Do you save your annual Marklin catalogs? I have been but been debating if I should keep them or not? Thoughts?

Thanks

Yep from the 1960s to present day.. This is especially important for me since Koll's no longer has images.. I use an IKEA Billy Book case to store them and the Insiders/Marklin Magazines..

The nice thing about the catalogues is that they show consists, which is helpful for someone (like me!) who has only been to mainland Europe twice in his life time.

Yes I have almost all catalogs from 1950 up to now in paper and also in digital format.

Thanks all. I do like the catalogs and was curious as to whether or not people saved them. All good points. Thanks again

I've been an avid collector of catalogues from my early days with Märklin. My very first one came from my Dad, it's the 1973 edition and he didn't actually run Marklin (I grew up with Tri-ang), but he clearly appreciated quality.

A big problem as many have noted is the space required to keep them! Every now and then I have a purge of duplicates, usually acquired when I have to buy a bunch at auction just to get one I want, and end up with several I already have. And they are heavy if you need to pack and move them.

I keep catalogues based on two main criteria;

1: Condition - torn and dog-eared are less desirable, but you know they've been well-loved.

2: Dealer Stamps. They are the history. If I have a choice of two catalogues, one with a 'local' stamp (ie a NZ retailer, or Australian), I will often favour that over an unmarked one that might be in better condition - or just keep both.

But I also have an extensive e-version archive. I can find things of interest quicker on my PC than having to manually flick through the pages of a hard copy. I probably spend way longer on my PC than I should but it's led me to some real treasures.

My oldest catalogue is 1904, then a smattering until 1920 and then right through from the early 1920's. Of course, a catalogue is not complete without the price-list for the same year, then there's the give-away counter leaflets, single-page item announcements, new-items etc. Other languages?, or course. Marklin printed their literature in several languages and the variations are fun. OCD?, well I couldn't possibly comment.

I've been helped by fellow-enthusiasts who have kindly shared, and I've spent many many hours on my scanner (probably months cumulatively) scanning my own originals to share in return.

When I took an unexpected diversion into the world of Marklin-Metall (as in Meccano) a whole new world of literature opened up including the very hard-to-find dealer "Sales Aids" catalogues for things like Factory Layouts, Shop Display items etc.

Like many things vintage, or not, are worth what someone is willing to pay. The catalogs from then didn't change much year to year. They are much thicker from 1985 on up.

My catalog collection starts in the 1970's and I have most of them since that time. I also have a few from the 1960's.

Some are stored in a bookcase and others are in a couple of cardboard boxes.

I have a collection of scanned catalogs in pdf format from 1924 to 2019/2020 with a few others dating from before 1924 (the same ones Cookee has). Many of these catalogs I scanned myself and many of the catalogs available from the LCTM site and other sites are ones that I scanned. I recently sent an email to the Editor of the LCTM site asking whether they would like copies of my scanned catalogs up to 2010, but I haven't received a reply. I sent the email in English, maybe I should have sent it in Spanish.

Absolutely Dale. The hardcover books are very nice. It's expensive to print full color catalogues today because it isn't as widely done as in the past before PDF files and the web.
I was even surprised to recieve a Roco catalogue by mail with a freight car delivery.

I have a number of catalogues from the 50's into the 70's, and was able to find a CD a number of years back with all of them from the 30's to around 2014. I like the printed vintage ones and plan on keeping them, but the newer ones take up a lot of space and have been passed on to other Maerklin enthusiasts who are interested.