Basic Album Selection

Which are the best US Albums for the money.

Scott's National at $450 is probably the gold standard but too much.

Mystic's Heirloom D112 seems good at $58. Why is it so much cheaper?

Any other "very good", but affordable products.

I am collecting mint US stamps and want a hingeless mounting.

Thanks for your help!

You are right, the Scott National is one of the top. The Mystic Heirloom is probably the best dollar for dollar album out there. I understand that the Heirloom is now available hingeless.

Hi kosmet,

Scott MinuteMan album is pretty comprehensive but not as much as the National. However, it is not hingeless.

Jerry B

I love my Mystic Heirloom albums. The pages are well designed and have the Scott numbers for each stamp. It is not hingless but I use mounts. The album binders are not the greatest but well worth the money.

Don't forget to try the SEARCH function on SCF...
https://goscf.com/t/11268

KirkS

To bring an old thread back from the dead, does anyone know the difference between the Mystic Heirloom DS111 and the DS112? As for the binder, the DS114 seems to be the same album with a sturdier binder. I'm leaning heavily towards this album now.

When I called Mystic they told me their album uses 70lb cream colored paper, which seems very nice. Idiot me didn't think to ask the difference between the DS111 and the DS112. The description of the two albums is identical, but there a pretty big difference in price.

Call 'em back

I can't answer your question, but when you find out, post the answer here!

KirkS

I called Mystic Stamp Company to ask the difference. Here is what they told me.

The DS111 is the American Heirloom album with the sale price of $38.95
The DS112 is the American Heirloom album at regular price: $58.00
The DS113 is a 3 pack of the DS111/112 album and is priced at: $116.85 (I guess for gift giving)
The DS114 is a the American Heirloom album with sturdier binders. The price is $68.95

I hate it when they have multiple stock numbers for the same thing?

Ok, I ordered the album and some mounts. Mystic's shipping charge is very reasonable, so even though the mounts APPEARED cheaper on other sites, the price per mount was only $0.003 cheaper from another site vs Mystic. Also, the stuff will come in together, so I can immediately start mounting stuff.

Mystic sent me 10 sample pages from 2010 to check out for free. Since the album I ordered comes with 2010 included, I don't need the sheets. If anyone is interested in an Heirloom album and wants to check out the pages before ordering, I'd be happy to mail them to you.

Supplements are $5.95, if anyone is curious. This album is quite the bargain. As much as I loved my White Ace album, the supplements were almost $30 each. I had everything from 1980 through 1999 and it FILLED 3 binders. That was all cool when I didn't have 2 kids and a mortgage. Now to clear out the old albums when I get them and see about unloading them somehow.

Thanks for the updated info Apastuszak.

If you're serious about sharing the sample pages, you could list them over in the Contest/Quiz/GIVE-AWAY forum. I'm sure someone will be interested. And/or post a scan/image of one of the pages.

Anyway, it sounds like you're at a very exciting place for your collecting. Excitement is infectious -- thanks for sharing.

KirkS

Mystic albums are cheap and flimsy compared to Scott.
Mystic has better layed out pages, but Scott paper
is more robust. Dad had his stamps already mounted
in Mystic albums/pages. I ended up with 4 brand new
Scott National albums and decided not to transfer the
stamps, but rather the pages. So now I have big, sturdy
Scott albums full of Mystic pages. I have already begun
to install page protectors over the Mystic pages, so
this strengthens them and is helping to keep the binder
holes from pulling through. Reinforcement rings on the
binder holes would be the less expensive way to go. I
would highly recommend some sort of binder hole reinforcement.

I wish there were members here close to me.
I have an overload of albums and pages that
I don't need. I would donate them to needy
collectors if there were any nearby.

Whaddya got?

Sounds like a roadtrip

I had a Scott Minuteman album before I find the Mystic pages to be thicker than the Minuteman. Obviously, the Scott National pages are bigger and thicker. The White Ace album I have now has the thickest of any pages I have, but the supplements and binder are prohibitively expensive.