extremely scarce major numbers.
In the 1909 bluish paper stamps, a new note has been added for the 8¢ olive green (Scott 363) indicating that the Scott value for mint, never-hinged is for a stamp in the grade of fine-very fine. At the present time, it has been determined that no never-hinged examples of the 8¢ on bluish paper in the grades of very fine or higher are recorded. That fact is unlikely to change in the future.
In an interesting twist, an example of the 1912 carmine type I Washington definitive with double impression has been authenticated as being in the lake shade, rather than the normal carmine shade. The new lake variety with double impression is now listed as Scott 406d, while the carmine variety of the error remains as Scott 406b.
The possible twist is that the Scott editors now feel that all of the scarce double impressions of Scott 406 should be reexamined to confirm that this double impression variety indeed appears on both shades of the stamp, or whether perhaps all double impressions come only in the lake shade. Only time and examination will tell.
Values also increased for modern U.S. forever stamps, nonmachinable-rate stamps and global forever stamps because of the continued uptick in cost for the rates that these stamps satisfy.
Angola received a thorough review. More than 700 value changes were made, with approximately half increases and half decreases. Of those changes, around 400 were for the classic period. One such example is the 1913 Vasco da Gama common design set of eight (Scott 184-191), which moved from $24.90 in unused condition to $27.90, and from $15.50 to $20.05 in used condition.
Armenia was reviewed, and more than 650 changes were made. In the classic period, almost 60 value changes were recorded. In the modern era, the 2011 Joint United Nations Program on AIDS souvenir sheet of two (Scott 886) advanced from $3.75 unused and used to $4.25 both ways in this year’s catalog.
Approximately 475 value changes, a mix of increases and decreases, were made for the nation of Azerbaijan. One of the increases was for the 2014 Winter Sports sheet of two (Scott 1069) that went from $4 in unused and used condition to $5.
Modern Bolivia overprints were the focus for this year’s catalog, with almost 40 values being assigned that were previously dashed. It is also important to note that a number of new Bolivia overprint listings were added this year through the Scott New Issues update in Scott Stamp Monthly.
Abu Dhabi, Algeria, Bahrain and Batum were also examined, and a handful of value changes were made for each of those countries.
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