Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
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Don't think you'll much luck with your search. There have been hundreds of thousands of face-different stamps issued since the Penny Black, not counting catalogued varieties. The only album I know that attempts to supply your dreams is the Scott International album which requires perhaps 10 thick binders and costs almost US $6000. Seriously.
My first "serious" stamp album was a Scott International album, which I bought when I was about 13 years old, round about 1956. Even then, when countries still had relatively conservative stamp-issuing policies, the album was almost overwhelming: It consisted of the three thick binders, and as you might imagine, I never completed even one pages. And believe it or not, I had stamps which were not shown in the albums.
I suggest buying stockbooks with clear strips and letting the young collectors pick and choose stamps they they like from small accumulations of worldwide stamps and arrange them in the way that pleases them. The beauty of stockbooks is that the stamps can be rearranged easily, and slips of paper with country names and other information can be inserted. If they catch the collecting bug, their tastes will gradually evolve and they will become more interested in certain types of stamps or the stamps of certain countries more than in other types of stamps and stamps from other countries.
It's very important not to overwhelm them with stamps or information about stamps.
I do think that proprietary albums have a place in collecting. You might consider an inexpensive single-country album which will have images of most or all of that country's stamps. There is a certain pleasure in filling those spaces, and the kids will learn a lot doing so, especially if you teach them to use a catalogue as well.
Good luck. We do need younger collectors!
Bob
(Message edited by Bobstamp on October 22, 2010)
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Further to my previous post, here's a photo which shows geeky me with the three Scott binders on the desk.
Years later I gave up collecting (or thought I had given it up) and sold the albums to a dealer, stamps included, for $20.
(Message edited by Bobstamp on October 22, 2010)
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Kinda looks like me and my room excpet I had a desk with a Commodore 64 on it and some Dungeons & Dragons book in another corner.
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My first big stamp album was a Scott International Junior bound edition 1937 when I was 14. In 1940 it was bulging, so I purchased a Scott International album, which ended up in three albums with 26,013 different stamps in it. That was the high figure as of Dec 31, 1992, for after that date, I started to sell stamps from my personal collection. It was quite traumatic when I removed the first stamp from the collection, but once the first one was gone, the rest come out easily; still have over 23,000 in the collection. I keep a running record each time I remover a stamp.
Collecting just 1840 to 1940 made it easy to keep track of what I needed by checking off, in pencil, my wants in a 1941 Scott catalog, and erasing each check mark after I obtained a stamp.
Just remember you cannot collect everything, so specialize.
Richaard
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Pat, there are some points made above that I might emphasize. Bob discussed single-country albums. That might be a way to inexpensively add albums to a growing collection, as many dealers have used albums with stamps attached that they're selling for very little relative to the stamps and the album is thrown in. Fine for a piecemeal approach, and cheap, plus you get some stamps.
I also think bob is right about not overwhelming youngsters with either information or some artificial order UNLESS that is what they want.
Stock books have some merit, but one of their benefits (flexibility) is also a liabiity (impermanance) and, unless you're buying them used, they're not cheap.
Richard is correct about specializing, but he may be jumping the gun by a decade or two. Nice to plan ahead, but most of my stamp friends' interests have changed hundreds of times, and my own have wandered so often that the trail of semi-completed, now-abandoned specialties clogs my little stamp room (not that i would have changed the wonderful ride too much, the discoveries along the way making me a dangerous thing in an ever-increasing breadth at dinner parties).
As to world-wide albums, the real subject of your query, I plead abject ignorance, hence my jury-rigged solution, which sounds like my approach to almost everything.
It does sound like your kids are in for a wonderful time, getting to spend it with you as you do something together that you all enjoy. With that in mind, there can be no wrong answers, only those that might be improved upon at some later time.
David
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Dear Pdougherty999,
Try to focus your youngsters around particular themes that they already find interesting-music,places,cars,planes,etc.-you get the idea, and use stamps as a way to illustrate those themes. In stampspeak, that would be called a 'topical collection'.
Should they develop a particular interest along a particular line, go with the flow and encourage them to locate/trade/join stamp friends & clubs to gather more stuff.
Encourage swapping, and learning how to value what they have/what they want will be good learning for them as they use tools such as the library,catalogs,tongs,hinges,etc.
Dan C.
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Can you refresh my recollection...what era are the garbage bag stamps? Or are you hoping for all eras?
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Another suggestion, if your children are at all interested in geography or maps...
If you could find a world map and some push pins, get them to sort through your treasure box of stamps to see how many countries they can find. You can even print off older maps from the net to take care of some of the older, "dead" countries (Gold Coast, Leeward Islands, to name a few). That would tie into the idea of using stockbooks nicely, as it would give a basis for sorting or organizing their growing collections.
Best of luck and just remember to enjoy!
Andrew
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Well, the boys already have (much to my enjoyment)a cool (and boy centered) selection of Topical choices. They currently are into Aviation, Space, Dinosaurs, Cars, Trains, Wildlife, etc. They also don't care about country specific, hence my want to get some sort of World Album together for them. They have already invested some of thier own allowence money to certain packs we've recieved in the mail simply because they liked the topics. They're anxiously awaiting a set of Dinosaur stamps and Aviation stamps that they ordered with thier own money from Kenmore stamps.
To answer the question about the Garbage Bag Collection, it seems to be ranging from 1930's to early 1970's with a few older and a few newer items thrown in here and there. The oldest I've found in the bag is a Scott USA # 210 (1883 2c Washington, Red Brown - Used) and a Scott USA # 231 (1893 2c Landing of Columbus - Used). As for the foreign stamps ages, I really have no idea until I start placing them in an album.
Personally, I'm looking just to get all of the stuff sorted and put into albums. The Garbage Bag Collection belonged to an uncle of mine who kind of lost it before he died at an early age in 1973. As I'm sorting through, and seeing what he had, I get the image of someone who had an idea of what he wanted to do and collect, but near the end didn't know where to go with it. Anyone who got the collection afterwards never did anything with it either. I've decided to take it on myself to finish what he started while letting the boys discover what they want to do on thier own.
Incidently, we're going to a show in Fort Washington, PA just to see what it's like. I can't beat the price of free admission and free parking. Seems worth the gas and tolls for us.
Pat
(Message edited by pdougherty999 on October 23, 2010)
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Pat, I love how this is working out for you and the boys. They're taking control of their own collections. Cool.
A word about dealers at shows. Some will welcome the kids; others will not. Find those who will and don't worry about the others.
There seems to be growing use of penny and dime grab bags at shows (APS and Champion do this a lot), which is great for kids who just want to explore.
I've sometimes found dealers who offered US issues at face, with the issues either mounted on pages or in stock sheets; it's a great way to add to a collection AND get some supplies free.
Nice for some of us to experience this vicariously.
David
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I'm thinking this is going to be a great experience for them. they specificly mentioned youth in the advertisement.
YOUTH AREA
FREE COINS & STAMPS FOR KIDS
I'll let you all know how it works out.
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kinda wish I were going
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Many shows seem to have a dealer or three that have several used albums for sale. These are often priced with almost no consideration given to the album. It'll have hundreds, or even thousands of stamps, and usually quite a few hinge marks left behind as people have cherry-picked the stamps they need.
You might find something like a Harris Statesman, which might be just fine for your needs. To buy it new (now 2 volumes instead of one), it would run something like $80-90.
I was asking about era because I have a 1951 Minkus New World Wide that I was willing to donate to the cause, but it would be too frustrating without the last sixty years.
Good luck.
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Bob,
Cool models on the dresser!
Bruce
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I know that when I started, the stickers of the country flags, maps, etc. where as important as the stamps. I started at 8 with a Weekly Reader purchased album kit. I "upgraded" to a Hygrade Universal album within a year, purchased from Kay Bee toys. I still have this album.
For Christmas this year, I am in the market for a similar kit to spark the interest of an extremely bright 8 year old. I'm already looking online for options.
Although we as adults think that there needs to be a representative space for every stamp, I think that we should scale that back to the very basics for the newest of young collectors. I think a small looseleaf WW album with country information and a stockbook would be a great start.
My mistake was that I started collecting US too early. I've found that at 37, I am more a generalist than ever. I make my own pages, but sometimes I think I want to just grab a set of Scott Browns and collect in those - with hinges.
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I can't help but agree, Donhearl. I enjoyed heady days indeed, with my Ambassador worldwide album, at around age 11. But my collecting has morphed over the years into thematics and topicals; my collection as a whole consists of worldwide stamps, covers and postcards, and reflects my interests in the Second World War (the early years of RAF/RCAF Bomber Command, the Battle of the Atlantic, and Britain's wartime economy), the Vietnam War, military medicine, various U.S. airliners of the decades from 1930 through 1950, four different airliner crashes, chickens — my best friend when I was a kid was my pet rooster, George —and astronomy.)
Of course, there's no such thing as an pre-printed album for the various interests, so I too make my own album pages, but not very often. Most of my philatelic/deltiologic time goes into preparing talks, exhibits, and web pages. I have one proprietary album left, U.S. Lighthouse for the years 1847-1947, but I hardly ever look at it, much less look for stamps to put in it. I'm actually thinking of selling it after cherry picking a dozen or so stamps that I still want to have in my life.
About the flags and coats of arms stickers: I think that Mystic still offers them. I don't care for Mystic's business model, but I do think that it's probably a good place for beginners to start.
Bob
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So I took everyone's advice and am letting thier interests shape the World Wide Album. My profile has pretty much summed up thier collecting interests:
"Anything that peaks my kids interest... you know, cool boy stuff... like space, planes, trains, cars, boats, buildings, dinosaurs, wildlife, sports and things that go BOOM!!!"
I managed to get my hands on some Steinman PreMade pages and they seem to fit the bill rather well. HOWEVER, there were a lot not in there, so I just started making my own pages based of that design. In some cases, I added pictures from the internet. this has worked out really well.
I also took another piece of advice about the "Push Pin" idea and just modified it a little. At the beginning of each country, I've inserted a page much like this one:
The kids have been amazed at the distance of where thier stamps are coming from.
My next step as I progress this thing is to put in a small page showing the country's flag, seal and a small tidbit of information about the country.
As I said before, when I was young, this was all way too complicated for me to be able to pull off. Thanks to the internet, I've found a plethera of information, including all of you.
THANKS!!!
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OK, one of the phases of trasforming our Garbage Bag Collection into a full fledged stamp collection is to find an album for all of the foriegn (non-US) stamps. Being that I'm newly getting back into this, and the fact that I'm doing it with a 10 year old and a 7 year old, I'm looking for an album that will have the illustrations of ths stamps from those countries. This will make it easier for the three of us to identify and place the stamps correctly. We are also trying to keep prices down if possible. Does anyone have any suggestions on an album or albums that would fit this description?
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re: World Wide Album...
Don't think you'll much luck with your search. There have been hundreds of thousands of face-different stamps issued since the Penny Black, not counting catalogued varieties. The only album I know that attempts to supply your dreams is the Scott International album which requires perhaps 10 thick binders and costs almost US $6000. Seriously.
My first "serious" stamp album was a Scott International album, which I bought when I was about 13 years old, round about 1956. Even then, when countries still had relatively conservative stamp-issuing policies, the album was almost overwhelming: It consisted of the three thick binders, and as you might imagine, I never completed even one pages. And believe it or not, I had stamps which were not shown in the albums.
I suggest buying stockbooks with clear strips and letting the young collectors pick and choose stamps they they like from small accumulations of worldwide stamps and arrange them in the way that pleases them. The beauty of stockbooks is that the stamps can be rearranged easily, and slips of paper with country names and other information can be inserted. If they catch the collecting bug, their tastes will gradually evolve and they will become more interested in certain types of stamps or the stamps of certain countries more than in other types of stamps and stamps from other countries.
It's very important not to overwhelm them with stamps or information about stamps.
I do think that proprietary albums have a place in collecting. You might consider an inexpensive single-country album which will have images of most or all of that country's stamps. There is a certain pleasure in filling those spaces, and the kids will learn a lot doing so, especially if you teach them to use a catalogue as well.
Good luck. We do need younger collectors!
Bob
(Message edited by Bobstamp on October 22, 2010)
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re: World Wide Album...
Further to my previous post, here's a photo which shows geeky me with the three Scott binders on the desk.
Years later I gave up collecting (or thought I had given it up) and sold the albums to a dealer, stamps included, for $20.
(Message edited by Bobstamp on October 22, 2010)
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re: World Wide Album...
Kinda looks like me and my room excpet I had a desk with a Commodore 64 on it and some Dungeons & Dragons book in another corner.
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re: World Wide Album...
My first big stamp album was a Scott International Junior bound edition 1937 when I was 14. In 1940 it was bulging, so I purchased a Scott International album, which ended up in three albums with 26,013 different stamps in it. That was the high figure as of Dec 31, 1992, for after that date, I started to sell stamps from my personal collection. It was quite traumatic when I removed the first stamp from the collection, but once the first one was gone, the rest come out easily; still have over 23,000 in the collection. I keep a running record each time I remover a stamp.
Collecting just 1840 to 1940 made it easy to keep track of what I needed by checking off, in pencil, my wants in a 1941 Scott catalog, and erasing each check mark after I obtained a stamp.
Just remember you cannot collect everything, so specialize.
Richaard
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re: World Wide Album...
Pat, there are some points made above that I might emphasize. Bob discussed single-country albums. That might be a way to inexpensively add albums to a growing collection, as many dealers have used albums with stamps attached that they're selling for very little relative to the stamps and the album is thrown in. Fine for a piecemeal approach, and cheap, plus you get some stamps.
I also think bob is right about not overwhelming youngsters with either information or some artificial order UNLESS that is what they want.
Stock books have some merit, but one of their benefits (flexibility) is also a liabiity (impermanance) and, unless you're buying them used, they're not cheap.
Richard is correct about specializing, but he may be jumping the gun by a decade or two. Nice to plan ahead, but most of my stamp friends' interests have changed hundreds of times, and my own have wandered so often that the trail of semi-completed, now-abandoned specialties clogs my little stamp room (not that i would have changed the wonderful ride too much, the discoveries along the way making me a dangerous thing in an ever-increasing breadth at dinner parties).
As to world-wide albums, the real subject of your query, I plead abject ignorance, hence my jury-rigged solution, which sounds like my approach to almost everything.
It does sound like your kids are in for a wonderful time, getting to spend it with you as you do something together that you all enjoy. With that in mind, there can be no wrong answers, only those that might be improved upon at some later time.
David
Login to Like
this post
re: World Wide Album...
Dear Pdougherty999,
Try to focus your youngsters around particular themes that they already find interesting-music,places,cars,planes,etc.-you get the idea, and use stamps as a way to illustrate those themes. In stampspeak, that would be called a 'topical collection'.
Should they develop a particular interest along a particular line, go with the flow and encourage them to locate/trade/join stamp friends & clubs to gather more stuff.
Encourage swapping, and learning how to value what they have/what they want will be good learning for them as they use tools such as the library,catalogs,tongs,hinges,etc.
Dan C.
Login to Like
this post
re: World Wide Album...
Can you refresh my recollection...what era are the garbage bag stamps? Or are you hoping for all eras?
Login to Like
this post
re: World Wide Album...
Another suggestion, if your children are at all interested in geography or maps...
If you could find a world map and some push pins, get them to sort through your treasure box of stamps to see how many countries they can find. You can even print off older maps from the net to take care of some of the older, "dead" countries (Gold Coast, Leeward Islands, to name a few). That would tie into the idea of using stockbooks nicely, as it would give a basis for sorting or organizing their growing collections.
Best of luck and just remember to enjoy!
Andrew
Login to Like
this post
re: World Wide Album...
Well, the boys already have (much to my enjoyment)a cool (and boy centered) selection of Topical choices. They currently are into Aviation, Space, Dinosaurs, Cars, Trains, Wildlife, etc. They also don't care about country specific, hence my want to get some sort of World Album together for them. They have already invested some of thier own allowence money to certain packs we've recieved in the mail simply because they liked the topics. They're anxiously awaiting a set of Dinosaur stamps and Aviation stamps that they ordered with thier own money from Kenmore stamps.
To answer the question about the Garbage Bag Collection, it seems to be ranging from 1930's to early 1970's with a few older and a few newer items thrown in here and there. The oldest I've found in the bag is a Scott USA # 210 (1883 2c Washington, Red Brown - Used) and a Scott USA # 231 (1893 2c Landing of Columbus - Used). As for the foreign stamps ages, I really have no idea until I start placing them in an album.
Personally, I'm looking just to get all of the stuff sorted and put into albums. The Garbage Bag Collection belonged to an uncle of mine who kind of lost it before he died at an early age in 1973. As I'm sorting through, and seeing what he had, I get the image of someone who had an idea of what he wanted to do and collect, but near the end didn't know where to go with it. Anyone who got the collection afterwards never did anything with it either. I've decided to take it on myself to finish what he started while letting the boys discover what they want to do on thier own.
Incidently, we're going to a show in Fort Washington, PA just to see what it's like. I can't beat the price of free admission and free parking. Seems worth the gas and tolls for us.
Pat
(Message edited by pdougherty999 on October 23, 2010)
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re: World Wide Album...
Pat, I love how this is working out for you and the boys. They're taking control of their own collections. Cool.
A word about dealers at shows. Some will welcome the kids; others will not. Find those who will and don't worry about the others.
There seems to be growing use of penny and dime grab bags at shows (APS and Champion do this a lot), which is great for kids who just want to explore.
I've sometimes found dealers who offered US issues at face, with the issues either mounted on pages or in stock sheets; it's a great way to add to a collection AND get some supplies free.
Nice for some of us to experience this vicariously.
David
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this post
re: World Wide Album...
I'm thinking this is going to be a great experience for them. they specificly mentioned youth in the advertisement.
YOUTH AREA
FREE COINS & STAMPS FOR KIDS
I'll let you all know how it works out.
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re: World Wide Album...
kinda wish I were going
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re: World Wide Album...
Many shows seem to have a dealer or three that have several used albums for sale. These are often priced with almost no consideration given to the album. It'll have hundreds, or even thousands of stamps, and usually quite a few hinge marks left behind as people have cherry-picked the stamps they need.
You might find something like a Harris Statesman, which might be just fine for your needs. To buy it new (now 2 volumes instead of one), it would run something like $80-90.
I was asking about era because I have a 1951 Minkus New World Wide that I was willing to donate to the cause, but it would be too frustrating without the last sixty years.
Good luck.
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01:27:40am
re: World Wide Album...
Bob,
Cool models on the dresser!
Bruce
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re: World Wide Album...
I know that when I started, the stickers of the country flags, maps, etc. where as important as the stamps. I started at 8 with a Weekly Reader purchased album kit. I "upgraded" to a Hygrade Universal album within a year, purchased from Kay Bee toys. I still have this album.
For Christmas this year, I am in the market for a similar kit to spark the interest of an extremely bright 8 year old. I'm already looking online for options.
Although we as adults think that there needs to be a representative space for every stamp, I think that we should scale that back to the very basics for the newest of young collectors. I think a small looseleaf WW album with country information and a stockbook would be a great start.
My mistake was that I started collecting US too early. I've found that at 37, I am more a generalist than ever. I make my own pages, but sometimes I think I want to just grab a set of Scott Browns and collect in those - with hinges.
Login to Like
this post
re: World Wide Album...
I can't help but agree, Donhearl. I enjoyed heady days indeed, with my Ambassador worldwide album, at around age 11. But my collecting has morphed over the years into thematics and topicals; my collection as a whole consists of worldwide stamps, covers and postcards, and reflects my interests in the Second World War (the early years of RAF/RCAF Bomber Command, the Battle of the Atlantic, and Britain's wartime economy), the Vietnam War, military medicine, various U.S. airliners of the decades from 1930 through 1950, four different airliner crashes, chickens — my best friend when I was a kid was my pet rooster, George —and astronomy.)
Of course, there's no such thing as an pre-printed album for the various interests, so I too make my own album pages, but not very often. Most of my philatelic/deltiologic time goes into preparing talks, exhibits, and web pages. I have one proprietary album left, U.S. Lighthouse for the years 1847-1947, but I hardly ever look at it, much less look for stamps to put in it. I'm actually thinking of selling it after cherry picking a dozen or so stamps that I still want to have in my life.
About the flags and coats of arms stickers: I think that Mystic still offers them. I don't care for Mystic's business model, but I do think that it's probably a good place for beginners to start.
Bob
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re: World Wide Album...
So I took everyone's advice and am letting thier interests shape the World Wide Album. My profile has pretty much summed up thier collecting interests:
"Anything that peaks my kids interest... you know, cool boy stuff... like space, planes, trains, cars, boats, buildings, dinosaurs, wildlife, sports and things that go BOOM!!!"
I managed to get my hands on some Steinman PreMade pages and they seem to fit the bill rather well. HOWEVER, there were a lot not in there, so I just started making my own pages based of that design. In some cases, I added pictures from the internet. this has worked out really well.
I also took another piece of advice about the "Push Pin" idea and just modified it a little. At the beginning of each country, I've inserted a page much like this one:
The kids have been amazed at the distance of where thier stamps are coming from.
My next step as I progress this thing is to put in a small page showing the country's flag, seal and a small tidbit of information about the country.
As I said before, when I was young, this was all way too complicated for me to be able to pull off. Thanks to the internet, I've found a plethera of information, including all of you.
THANKS!!!
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