Content of Michel Catalog Alpenländer 2021 (E1):

Liechtenstein, Austria, Switzerland, United Nations – Geneva, United Nations – Vienna.

Description:

• The first volume of the new MICHEL Europe series that features some of the most popular European collection areas in a compact format for an attractive price
• Completely revised and updated, including the comprehensively revised local issues of the private courier mail of Katschberg and Zell am See
• Numerous other improvements, such as the supplementation of numbers of issue of an additional year of Swiss issues
• Revision and adaptation of price quotations throughout the whole edition; particularly Austrian small sheet issues and vending machine stamps with special typeface show price increases
• Four new Austrian colour variations have been discovered!
• Over 8600 high-resolution colour photos and approx. 38,500 price quotations
• Includes all novelties presented in MICHEL Rundschau up to No. 2/2021

The catalog is organized according to collection areas. Cataloging within these sections is chronological, based on issue date. Special stamp types, like official stamps, are located at the end of a collection area section. In order to assist collectors organize their stamps, numerous illustrations are provided, as well as information on similar stamps to help avoid possible mix-ups.

Last year the Alpenländer, the ”Alpine Countries“, which are summarized in the first volume of the new Europe series, surprised us again with many philatelic news. Taking a closer look at this new MICHEL edition will pay off particularly for collectors of Austria. Besides new discoveries, such as previously unknown colour variations, this collection area presents lots of modified appraisals. Price increases can be found in every area, specially among sheetlets, of which nearly all specimens in mint condition have increased in value.

MiNo. 2606, which depicts an Airbus A310–300 and was issued in 2006 on the occasion of the Day of the Stamp, is among the pieces whose sheetlets have increased by ten Euros in value since last year. It remains to be seen if Austrian sheetlet issues will continue to be this popular in 2021.

Among collectors, the “Alpine countries“ are well known for their innovative and widely popular issues. In 2019, specially Austria and Liechtenstein again issued many special editions that were much discussed by the public.

In January, for instance, Liechtenstein issued a particularly striking and valuable embroidered stamp. On the occasion of “300 years of the Principality of Liechtenstein“ a variety of a princely hat with silhouette embroidery was put on the market in the form of a handmade postage stamp. This special issue, which was limited to only little over 2000 stamps sold for 300 Franks each by the postal system, features 24-carat gold threads as well as Swarovski crystals. It remains to be seen how many of these specimens will actually be used for truly princely greetings sent through the postal system; however, the prices for specimens traded so far have already led to the MICHEL quotation of € 1600.
Experts warn against paying speculative prices for such objects as the interest in them will often subside again. Yet issues such as the real-gold princely hat from Liechtenstein and the Austrian crypto stamp definitely have the potential to raise the interest of non-collectors in philately as well.

Illustration: Liechtenstein MiNo. 1932

Target Group:

Stamp collectors specialized in issues of European Alpine countries, experts, dealers, thematic collectors, study groups, teachers

Additional Information:

106th Edition, in colour
768 pages
155 mm x 230 mm, hardcover
On sale: 5 March 2021
Language: German
ISBN: 9-783-95402-351-6

Press Release

Last year presented the human race with enormous challenges. Philatelists, who have been able to pursue their hobby in the safe environment of their homes, can consider themselves to be lucky. The selected stamps on the cover document the perspective of various postal administrations on the Corona pandemic.

Michel Catalog Alpenländer 2021 (E1) is Volume 1 of the sixteen-part Europe series. It contains the popular collection areas of Liechtenstein, Austria, Switzerland as well as United Nations Geneva and Vienna.

The new edition is even more comprehensive and precise than its predecessor. Many new MICHEL numbers have been included, and numerous editorial changes and improvements have found their way into this edition. Regarding Switzerland, we are able to list the number of issues within an additional year. The local issues of the private courier mail of Katschberg and Zell am See underwent a substantive revision.

One editorial focal point was on revising and updating price quotations. Austrian sheetlet issues as well as vending machine stamps with a special typeface have shown price increases. Four new colour variations were discovered among Austrian issues as well. Stamps are actually supposed to be produced in a combined printing process. Yet the photogravure process failed, leaving only the colour of the engraved-recess printing. Check your collection for those variations!

This volume features all novelties introduced in MICHEL Rundschau up to and including No. 2/2021. A subscription starting with No. 3/2021 is recommended to keep you updated without missing any novel issues. Apart from cataloguing novelties, MICHEL Rundschau also provides you with any important philatelic news.

The Editorial Team wants to thank all of you collectors, examiners and dealers out there who have helped to make this reference book a success by contributing information, pictures and price lists.

We hope our readers will truly enjoy this new Michel Catalog Alpenländer 2021 (E1) and their collections.

Schwaneberger Publishing House
The Editorial Team

MICHEL provides top-quality information for collectors

Thanks to decades of experience and constant revision, the MICHEL catalogs are unmatched in terms of lay-out, comprehensiveness, accuracy and production. MICHEL catalogues provide all key information on stamps, postal stationary and coins. The systematic collection of data on collectable items, a well-organised system and detailed illustrations ensure easy use and a quick way to find required information. Each new edition of a MICHEL catalog is completely revised, updated and expanded so that it always reflects the latest situation on the market.

Users of the MICHEL catalogs value the comprehensive and detailed listings of collectable items. The MICHEL catalogs are among the best in the world when it comes to details, comprehensiveness and illustration. MICHEL products have been awarded well over 600 medals (including 31 gold), diplomas and honorary prizes in the course of the company’s history. The expertise of the Schwaneberger publishing house’s staff is outstandingly represented in the MICHEL catalogs.

The colourful, varied range of products includes standard and special-edition catalogues for Germany, Europe and overseas. There is also philatelic literature, the MICHEL-Exklusiv album, the MICHEL Colour Guide, the MICHEL-Lux examination lamp and the MICHEL-Rundschau monthly magazine. More than 85 different products in total.

MICHEL also enjoys a good reputation in electronic publishing thanks to various software programs, websites and e-catalogs. It is no wonder that the MICHEL catalogs have been known for years as the “philatelists’ bible”. However, bearing this accolade brings with it the responsibility of always remaining at the top with regard to quality.

The 669,000th MICHEL catalog number was issued recently. A look at the most important of the 85 different MICHEL catalogs reveals that the catalogues for Europe and overseas alone make up some 25,000 catalog pages. They contain 314,000 pictures and 1,800,000 price quotations. Most of this information is stored in powerful picture and text databases and is consulted, revised and corrected for each new edition of a MICHEL catalog. And of course that also applies to each individual page, irrespective of which MICHEL catalog it comes from. MICHEL goes to great lengths on its customers’ behalf. MICHEL’s editorial team spends an average of 45 minutes on research for each new set of stamps. Around 18,000 new stamps appear each year, which are then catalogued and published in the MICHEL-Rundschau, as well as in the relevant MICHEL catalog and online catalogue.

100 years of the MICHEL catalogue

It is more than 100 years since the stamp dealer Hugo MICHEL from Apolda in Thüringen published the first MICHEL stamp catalogue in 1909. He thereby created a product that would be continually be improved, but never surpassed. In the same year, publisher and philatelic editor Hugo Schwaneberger founded a publishing company that bore his name. The philatelist, who was well known in his field, created the Schwaneberger Album, the first album to adopt a scientific approach.
Owing to the great demand for MICHEL catalog, Hugo MICHEL was no longer able to dedicate himself to his career as a stamp dealer. He therefore sold the rights to the publisher Schwaneberger. The catalogue, which had only covered Europe until that point, was expanded by the new publishing house to include overseas countries.

Hugo MICHEL continued to edit the catalogue supplement, which is today known as the MICHEL-Rundschau. The company was then bought by the publisher Eugen Berlin. He moved it to Munich in 1950 where he came across a company, the Carl Geber printing works (now the Gerber Satz und Gerber publishing house) that was able to draw up the complicated catalogue typesetting. The publishing rights went to the Hohenester/Gerber families who assigned them to the publishing house, now trading as the “Schwaneberger Verlag”.

At the turn of the century other stamp catalogues had already appeared, but the remarkable success of the MICHEL catalog was attributed to its sophisticated and comprehensive cataloguing system. The stamps were numbered successively from the first number for each country, yet at the same time organised according to various sub-categories and genres, and described as fully as possible. This system was refined over the years and adapted where necessary - but never had to be changed! In fact, the MICHEL numbering system has become standard in Germany. This is underscored by the numerous licence contracts that the Schwaneberger Verlag has concluded with other publishers. All stock lists of German dealers are organised according to the MICHEL numbering system. Collectors exchange, buy and sell using MICHEL numbers.

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