Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Renewing my childhood stamp collecting hobby...with my son.
We are currently enjoying collecting US stamps in our three volume American Heritage Collection albums from Mystic. We enjoy the historic blurbs about each stamp and the fact that there is a place for each stamp.
We'd like to take a stab at some global collecting, but are a bit intimidated by the album choices. It seems that a comprehensive world wide album, such as the American Heritage album, is thousands of dollars. My mother bought us a copy of a Phoenix album, but it only displays a few stamps for each country and the duplication that it's US section provides is unnecessary.
I've looked a bit on-line and just get more confused by the options. The Harris Statesman looks like a nice two volume option, but I'm sure it is limited as well.
Looking for recommendations on a good beginner/intermediate global option that has some sort of comprehensive "places" for each stamp. We enjoy finding our stamp on the page and filling it's place. Also open to being further educated about this not really being an option with global collecting....
I hope that my question makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to chime in.
Andrew
Login to Like
this post
Since it appears that money is a factor in your decision, as well as finding something that is comprehensive, you'd probably be best off with the Steiner Pages. You'll find thousands of comprehensive pages unlike any other album available at a reasonable price.
The Steiner pages are downloaded (you can buy the CD of the pages as well) and then you print them out on acid-free paper of your choice. Punch them with standard three-hole punch and place them in a standard three-ring binder.
The nice thing is you can print out just what you're working on. When you want to move on, print out the next group of pages. It's all as you want it, and at your pace.
A one year subscription to the pages and on-going updates is just $40. If you want the CD as well, the total cost is $60. Here's the link to the pages with more information. You can also print out a sample page to see if you like it.
http://www.stampalbums.com/
Login to Like
this post
I started out by buying used Scott International albums..but then was limited to the spaces available on the pages. If i were starting out again i would use plastic stock pages where you can move stamps around to make room for new additions. Steiner pages are an option..especially if you want to concentrate on collecting one country. If you want to collect the world...you are talking quite an expense in ink and paper.
Login to Like
this post
I recommend Scott International. Start with just the first album, through 1940. Spend some time with it and if you enjoy it you can add additional albums (covering later years) slowly and as your time, wallet, and motivation allow.
Add blank pages to handle any stamps that might not have preprinted spaces for them.
Don
Login to Like
this post
All good suggestions so far. Album cost can be quite a shock.
Another option would be to look for used albums - either at a show or from a dealer if you are near any. See if you can find a local stamp club - someone there may have connections.
Every dealer, large and small, who attends our local show has albums for sale.
Even just looking at lots of different albums can help you decide whether to purchase or make your own using Steiner pages.
Login to Like
this post
The problem with Scott Internationals is:
- too abridged, especially in the 1840 through 1959 period
- aside from semi-postal and air mail most back of book stamps are not included
- very few souvenir sheets are included
- many countries are omitted in later years
- price per part is sky rocketing to $160.00 per section (most years are in two parts)
- binder prices are near $100 per binder
- it will cost over 10 thousand dollars to put a complete album set together
You can find used albums, and it's great when you can. However, Scott has realigned the album pages, so the old sections do not match the new.
For 1840-2015 there are now 89 parts with a need for around 40 binders.
Login to Like
this post
Do not most of us start out humbly and try to improve our collections step by step as we begin to learn ? We are stamp collectors..our stamp budget should go for stamps..there are many ways to house our stamps without breaking the bank.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Yes, Phil, you are correct. That's why I suggested the Steiner pages.
Login to Like
this post
Minkus Master Global or the Minkus Supreme Global, the Supreme has better coverage but is tough to find used. Amos has reprints of the Supreme but it is a bit spendy.
Login to Like
this post
Te Supreme is priced similar to the Internationals. Also, I believe that some of the years for the Supreme remain out of production.
Login to Like
this post
What about the H.E. Harris Traveller albums? The new ones tend to go for about $30 brand new, and alot cheaper on Ebay and other sites. Only bringing up because they're the cheapest of the new albums.
Login to Like
this post
The Traveler is really a kids album unless they've come out with something new. The Statesman would be the lowest level album of any value, but no good in my opinion. Cheap paper and little coverage. For WW you have the three choices given! Which are Steiners, Scott iintl, global supreme.
The best thing you can do for yourself is set some limit in your WW collection, such as a year, beyond which you will not collect.
Login to Like
this post
The most comprehensive albums for the world are Scott Specialty albums. They are of course expensive and unless you plan on working full time on your collection for the next 30-50 years and spending every spare nickle you have, they would not be what you want. They are what I collect on but I am pretty crazy. Scott catalogs are by far the most used catalogs in the U.S. Every album manufacturer uses there own numbering systems which are different than the Scott catalogs. Because of this I would not recommend any thing other than Scott pre printed albums. It is very difficult to cross reference numbering systems and time can be much better used elsewhere. Your best choice would probably be buying a set of used Scott international albums. You can buy used albums with lots of stamps in them much cheaper than you can buy new ones, which gives you a nice head start.
The other option is the Steiner pages which I also use for expanding different areas of my collection. Steiner pages are laid out by the Scott numbering system but do not have the numbers printed in the spaces.
If you do not care anything about completion then stock sheets are just fine. Collections usually look great on them even though there is nothing more than a bunch of common stamps. Trying to keep up with what you don't have is very very difficult and constantly moving them about gets old quick.
Check my World Website link below to see most of the stamps of the world. It will give you an idea of what you are getting into and will help yo as a reference while collecting.
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
I collect Worldwide to 1970; GB to 2000 and Australia to date (all MNH where realistic to do so)
For my GB Collection (which I collect to 2000) I purchased the Lighthouse pre printed pre mounted pages which was very expensive. That was long before I joined Stamporama and learnt about Steiner.
For Worldwide and Australia I use the Steiner pages printed to Lighthouse pre punched blank album pages which I fit into Lighthouse albums - the albums cost me around 120AUD each with slipcase and the pages AUD 50 or AUD 1 per page - or depending on how many stamps per page at least AUD 0.13 per stamp excluding the mounts 
Many would cringe at the expense of using Lighthouse pages and albums and advise money would be better spent on more stamps. I agree but the mode of presentation is a personal choice. To each their own.
The upside with Stamporama is the Approvals pages and links to other resources which has cut down my stamp spend.
Maybe one day I will look back and wish I chose alternate mounting methods 
Regards
Richmond
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Personally I have gone with stock books and stock pages with my world collection. My reasons are simple:
- cost is cheap. A double-sided page can fit 50+ stamps for about $1-2, and you can buy as many pages/books in one go as you need/want/have money.
- you can organize stamps any way you want. And then re-organize time and again as easily as the first time.
- no need to use hinges or mounts; which actually makes the progress faster and more fun (and reduces the cost even more).
- scales up easily (and at least I have not found any limits to it )
-k-
Login to Like
this post
"We enjoy the historic blurbs about each stamp and the fact that there is a place for each stamp."
This is one of my best memories from childhood collecting. I had the Harris Liberty album, and am pretty sure I read each and every one of those entries many times. That included all of those expensive stamps that I knew I could never afford.
I haven't seen an equivalent album for a worldwide collection. I'm guessing that adding info about each stamp in that way would make an already enormous (set of) album(s) gargantuan! And cost prohibitive of course.
What surprises me is how often there is interesting information in the Scott Catalog, for example, "This set was issued to commemorate ___." This is especially helpful when the purpose of the stamp is not clear or the individual on the stamp is not well known. And it is useful when it explains why the used prices are sometimes many times more expensive than the unused values! Makes collecting more enjoyable.
-Steve
Login to Like
this post
"This is one of my best memories from childhood collecting. I had the Harris Liberty album, and am pretty sure I read each and every one of those entries many times. That included all of those expensive stamps that I knew I could never afford."
I did very well on history tests as a kid due to those entries! "I'd be thinking... Canada 100th anniversary stamp was issued in 1967, so the answer is 1867!"
And those expensive stamps... I'm buying them up now! The little kid in me goes Yippee! every time I put one of those in my album.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
"I did very well on history tests as a kid..."
Tom, I know exactly what you mean! And I think that benefit continues to this day.
-Steve
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Mystic did the blurbs the right way. They put them on the left side (often blank in many albums). If you create your own pages, you can do this yourself. In fact, the "collective" ( collectors who do pages) could contribute to this by creating the "back side" for Steiner. I may try this for my area (Straits Settlements, Malaya, Malaysia, states) and Solomons. Of course it works best if you do it before you print your pages.
Login to Like
this post
In my view, there are three realistic ways one can house a WW collection.
1) Stock pages or stock books. (See scb - Keijo's comments)
2) For the non-fanatic, but still serious WW collector..
Scott Internationals (Big Blues) or the Minkus Supremes
3) For the fanatic WW collector...
Scott Specialty albums (or other Country albums- Minkus Country Specialized, Kabe albums etc) and/or Steiner pages.
For myself, I house the 1840-1940 (-1952 British Commonwealth) in 6,500 Steiner Pages. Yes, it is very feasible, and one only needs ~ 12 feet of shelf space.
For 1940-1969, and duplicates of the 1840-1940 classical era, I put them in Minkus Global Supreme pages.
Login to Like
this post
"Another option would be to look for used albums - either at a show or from a dealer if you are near any. See if you can find a local stamp club - someone there may have connections."
That is the route I initially followed, but I regret it. Over time it presented a haphazard look and feel to my collection and is unattractive. I think that the Steiner pages have been my best route to convert and standardize, unless you want to spend the money for Scott Specialty (I envy Mitch and his collection), with pages that which will often cost you more than your stamps you have.
As a result of my conversion to Steiner (housed in sheet protectors and in 3 ring binders), I have ended up with folders full of empty used pages from many countries' collection and many sources...from Minkus to Y&T... No one is interested in them, and I have now just been dumping them, rather than looking for a candidate who may want them, even for free.
I too like the Mystic US pages printed on one side with a description on the back.
With Steiner, you can do the same, easily using one page per sheet protector, and printing a descriptive page or reference to house on the back, which you can source from many places (I like Wiki, or Google Maps), just like Mystic does....and you can customize it!
This method can also house FDC, covers blocks and interesting cancellations or color variations, as well as your duplicates stamps (I keep them in small glassines), saving you the need to organize a separate stockbook for duplicates. It also helps me organize the Approval Books I put together for sale here in SOR.
Just works for me, and the cost is very reasonable as printing and paper cost is around 5c per page and the sheet protectors add another 10c (Try Costco!). Best of all, you print just what you need as you move along.
rrr...
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
One of the largest costs to an album is the cost of the paper. Using Steiner pages, especially if you desire to customize worldwide pages, can easily result in a cost which far exceeds that of typical commercial albums. The cost of a good application to customize thousands of pages (i.e. Adobe Live Cycle Designer), the cost of a good printer, the cost of a quality binder, the time investment, and finally the cost of true archival paper (2 or 3 times the cost of commercial 'acid free' paper) is significant.
But personally I view Steiner as a very attractive solution for specialized, custom albums. They provide a great starting point or foundation for a person going this direction. The end product is truly an heirloom worth keeping in the family for generations to come.
Of course the beauty is that you can also use Steiner as an economy solution. For me, I would have concerns about using lower quality ‘acid free’ paper purchased at the local box store if I were mounting a higher dollar collection. To avoid toning of the pages, and ultimately the stamps, I would be careful to keep the environmental conditions controlled. (Which we should all be doing for our stamps anyway.) I would also be very careful about using sheet protectors in combination with lower quality paper. They restrict air flow and would generate an even higher acidic environment if the original buffing in the paper gets consumed over time. I think there are good reasons that we do not see page protectors being used at libraries and other archives which are stewards of rare documents.
I am not sure that an economy approach will hold up over the long term but without question it leaves more money available for what we all really want… more stamps!
Don
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
I agree with rrraphy about mixing and matching different albums - not always the nicest looking end result.
However, sometimes you can get lucky and pick up a complete set of WW albums intact. A collector in my local club was very fortunate at ChicagoPex a couple years ago and we had to haul home a huge box of albums - a very nice matched set that covered the whole world (not sure of the name but they were blue).
It's a matter of deciding what you want and acknowledging that it may evolve over the years.
Lots of good advice and opinions here. Let us know what you decide!
Login to Like
this post
"This method can also house FDC, covers blocks and interesting cancellations or color variations, as well as your duplicates stamps (I keep them in small glassines), saving you the need to organize a separate stockbook for duplicates."
Which is why I create my own albums this way...
First I bought a load of matching binders. I have areas color coded sometimes. For instance my airmail albums are red. My 1902 Ben Franklin albums are dark green. The rest can be downright colorful.
I fill the Staples binders with Ultra Pro 2 pocket pages. These are archive quality. I buy them on eBay per 500 and the cost is about 14 cents a sheet.
Then I buy 110 card stock and print my own pages on my inkjet printer. I slice the 8.5" side down to 7", then cut the sheet in half to get two 5.5"x7" cards that fit right into the pockets. These also give the album pages rigidity. As RRR said, I can house anything I want in my collection. And I'm not spending a load of time custom designing album pages. I'd love to do that, but I'd still be at my first album! After two years, I'm up to 1973. The pages look like this:
You will notice the variety of material in my USA collection. If I fancy it, or it helps tell the story, I include it. It's easy to add and subtract things, and move things around. If I find more items like FDCs with different cachets, I can just open the binder and add another page.
Some of my eras, like 1950-54 fit in one binder. Where I have a lot of material, I have some down to two years in a binder, and some of those are threatening to split to a year per binder! So be it.
I can put more valuable stamps in mounts. For my early airmails, C1 is represented by a cover, C2 a single mint stamp and then I found this neat plate block of C3. There are no rules of uniformity in my collection. I'd rather each page be interesting.
And this is how my shelves look. Only there's a lot more binders now! I'm not concerned about space, it's still all in a single book case. I actually have a full wall of built in shelves in my basement rec room!
Hope this gives you ideas of different ways to collect! There are no rules!
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Hi Tom!
Respectfully disagree (a bit). I think there is one rule… we should all be good stewards of any rare or historically significant material we own.
I am sure that many people thought that Crystal Mounts were the next great thing when they first appeared in the marketplace. Using things like sheet protectors is an experiment. We absolutely need pioneers like yourself who push the envelope with new methods and technics but we should understand, acknowledge, and communicate the potential challenges. Hopefully anyone who is working with these newer storage approaches will be keeping a close eye on how things progress over time and take action if anything looks like it is beginning to tone or become brittle.
Don
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
If you use the clear stock pages like the Ultra-Pro or other brands, make sure that you do not use the pages made for coin collections. Those pages have a very thin oil base to them. I saw a stamp collection using the pages with coin pockets. The stamps were all ruined from the oil.
Login to Like
this post
"Respectfully disagree (a bit). I think there is one rule… we should all be good stewards of any rare or historically significant material we own.
I am sure that many people thought that Crystal Mounts were the next great thing when they first appeared in the marketplace. Using things like sheet protectors is an experiment. We absolutely need pioneers like yourself who push the envelope with new methods and technics but we should understand, acknowledge, and communicate the potential challenges. Hopefully anyone who is working with these newer storage approaches will be keeping a close eye on how things progress over time and take action if anything looks like it is beginning to tone or become brittle."
Thanks Don, it's an interesting topic. I think we spend way too much time and effort fretting over it. Let's face it, 90% of the stamps we own aren't worth the price of a mount! And as said over and over on this board, people spend more on their album than the stamps contained within.
I work in facilities management in the pharmaceutical industry. I've built stability labs where stringent testing is done to make sure that drugs maintain their properties through the expiration date. It goes a lot further than you can imagine.. a typical tablet actually needs to maintain it's properties for many times the expiration period, under a wide variety of situations from freezing cold to shower hot and steamy since people keep meds in bathroom counters, medicine cabinets, on windowsills in direct sunlight and in car glove boxes. If there is a chance that a consumer will do something, the product must withstand it.
In this same spirit, I pretty much own the stamp album aging vault. I collected as a youth from roughly 1970-1980. I left it all in my room at my parents house and my father roughly packed it all up so he could use the room. My beloved Ben Franklin display and collection was always kept close, in the top drawer of my bedroom dresser so when I discovered eBay in 1998 and started collecting those again, the boxes my father packed weren't opened.
Since 1980, that would be 37 years, those boxes went through rigorous testing... they spent time in 4 different homes. Sometimes in ambient household conditions, but more than not in attics and basements. Two years ago, 35 years after they were put away, I got the stamp bug and pulled them all out. What I found was interesting...
There was very little aging! Note that as a teenager I was not thinking "archival quality". I was buying things I could afford.
Here's a page from one of the albums I created in 1977. This was just cheap 60lb bond paper, and it's covered with one of those office quality clear page protectors (hard plastic of the era). The page protector has not yellowed. The page itself is still as white as the day I put the album together. Nothing has changed or affected the covers in any way. This is typical of all my stuff from that era, stored under less than optimal conditions.
I can take photos and start another thread if people are interested, album and stock book status with photos and comments.. I will tell you that the most expensive philatelic items fared the worse! The fanciest Lighthouse cushy cover stock book I own, won as a prize in a stamp show, is a problem. The plastic spiral binding has dried out and some of the rings have shattered, making the book difficult to use.
In the end, I believe the albums I'm building now will be just fine. The fact that the clear pages I'm using are marketed as archival quality for stamps, sports cards and paper memorabilia assures me that. I'm not using cheap Costco page protectors, even though I believe those will be fine.
The name brand 110 bond paper I'm using is no different than 110 bond I had printed as album pages back in the 1970s and that's all fine today. I'm more concerned with inkjet ink. I have brought that up and nobody seems to be worried about that!
As you said, I will keep an eye on my collection and make sure nothing happens. I do have some of the more expensive stamps in mounts and stock cards, but mainly to keep them from moving around in the page. I just bought 50 good quality 4x6 stock cards to
protect my 1800s stuff. Wouldn't it be ironic if those damaged the stamps?
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
"...I think we spend way too much time and effort fretting over it. Let's face it, 90% of the stamps we own aren't worth the price of a mount!..."
Truer words have never been spoken! And I am absolutely sure that most of us have these kinds of thoughts cross our minds when we are shelling out yet more money for additional albums, pages, mounts or hinges.
Thank you for you interesting back story on the pharma industry. My current attitude towards the pharma industry is mixed. On the one hand they may be saving my life. On the other, the immunotherapy I am on is an incredible $33,800 per dose.
I fear that too may people see the near meaningless terms 'acid free' paper or 'archival safe' on sheet protectors and think they are buying something that is safe. (As Michael mentioned, the softeners in some PVC and vinyls are not.) But more important is the lack of air circulation. So while I have little doubt that a 'archival safe' sheet protector itself might be safe it says nothing about the fact that putting a large piece of potentially acidic paper enclosed with your stamps is safe.
My concern is the body of evidence needed to so the kind of chemical changes we are talking about.
We probably all know about the pH scale and how acid/basic something is. Water is a great example. Lets say your water is at a pH of 7 (neutral). To raise your pH you could add baking soda. On Monday you add a gram of baking soda and the pH goes up to 7.2. A few days later with the pH back to 7 you add another gram. But this time your pH remains exactly at 7, it does not go up at all.
What happened? Water, just like paper, has the ability to hold buffer 'in reserve'. When we measured a pH of 7, we did not measure the buffer being held in 'reserve'. As the pH drops, the buffer in reserve is used first and then it finally starts moving the measurable pH.
But here is the critical part, once the buffer is consumed that is it. The pH can and will drop. So if a paper is made with ANY wood pulp or lignin the paper has the potential to make acid. So paper manufacturers throw in a handful of buffer (baking soda) and sell it as 'acid free'. This is a bunch of baloney.
There are no standards, no X amount of buffer required to allow it to be called 'acid free'. It probably varies from batch to batch even for the same manufacturer and like anything else that costs extra, they probably use as little as they can to keep their costs down.
So when we buy cheap 'acid free' paper I can guarantee you that it has the ability to go acidic, it is just a question of time and environmental conditions. If I buy the same paper as you, yours might not go acidic for 10 years. But for me, it might go acidic in 5 years because you have it stored in a better environment.
Sheet protectors are an interesting quandary. Beyond just temperature and RH poor air quality and pollutants also can allow for conditions for acidification. So in some situations they might help protect paper.
But they can also work the other way by trapping poor environmental conditions (like temp or RH) by not allowing air to circulate. So it may help or it may hurt, 100% dependent upon the environmental conditions.
I do not have stock in any true archival paper company.
This community reaches a lot of folks and I just want to make sure that everyone is informed. Watch your stamps if they are on cheaper paper. Take your albums off the shelf every now and then and look through them. By all means control the environment (both temperature and RH). The rate of change for many chemical reactions like pH is doubled for each increase in temperature of 10°C.We should all be keeping our stamps at these environmental conditions
• 13°C (55F) to 20°C (68F)
• 35% RH to 60% RH
If you are not, then there is risk of acidification. This risk goes up if you have your stamp stored on commercial inexpensive 'acid free' paper and might go up even more if you use sheet protectors.
Lastly I would note that our current album publishers also do not publish the specifications of the paper quality they use. I suspect it also varies and I am quite sure they do not use true archival quality paper (no wood pulp or lignin). We all have seen old albums with yellowed and brittle (acidified) pages. So even commercial produce pages and albums bear watching.
Don
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Tom, thanks for posting about the binders..its amazing how quickly my cover albums fill up and need adding to. I was lucky at our club auction and picked up a half dozen of the high end Staples binders for about 4 bucks apiece...but that is not likely to happen again...If i want those they cost about $16.00 each and i would rather spend the money on covers than on binders !
Login to Like
this post
I just bought part 1A of the Minkus Supreme from Amos. Thus far it seems a quality production. The binder with all those pages weighs a ton. I have to be careful taking it off the bookshelf to avoid hurting my back. One thing I find is that the spaces for stamps seem smallish. In a few cases I have to slightly overlap to fit them in. I have only placed some of my French colony material thus far. If this works out I can buy part 2 then maybe one or two more units past that, would like to eventually get coverage to the mid 60's, when I started out.
Yes doing it this way is pricey. I just wasn't sure I'd be happy with used pages, plus the paper quality on the reprints is better than the originals.
Login to Like
this post
"The binder with all those pages weighs a ton. I have to be careful taking it off the bookshelf to avoid hurting my back."
Congrats on your new album, I hope you are pleased with it!
My question about albums is about that bulk and weight. How does one enjoy an album that big and thick? I remember feeling that way about my Harris Senior Statesman album I owned as a kid (I still have it stored away) and thinking it was just too much. Kind of like that huge dictionary they used to have in libraries that had to have it's own stand.
And that's why I have my USA collection in 1" binders today. I regularly pull one out, sit in my favorite chair and page through as my wife watches the Kardashians.
Login to Like
this post
The larger binders, I use #5 G&K green binders that look like Scott Specialty Binders, but hold more pages, keep the pages for most of the countries in one binder. There are a few countries, Russia for example, that need more than one to fit in.
It's a tough job being a world-wide 1840 to date collector, but one does develop great weight lifting skills!
Login to Like
this post
"The larger binders, I use #5 G&K green binders that look like Scott Specialty Binders, but hold more pages, keep the pages for most of the countries in one binder."
While it is fun to keep each country in its own album, it is an impossible task to confine each country to a reasonably sized SINGLE album. Even more so if you want to incorporate FDC, reference material, cancellations, variations etc...and yes even catalog pages.
(I keep an old Scott Cat section for each country I collect in the front of the album for quick access)...as I have rescued old Scott albums ready for the recycling bin, and cut them apart, or bought sectional pages from "chirokmd" on ebay or direct from his store., for my specialty areas. While cat prices mean nothing any more in the old pages..to me they mean nothing in the new ones as well
. The important part, the Cat list, is usually correct and the references to watermarks very useful as well).Solutions I have reached for my collection: No album over 2 inches.
Volume 1, 1A,1B, etc.. houses the main collection and the Back of the Book goes in Volume 2, which often fits in a smaller one inch binder...This saves to much renumbering as your grow. (I still need to re-label and resize a bunch of the older albums..you can tell that I have experimented with font size and format, and I think I have finally found one fit all size and "look" to standardize on across all the older albums as well as the new)
This applies to all my Steiner based albums, while my Europe collection is in Scott Specialty, and here I will max out reluctantly at 3 inches. I still have a few larger albums, and 3 ring binder-albums to get rid of, but I like the 2 inch albums the best.
I must say that for Scott specialty, I prefer the 2 post over the 3 ring binders, and I still pick up empty album or two at stamp shows for just a little over the cost of a good office supplies binder, but I make sure I get them with dust covers which is a real bonus!
Like everything else in collecting it is a personal choice. But large albums are harder to handle and end up staying on the shelf, while smaller albums get more of a social life! If you buy Scott albums on ebay, you end up paying too much for shipping. Just my personal approach!
rrr...
Login to Like
this post
I'd mentioned my worry about hurting my back lifting my new Minkus Global album off the shelf. Just after posting that I developed a lot of back issues and in fact am now seeing a Chiropractor my wife swears by. It's getting better but I am spending a lot of my time sitting in my den working on stamps and am getting caught up with some projects.
I doubt the album was the reason for my problems. I'd been doing stationary weights at my Gym, bad idea at my age, I guess.
The Global album is growing on me. I am still not sure whether to remount some of my other collections in it but it'd make sense. I have a Gibbons George VI album with a decent collection in it but am thinking about feeding the contents into the Global.
I read somewhere that the Amos reprints of the Global will fit into Scott three ring binders. That may be one solution to the weight issue.
Login to Like
this post
i have reached my max with weights, two 2012 scott catalogs or one big blue international album..constantly moving from room to room. Five or ten years ago i probably never gave it a a thought.
Login to Like
this post
I now suspect my new album was at least a partial cause of my back problems. I spent last week working on it, carrying it around the house, etc. When lifting it of a shelf I can feel the stress on my back. First time I ever knew stamp collecting cold injure me.
I think maybe I should shelve it on an upper level to avoid having to bend and then lift it. Spreading the pages into an extra binder should help as well.
Login to Like
this post
Why not try splitting your pages up using the "MINKUS: 2.5" 2-POST MAROON BINDER"
Login to Like
this post
I've seen rare examples of collections in those at stamp shows, and they actually look really nice and hold about half or less the number of pages compared to the big Supreme Global binders.
Login to Like
this post
11:57:12pm
Hello,
Renewing my childhood stamp collecting hobby...with my son.
We are currently enjoying collecting US stamps in our three volume American Heritage Collection albums from Mystic. We enjoy the historic blurbs about each stamp and the fact that there is a place for each stamp.
We'd like to take a stab at some global collecting, but are a bit intimidated by the album choices. It seems that a comprehensive world wide album, such as the American Heritage album, is thousands of dollars. My mother bought us a copy of a Phoenix album, but it only displays a few stamps for each country and the duplication that it's US section provides is unnecessary.
I've looked a bit on-line and just get more confused by the options. The Harris Statesman looks like a nice two volume option, but I'm sure it is limited as well.
Looking for recommendations on a good beginner/intermediate global option that has some sort of comprehensive "places" for each stamp. We enjoy finding our stamp on the page and filling it's place. Also open to being further educated about this not really being an option with global collecting....
I hope that my question makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to chime in.
Andrew
Login to Like
this post
12:13:48am
re: Global Album Recommendation
Since it appears that money is a factor in your decision, as well as finding something that is comprehensive, you'd probably be best off with the Steiner Pages. You'll find thousands of comprehensive pages unlike any other album available at a reasonable price.
The Steiner pages are downloaded (you can buy the CD of the pages as well) and then you print them out on acid-free paper of your choice. Punch them with standard three-hole punch and place them in a standard three-ring binder.
The nice thing is you can print out just what you're working on. When you want to move on, print out the next group of pages. It's all as you want it, and at your pace.
A one year subscription to the pages and on-going updates is just $40. If you want the CD as well, the total cost is $60. Here's the link to the pages with more information. You can also print out a sample page to see if you like it.
http://www.stampalbums.com/
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: Global Album Recommendation
I started out by buying used Scott International albums..but then was limited to the spaces available on the pages. If i were starting out again i would use plastic stock pages where you can move stamps around to make room for new additions. Steiner pages are an option..especially if you want to concentrate on collecting one country. If you want to collect the world...you are talking quite an expense in ink and paper.
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
I recommend Scott International. Start with just the first album, through 1940. Spend some time with it and if you enjoy it you can add additional albums (covering later years) slowly and as your time, wallet, and motivation allow.
Add blank pages to handle any stamps that might not have preprinted spaces for them.
Don
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
All good suggestions so far. Album cost can be quite a shock.
Another option would be to look for used albums - either at a show or from a dealer if you are near any. See if you can find a local stamp club - someone there may have connections.
Every dealer, large and small, who attends our local show has albums for sale.
Even just looking at lots of different albums can help you decide whether to purchase or make your own using Steiner pages.
Login to Like
this post
01:15:41pm
re: Global Album Recommendation
The problem with Scott Internationals is:
- too abridged, especially in the 1840 through 1959 period
- aside from semi-postal and air mail most back of book stamps are not included
- very few souvenir sheets are included
- many countries are omitted in later years
- price per part is sky rocketing to $160.00 per section (most years are in two parts)
- binder prices are near $100 per binder
- it will cost over 10 thousand dollars to put a complete album set together
You can find used albums, and it's great when you can. However, Scott has realigned the album pages, so the old sections do not match the new.
For 1840-2015 there are now 89 parts with a need for around 40 binders.
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: Global Album Recommendation
Do not most of us start out humbly and try to improve our collections step by step as we begin to learn ? We are stamp collectors..our stamp budget should go for stamps..there are many ways to house our stamps without breaking the bank.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
04:20:55pm
re: Global Album Recommendation
Yes, Phil, you are correct. That's why I suggested the Steiner pages.
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
Minkus Master Global or the Minkus Supreme Global, the Supreme has better coverage but is tough to find used. Amos has reprints of the Supreme but it is a bit spendy.
Login to Like
this post
10:09:12pm
re: Global Album Recommendation
Te Supreme is priced similar to the Internationals. Also, I believe that some of the years for the Supreme remain out of production.
Login to Like
this post
01:22:44am
re: Global Album Recommendation
What about the H.E. Harris Traveller albums? The new ones tend to go for about $30 brand new, and alot cheaper on Ebay and other sites. Only bringing up because they're the cheapest of the new albums.
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
The Traveler is really a kids album unless they've come out with something new. The Statesman would be the lowest level album of any value, but no good in my opinion. Cheap paper and little coverage. For WW you have the three choices given! Which are Steiners, Scott iintl, global supreme.
The best thing you can do for yourself is set some limit in your WW collection, such as a year, beyond which you will not collect.
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
The most comprehensive albums for the world are Scott Specialty albums. They are of course expensive and unless you plan on working full time on your collection for the next 30-50 years and spending every spare nickle you have, they would not be what you want. They are what I collect on but I am pretty crazy. Scott catalogs are by far the most used catalogs in the U.S. Every album manufacturer uses there own numbering systems which are different than the Scott catalogs. Because of this I would not recommend any thing other than Scott pre printed albums. It is very difficult to cross reference numbering systems and time can be much better used elsewhere. Your best choice would probably be buying a set of used Scott international albums. You can buy used albums with lots of stamps in them much cheaper than you can buy new ones, which gives you a nice head start.
The other option is the Steiner pages which I also use for expanding different areas of my collection. Steiner pages are laid out by the Scott numbering system but do not have the numbers printed in the spaces.
If you do not care anything about completion then stock sheets are just fine. Collections usually look great on them even though there is nothing more than a bunch of common stamps. Trying to keep up with what you don't have is very very difficult and constantly moving them about gets old quick.
Check my World Website link below to see most of the stamps of the world. It will give you an idea of what you are getting into and will help yo as a reference while collecting.
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Global Album Recommendation
I collect Worldwide to 1970; GB to 2000 and Australia to date (all MNH where realistic to do so)
For my GB Collection (which I collect to 2000) I purchased the Lighthouse pre printed pre mounted pages which was very expensive. That was long before I joined Stamporama and learnt about Steiner.
For Worldwide and Australia I use the Steiner pages printed to Lighthouse pre punched blank album pages which I fit into Lighthouse albums - the albums cost me around 120AUD each with slipcase and the pages AUD 50 or AUD 1 per page - or depending on how many stamps per page at least AUD 0.13 per stamp excluding the mounts
Many would cringe at the expense of using Lighthouse pages and albums and advise money would be better spent on more stamps. I agree but the mode of presentation is a personal choice. To each their own.
The upside with Stamporama is the Approvals pages and links to other resources which has cut down my stamp spend.
Maybe one day I will look back and wish I chose alternate mounting methods
Regards
Richmond
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Global Album Recommendation
Personally I have gone with stock books and stock pages with my world collection. My reasons are simple:
- cost is cheap. A double-sided page can fit 50+ stamps for about $1-2, and you can buy as many pages/books in one go as you need/want/have money.
- you can organize stamps any way you want. And then re-organize time and again as easily as the first time.
- no need to use hinges or mounts; which actually makes the progress faster and more fun (and reduces the cost even more).
- scales up easily (and at least I have not found any limits to it )
-k-
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
"We enjoy the historic blurbs about each stamp and the fact that there is a place for each stamp."
This is one of my best memories from childhood collecting. I had the Harris Liberty album, and am pretty sure I read each and every one of those entries many times. That included all of those expensive stamps that I knew I could never afford.
I haven't seen an equivalent album for a worldwide collection. I'm guessing that adding info about each stamp in that way would make an already enormous (set of) album(s) gargantuan! And cost prohibitive of course.
What surprises me is how often there is interesting information in the Scott Catalog, for example, "This set was issued to commemorate ___." This is especially helpful when the purpose of the stamp is not clear or the individual on the stamp is not well known. And it is useful when it explains why the used prices are sometimes many times more expensive than the unused values! Makes collecting more enjoyable.
-Steve
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
"This is one of my best memories from childhood collecting. I had the Harris Liberty album, and am pretty sure I read each and every one of those entries many times. That included all of those expensive stamps that I knew I could never afford."
I did very well on history tests as a kid due to those entries! "I'd be thinking... Canada 100th anniversary stamp was issued in 1967, so the answer is 1867!"
And those expensive stamps... I'm buying them up now! The little kid in me goes Yippee! every time I put one of those in my album.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Global Album Recommendation
"I did very well on history tests as a kid..."
Tom, I know exactly what you mean! And I think that benefit continues to this day.
-Steve
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Global Album Recommendation
Mystic did the blurbs the right way. They put them on the left side (often blank in many albums). If you create your own pages, you can do this yourself. In fact, the "collective" ( collectors who do pages) could contribute to this by creating the "back side" for Steiner. I may try this for my area (Straits Settlements, Malaya, Malaysia, states) and Solomons. Of course it works best if you do it before you print your pages.
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
In my view, there are three realistic ways one can house a WW collection.
1) Stock pages or stock books. (See scb - Keijo's comments)
2) For the non-fanatic, but still serious WW collector..
Scott Internationals (Big Blues) or the Minkus Supremes
3) For the fanatic WW collector...
Scott Specialty albums (or other Country albums- Minkus Country Specialized, Kabe albums etc) and/or Steiner pages.
For myself, I house the 1840-1940 (-1952 British Commonwealth) in 6,500 Steiner Pages. Yes, it is very feasible, and one only needs ~ 12 feet of shelf space.
For 1940-1969, and duplicates of the 1840-1940 classical era, I put them in Minkus Global Supreme pages.
Login to Like
this post
Approvals
re: Global Album Recommendation
"Another option would be to look for used albums - either at a show or from a dealer if you are near any. See if you can find a local stamp club - someone there may have connections."
That is the route I initially followed, but I regret it. Over time it presented a haphazard look and feel to my collection and is unattractive. I think that the Steiner pages have been my best route to convert and standardize, unless you want to spend the money for Scott Specialty (I envy Mitch and his collection), with pages that which will often cost you more than your stamps you have.
As a result of my conversion to Steiner (housed in sheet protectors and in 3 ring binders), I have ended up with folders full of empty used pages from many countries' collection and many sources...from Minkus to Y&T... No one is interested in them, and I have now just been dumping them, rather than looking for a candidate who may want them, even for free.
I too like the Mystic US pages printed on one side with a description on the back.
With Steiner, you can do the same, easily using one page per sheet protector, and printing a descriptive page or reference to house on the back, which you can source from many places (I like Wiki, or Google Maps), just like Mystic does....and you can customize it!
This method can also house FDC, covers blocks and interesting cancellations or color variations, as well as your duplicates stamps (I keep them in small glassines), saving you the need to organize a separate stockbook for duplicates. It also helps me organize the Approval Books I put together for sale here in SOR.
Just works for me, and the cost is very reasonable as printing and paper cost is around 5c per page and the sheet protectors add another 10c (Try Costco!). Best of all, you print just what you need as you move along.
rrr...
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Global Album Recommendation
One of the largest costs to an album is the cost of the paper. Using Steiner pages, especially if you desire to customize worldwide pages, can easily result in a cost which far exceeds that of typical commercial albums. The cost of a good application to customize thousands of pages (i.e. Adobe Live Cycle Designer), the cost of a good printer, the cost of a quality binder, the time investment, and finally the cost of true archival paper (2 or 3 times the cost of commercial 'acid free' paper) is significant.
But personally I view Steiner as a very attractive solution for specialized, custom albums. They provide a great starting point or foundation for a person going this direction. The end product is truly an heirloom worth keeping in the family for generations to come.
Of course the beauty is that you can also use Steiner as an economy solution. For me, I would have concerns about using lower quality ‘acid free’ paper purchased at the local box store if I were mounting a higher dollar collection. To avoid toning of the pages, and ultimately the stamps, I would be careful to keep the environmental conditions controlled. (Which we should all be doing for our stamps anyway.) I would also be very careful about using sheet protectors in combination with lower quality paper. They restrict air flow and would generate an even higher acidic environment if the original buffing in the paper gets consumed over time. I think there are good reasons that we do not see page protectors being used at libraries and other archives which are stewards of rare documents.
I am not sure that an economy approach will hold up over the long term but without question it leaves more money available for what we all really want… more stamps!
Don
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Global Album Recommendation
I agree with rrraphy about mixing and matching different albums - not always the nicest looking end result.
However, sometimes you can get lucky and pick up a complete set of WW albums intact. A collector in my local club was very fortunate at ChicagoPex a couple years ago and we had to haul home a huge box of albums - a very nice matched set that covered the whole world (not sure of the name but they were blue).
It's a matter of deciding what you want and acknowledging that it may evolve over the years.
Lots of good advice and opinions here. Let us know what you decide!
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
"This method can also house FDC, covers blocks and interesting cancellations or color variations, as well as your duplicates stamps (I keep them in small glassines), saving you the need to organize a separate stockbook for duplicates."
Which is why I create my own albums this way...
First I bought a load of matching binders. I have areas color coded sometimes. For instance my airmail albums are red. My 1902 Ben Franklin albums are dark green. The rest can be downright colorful.
I fill the Staples binders with Ultra Pro 2 pocket pages. These are archive quality. I buy them on eBay per 500 and the cost is about 14 cents a sheet.
Then I buy 110 card stock and print my own pages on my inkjet printer. I slice the 8.5" side down to 7", then cut the sheet in half to get two 5.5"x7" cards that fit right into the pockets. These also give the album pages rigidity. As RRR said, I can house anything I want in my collection. And I'm not spending a load of time custom designing album pages. I'd love to do that, but I'd still be at my first album! After two years, I'm up to 1973. The pages look like this:
You will notice the variety of material in my USA collection. If I fancy it, or it helps tell the story, I include it. It's easy to add and subtract things, and move things around. If I find more items like FDCs with different cachets, I can just open the binder and add another page.
Some of my eras, like 1950-54 fit in one binder. Where I have a lot of material, I have some down to two years in a binder, and some of those are threatening to split to a year per binder! So be it.
I can put more valuable stamps in mounts. For my early airmails, C1 is represented by a cover, C2 a single mint stamp and then I found this neat plate block of C3. There are no rules of uniformity in my collection. I'd rather each page be interesting.
And this is how my shelves look. Only there's a lot more binders now! I'm not concerned about space, it's still all in a single book case. I actually have a full wall of built in shelves in my basement rec room!
Hope this gives you ideas of different ways to collect! There are no rules!
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Global Album Recommendation
Hi Tom!
Respectfully disagree (a bit). I think there is one rule… we should all be good stewards of any rare or historically significant material we own.
I am sure that many people thought that Crystal Mounts were the next great thing when they first appeared in the marketplace. Using things like sheet protectors is an experiment. We absolutely need pioneers like yourself who push the envelope with new methods and technics but we should understand, acknowledge, and communicate the potential challenges. Hopefully anyone who is working with these newer storage approaches will be keeping a close eye on how things progress over time and take action if anything looks like it is beginning to tone or become brittle.
Don
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
05:45:23pm
re: Global Album Recommendation
If you use the clear stock pages like the Ultra-Pro or other brands, make sure that you do not use the pages made for coin collections. Those pages have a very thin oil base to them. I saw a stamp collection using the pages with coin pockets. The stamps were all ruined from the oil.
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
"Respectfully disagree (a bit). I think there is one rule… we should all be good stewards of any rare or historically significant material we own.
I am sure that many people thought that Crystal Mounts were the next great thing when they first appeared in the marketplace. Using things like sheet protectors is an experiment. We absolutely need pioneers like yourself who push the envelope with new methods and technics but we should understand, acknowledge, and communicate the potential challenges. Hopefully anyone who is working with these newer storage approaches will be keeping a close eye on how things progress over time and take action if anything looks like it is beginning to tone or become brittle."
Thanks Don, it's an interesting topic. I think we spend way too much time and effort fretting over it. Let's face it, 90% of the stamps we own aren't worth the price of a mount! And as said over and over on this board, people spend more on their album than the stamps contained within.
I work in facilities management in the pharmaceutical industry. I've built stability labs where stringent testing is done to make sure that drugs maintain their properties through the expiration date. It goes a lot further than you can imagine.. a typical tablet actually needs to maintain it's properties for many times the expiration period, under a wide variety of situations from freezing cold to shower hot and steamy since people keep meds in bathroom counters, medicine cabinets, on windowsills in direct sunlight and in car glove boxes. If there is a chance that a consumer will do something, the product must withstand it.
In this same spirit, I pretty much own the stamp album aging vault. I collected as a youth from roughly 1970-1980. I left it all in my room at my parents house and my father roughly packed it all up so he could use the room. My beloved Ben Franklin display and collection was always kept close, in the top drawer of my bedroom dresser so when I discovered eBay in 1998 and started collecting those again, the boxes my father packed weren't opened.
Since 1980, that would be 37 years, those boxes went through rigorous testing... they spent time in 4 different homes. Sometimes in ambient household conditions, but more than not in attics and basements. Two years ago, 35 years after they were put away, I got the stamp bug and pulled them all out. What I found was interesting...
There was very little aging! Note that as a teenager I was not thinking "archival quality". I was buying things I could afford.
Here's a page from one of the albums I created in 1977. This was just cheap 60lb bond paper, and it's covered with one of those office quality clear page protectors (hard plastic of the era). The page protector has not yellowed. The page itself is still as white as the day I put the album together. Nothing has changed or affected the covers in any way. This is typical of all my stuff from that era, stored under less than optimal conditions.
I can take photos and start another thread if people are interested, album and stock book status with photos and comments.. I will tell you that the most expensive philatelic items fared the worse! The fanciest Lighthouse cushy cover stock book I own, won as a prize in a stamp show, is a problem. The plastic spiral binding has dried out and some of the rings have shattered, making the book difficult to use.
In the end, I believe the albums I'm building now will be just fine. The fact that the clear pages I'm using are marketed as archival quality for stamps, sports cards and paper memorabilia assures me that. I'm not using cheap Costco page protectors, even though I believe those will be fine.
The name brand 110 bond paper I'm using is no different than 110 bond I had printed as album pages back in the 1970s and that's all fine today. I'm more concerned with inkjet ink. I have brought that up and nobody seems to be worried about that!
As you said, I will keep an eye on my collection and make sure nothing happens. I do have some of the more expensive stamps in mounts and stock cards, but mainly to keep them from moving around in the page. I just bought 50 good quality 4x6 stock cards to
protect my 1800s stuff. Wouldn't it be ironic if those damaged the stamps?
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Global Album Recommendation
"...I think we spend way too much time and effort fretting over it. Let's face it, 90% of the stamps we own aren't worth the price of a mount!..."
Truer words have never been spoken! And I am absolutely sure that most of us have these kinds of thoughts cross our minds when we are shelling out yet more money for additional albums, pages, mounts or hinges.
Thank you for you interesting back story on the pharma industry. My current attitude towards the pharma industry is mixed. On the one hand they may be saving my life. On the other, the immunotherapy I am on is an incredible $33,800 per dose.
I fear that too may people see the near meaningless terms 'acid free' paper or 'archival safe' on sheet protectors and think they are buying something that is safe. (As Michael mentioned, the softeners in some PVC and vinyls are not.) But more important is the lack of air circulation. So while I have little doubt that a 'archival safe' sheet protector itself might be safe it says nothing about the fact that putting a large piece of potentially acidic paper enclosed with your stamps is safe.
My concern is the body of evidence needed to so the kind of chemical changes we are talking about.
We probably all know about the pH scale and how acid/basic something is. Water is a great example. Lets say your water is at a pH of 7 (neutral). To raise your pH you could add baking soda. On Monday you add a gram of baking soda and the pH goes up to 7.2. A few days later with the pH back to 7 you add another gram. But this time your pH remains exactly at 7, it does not go up at all.
What happened? Water, just like paper, has the ability to hold buffer 'in reserve'. When we measured a pH of 7, we did not measure the buffer being held in 'reserve'. As the pH drops, the buffer in reserve is used first and then it finally starts moving the measurable pH.
But here is the critical part, once the buffer is consumed that is it. The pH can and will drop. So if a paper is made with ANY wood pulp or lignin the paper has the potential to make acid. So paper manufacturers throw in a handful of buffer (baking soda) and sell it as 'acid free'. This is a bunch of baloney.
There are no standards, no X amount of buffer required to allow it to be called 'acid free'. It probably varies from batch to batch even for the same manufacturer and like anything else that costs extra, they probably use as little as they can to keep their costs down.
So when we buy cheap 'acid free' paper I can guarantee you that it has the ability to go acidic, it is just a question of time and environmental conditions. If I buy the same paper as you, yours might not go acidic for 10 years. But for me, it might go acidic in 5 years because you have it stored in a better environment.
Sheet protectors are an interesting quandary. Beyond just temperature and RH poor air quality and pollutants also can allow for conditions for acidification. So in some situations they might help protect paper.
But they can also work the other way by trapping poor environmental conditions (like temp or RH) by not allowing air to circulate. So it may help or it may hurt, 100% dependent upon the environmental conditions.
I do not have stock in any true archival paper company.
This community reaches a lot of folks and I just want to make sure that everyone is informed. Watch your stamps if they are on cheaper paper. Take your albums off the shelf every now and then and look through them. By all means control the environment (both temperature and RH). The rate of change for many chemical reactions like pH is doubled for each increase in temperature of 10°C.We should all be keeping our stamps at these environmental conditions
• 13°C (55F) to 20°C (68F)
• 35% RH to 60% RH
If you are not, then there is risk of acidification. This risk goes up if you have your stamp stored on commercial inexpensive 'acid free' paper and might go up even more if you use sheet protectors.
Lastly I would note that our current album publishers also do not publish the specifications of the paper quality they use. I suspect it also varies and I am quite sure they do not use true archival quality paper (no wood pulp or lignin). We all have seen old albums with yellowed and brittle (acidified) pages. So even commercial produce pages and albums bear watching.
Don
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Auctions
re: Global Album Recommendation
Tom, thanks for posting about the binders..its amazing how quickly my cover albums fill up and need adding to. I was lucky at our club auction and picked up a half dozen of the high end Staples binders for about 4 bucks apiece...but that is not likely to happen again...If i want those they cost about $16.00 each and i would rather spend the money on covers than on binders !
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
I just bought part 1A of the Minkus Supreme from Amos. Thus far it seems a quality production. The binder with all those pages weighs a ton. I have to be careful taking it off the bookshelf to avoid hurting my back. One thing I find is that the spaces for stamps seem smallish. In a few cases I have to slightly overlap to fit them in. I have only placed some of my French colony material thus far. If this works out I can buy part 2 then maybe one or two more units past that, would like to eventually get coverage to the mid 60's, when I started out.
Yes doing it this way is pricey. I just wasn't sure I'd be happy with used pages, plus the paper quality on the reprints is better than the originals.
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
"The binder with all those pages weighs a ton. I have to be careful taking it off the bookshelf to avoid hurting my back."
Congrats on your new album, I hope you are pleased with it!
My question about albums is about that bulk and weight. How does one enjoy an album that big and thick? I remember feeling that way about my Harris Senior Statesman album I owned as a kid (I still have it stored away) and thinking it was just too much. Kind of like that huge dictionary they used to have in libraries that had to have it's own stand.
And that's why I have my USA collection in 1" binders today. I regularly pull one out, sit in my favorite chair and page through as my wife watches the Kardashians.
Login to Like
this post
12:18:45pm
re: Global Album Recommendation
The larger binders, I use #5 G&K green binders that look like Scott Specialty Binders, but hold more pages, keep the pages for most of the countries in one binder. There are a few countries, Russia for example, that need more than one to fit in.
It's a tough job being a world-wide 1840 to date collector, but one does develop great weight lifting skills!
Login to Like
this post
Approvals
re: Global Album Recommendation
"The larger binders, I use #5 G&K green binders that look like Scott Specialty Binders, but hold more pages, keep the pages for most of the countries in one binder."
While it is fun to keep each country in its own album, it is an impossible task to confine each country to a reasonably sized SINGLE album. Even more so if you want to incorporate FDC, reference material, cancellations, variations etc...and yes even catalog pages.
(I keep an old Scott Cat section for each country I collect in the front of the album for quick access)...as I have rescued old Scott albums ready for the recycling bin, and cut them apart, or bought sectional pages from "chirokmd" on ebay or direct from his store., for my specialty areas. While cat prices mean nothing any more in the old pages..to me they mean nothing in the new ones as well
. The important part, the Cat list, is usually correct and the references to watermarks very useful as well).Solutions I have reached for my collection: No album over 2 inches.
Volume 1, 1A,1B, etc.. houses the main collection and the Back of the Book goes in Volume 2, which often fits in a smaller one inch binder...This saves to much renumbering as your grow. (I still need to re-label and resize a bunch of the older albums..you can tell that I have experimented with font size and format, and I think I have finally found one fit all size and "look" to standardize on across all the older albums as well as the new)
This applies to all my Steiner based albums, while my Europe collection is in Scott Specialty, and here I will max out reluctantly at 3 inches. I still have a few larger albums, and 3 ring binder-albums to get rid of, but I like the 2 inch albums the best.
I must say that for Scott specialty, I prefer the 2 post over the 3 ring binders, and I still pick up empty album or two at stamp shows for just a little over the cost of a good office supplies binder, but I make sure I get them with dust covers which is a real bonus!
Like everything else in collecting it is a personal choice. But large albums are harder to handle and end up staying on the shelf, while smaller albums get more of a social life! If you buy Scott albums on ebay, you end up paying too much for shipping. Just my personal approach!
rrr...
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
I'd mentioned my worry about hurting my back lifting my new Minkus Global album off the shelf. Just after posting that I developed a lot of back issues and in fact am now seeing a Chiropractor my wife swears by. It's getting better but I am spending a lot of my time sitting in my den working on stamps and am getting caught up with some projects.
I doubt the album was the reason for my problems. I'd been doing stationary weights at my Gym, bad idea at my age, I guess.
The Global album is growing on me. I am still not sure whether to remount some of my other collections in it but it'd make sense. I have a Gibbons George VI album with a decent collection in it but am thinking about feeding the contents into the Global.
I read somewhere that the Amos reprints of the Global will fit into Scott three ring binders. That may be one solution to the weight issue.
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: Global Album Recommendation
i have reached my max with weights, two 2012 scott catalogs or one big blue international album..constantly moving from room to room. Five or ten years ago i probably never gave it a a thought.
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
I now suspect my new album was at least a partial cause of my back problems. I spent last week working on it, carrying it around the house, etc. When lifting it of a shelf I can feel the stress on my back. First time I ever knew stamp collecting cold injure me.
I think maybe I should shelve it on an upper level to avoid having to bend and then lift it. Spreading the pages into an extra binder should help as well.
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
Why not try splitting your pages up using the "MINKUS: 2.5" 2-POST MAROON BINDER"
Login to Like
this post
re: Global Album Recommendation
I've seen rare examples of collections in those at stamp shows, and they actually look really nice and hold about half or less the number of pages compared to the big Supreme Global binders.
Login to Like
this post