How Many Albums Do You Have -- 2011

Counting cover albums I am sticking with the approximate 40 albums count I mentioned earlier !!

Wow I feel positively insignificant compared to many of you folks.
I've got 2 US and 1 Canada albums (though I'm thinking of expanding Canada to 2) all with homemade pages. Also a binder and folder with covers.
3 stock books which are virtually empty because I've been mounting stuff as I get it.
Oh, I just remembered another binder with vario pages of miscellaneous stuff and my UN collection (which will eventually find it's way into it's own album)
And a shoe box with stuff to sell/trade. But it's looking pretty empty. Time to hit an auction!

Seven _+ for US 1854-2000/ Commemoratives/ cut corners and postal stationary / FDC / and Plate Blocks
Five stock books, sheets and plate blocks
3 International / Commenwealth & Empire as yet unexamined.
2 tubs of, as yet, un-classified anything.

I got 5 total;
3 albums for USA 1849 - 2011, 1 generic album for US plate blocks, sheets & specials and 1 album for FDC
I could prob add a 6th one for world-wide stamps, as I have a few but I'd rather sell/trade them for US stamps as soon as I hit my 50 post count

This is all fresh on my mind due to the fact I just moved and had to pack all of these. I was stunned when I realized I had 19 US albums alone (not counting stockbooks) ... about half of which I no longer need or use. In the end, it took eight, large boxes to pack all of my albums and stockbooks for the journey across town; weighing 50-75lbs each. Hopefully I will get to unpack these before the end of the year :)

Brian

You clearly are not buying large enough lots! Perhaps it's time to graduate to kiloware!

hey guys, 1 question:
what are these "stockbooks" you all keep talking about?

I only have the one. Two, I guess, if you were to count my slowly growing duplicate stock page binder. Soon I will have another though...and another...

Randy,

Stockbooks are usually 3-ring binders filled with generic, sleeved pages which you can place stamps in bulk. Some people prefer these to traditional albums because they can organize their collection in any way they please.

ok, gotcha'
thanks Rileysan
I got one of those then

An example of some of the stockbooks that are available from Stanley Gibbons:



Here are other things called Stockpages, these ones made by Hagner, also available at Stanley Gibbons.



Herein Canada these are called Vario sheets after the namebrand. They are distributed by Unitrade I believe. I buy them from the main branch of my local postoffice for about $7.00 for a pack of 5. I prefer these to stockbooks as you can easily stickhandle the pages in your collection to accommodate any new material, or reorganizing whim you may go on.

Albums are nice, if you are into filling spaces/numbers. Stockbooks, stockpages are where it is at if you want to forge your own path and make a 'one of a kind' collection.

Happy Collecting,

Skilo54

i have a combination of 26 albums and stock books, including 10 cover albums.
4 albums for US, including all the BOB.
5 international albums.. mostly empty
1 Indo-China album, mostly full

Still looking for a stamp album that covers Britain and Colonies Classic Stamps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXKne5IDOuc

Here is my Downey Collection as it sat last March, I hope this gives you a sense of the flexibility I was referring to. I will post a new version sometime later today, after the dentist removes some enamel from my mouth and cash from my wallet!

I hate the dentist sooooooo much!

I make my own pages and albums, currently totaling 78 albums + 4 purchased stamp sheet sized books and 20+ uncut press sheet tubes.

I have a total of 36 albums & stockbooks which include 24 Master Global Albums and the remainders are Specialized Albums. I have thought about the Worldwide Master Global Albums for some time as they are old and falling apart, not to mention the weight & shelf space of each one. I reached a conclusion that these large bulky albums are not a very good storage device for a stamp collection.
First problem is the same old thing regarding mounts or hinges and which to use and when, then the requirement of interleaving. Supplements are another never ending cost if you ever hope to keep a collection up to date. Also, how do you annotate the different perforations or watermarks of stamps not specifically noted in the albums. What about value? When you pass on, how will anyone else know what in your collections? This is where dealers have distinct advantage. The list of negatives just seemed to go on and on.
So, I decided to use 104 cards and their associated red boxes. I am in the process of removing about 150,000 stamps from the albums and placing them into 104 cards and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. Now, each stamp or set of stamps has it's own home with all of the annotations I want to make either on the front or back of the 104 cards.
Expensive, yes, by most standards. When you consider I am saving about 150,000 stamps it breaks down to about 3 cents a stamp, which I feel can be justified by not having to replace any in the future due to loss or damage and I know where each stamp is located and my heirs or whomever will end up with the collection will be better prepared to either sell it or continue.
I have also done an Excel spreadsheet at the same time to include every stamp.
This is a very time consuming endeavor which allows me to revisit each and every stamp in my collection so I have no need for new purchases at this time.