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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