for all us collectors of prehistoric animals, dinosaurs, or fossils on stamp collectors: Domfil has issued a thematic catalogue on our subject.
When I saw this 25-th Domfil catalogue advertised, I ordered a copy right away, and waited anxiously for it to arrive. When it did, last week, I had a good look at it.
Although I was not impressed by the look of the book, this soon changed when I opened it. (Don't judge a book by the cover!). Every single stamp is reproduced in full colour, and although the illustrations are not very large (stamps are illustrated at 50%, sheets smaller), they are very clear. Countries are listed in Spanish alphabetical order, which makes for some searching. Fortunately, an index for the English country names is provided. The abbreviations used to indicate the existence of se-tenant issues, booklets, de-luxe sheets, etc, also required repeated reference to the explanations. The layout is clear and easy to read, although it is sometimes annoying that part of the information is on the other page.
I was much impressed by how complete the listing is. Most of the more obscure items, such as the Australian 1992 Christmas stamp with a dinosaur poster in the background, are included. The editors have also found many of the petrified wood and amber stamps 'hiding' in minerals sets. The did miss some, such as the 1992 Argentina and the 1997 Ecuador petrified wood stamps. How they could have missed the Moa in the 1974 Cuba extinct animals set is beyond me, however. And even stranger is that the 1982 Darwin commemmorative sets for Ascension, Mauritius and Saint Helena are listed, but the Falkland Islands set is not. Similarly, the 4 c. value of the 1988 Antigua & Barbuda EPCOT Center set is listed, but the 60 c. value is not.
I was also impressed by the fact that the catalogue is quite up to date, most 2002 issued are included (although not all are illustrated).
Notes on the existence of varieties, such as inperforate issues and de luxe sheets, are somewhat erratic, and I have a fairly large number of inperforate issues in my collection that are not listed.
Upon closer scrutiny of the illustrations and the information, I did notice quite a few minor, but often irritating errors. Identification of the species depicted mostly follows what is printed on the stamps. Spelling errors and misidentifications / transposed names on the stamps go uncorrected. Even blatant errors, such as the label 'Edaphosaurus' under a Stegosaurus (on the 1996 Zaire sheet), have not been noted. On top of that, quite a few typing errors occur in species names.
Regrettably, there are some worse errors. A 1999 miniature sheet is shown with the description of the 1997 issue for Gambia, for instance. Not all the catalogue numbers match with my data, either. And an issue date of 13/00/1951 is rather unlikely.
Conclusion: In spite of the fairly large number of (mostly minor) errors an indispensable reference work, highly recommended. And I think that the price, 24 Euro (about 26 US$, UK£ 16) is very reasonable.
The ISBN number for the catalogue is: 84-95615-12-6.
