Building A Worthwhile Stamp Collection Is No Piece Of Cake

Putting complete sets on dealer cards for long-term collection storage is pregnant with the implication that mint stamps would be stacked (overlapped)...that seems like an unacceptable risk.

bobgggg
Thanks for the link, despite the erroneous valuation of the penny black, it was an interesting read and seems to confirm that Philately can be a worthy form of investment.

Thanks Steve, So far so good...but it certainly has taken a few twists and turns !!

How does it CONFIRM anything. Article mearly reports that a company (Stanley Gibbions)that makes money selling stamps as an investment thinks stamps are a good investment. WOW. No evidence was even produced. Willing to bet my $5 MNH Columbian that there is zero evidence that stamps as a whole are a good investment. Enjoy them. Hope to recoup some of what you spend. Maybe even all if you buy smart. BUT DON'T BET THE FARM ON IT!

I wish to thank you all for inputs regarding my red box storage solution. No, I don't really have 250,000 stamps, only about 100,000 at this time. Yes, there is more than one stamp per 104 card. I was only generalizing the storage question to see where it could lead if in fact I was going to end up with 250,000 stamps.
I notice someone states that stacking mint stamps in an envelope may not be good a idea. In my humble opinion based on 45 years of stamp collecting, putting a hinge on a mint stamp and placing it in a book causes more damge than anything else.
I see lots of dealers utilizing red boxes and cards to store their inventory and feel they must have some merit and it certainly makes it easy to find a particular stamp.
I am open to all suggestions regarding stamp storage except for the hinges.

falconrw,
stockbooks my friend, stylish and they hold hundreds of stamps if you overlap them a little. It never ceases to amaze me how well they are made and how pleasurable it is to own them when they cost so little compared to albums.

joe1225us,
I guess it depends which stamps you invest in yes? I do not have a farm.

My point is that overlapping mint stamps can permit them to stick together, or to pick up ink on the gum of the top stamp. No overlap means no chance of sticking together.

In theory, overlapping can also allow for creases when too many cards are stuffed in a box, but that risk could probably be managed by paying attention to the number of cards per box. (The same risk exists when stacking stockbooks flat instead of storing them vertically.)

I have a number of red boxes, and many stamps that have yet to make the transition from 102 cards to pages. The red boxes are very convenient, and I like them.

I agree stock books are a handy storage medium and since the souvenier sheets won't fit on 104 cards, I use them for the storage of those sheets. However, I must also include a small peice of paper to keep track of the catalog numbers. I have looked at several dealers' stamp stock books over the years and it seems those little pieces of paper are always in disarray, so I decided against using them for stamp storage. The individual stamps from sets are stored in Their own envelope without further notation other than mint or used ,catalog number and value. This keeps it so simple even I can understand whether or not I have certain stamp. Completed sets of stamps will have their own envelope. Since all of the inventory is in the Excel spreadsheet, I know exactly which ones I may need to complete a set. Now to get the speadsheet onto a notebook or Ipad or some such device to travel to the stamp shows. Collecting worldwide stamps is a difficult process to keep it all straight with a minimum amount of duplication.

I don't use red boxes, but storing my stamps on inventory cards and filing them in boxes, is my prefered method of cataloguing. I do not use albums as I got jacked off having to move stamps all the time to make room for a new one. Now I just insert a card as required.

I had these wooden boxes made specially for my collection...




after a few years I ran out of space and could not afford to have more boxes made, so I now use A4 paper boxes cut down to size....




I know it might not be the prefered method of storage and some of you will reel backwards in shock and horror, but it was a decision I made about 30 years ago and it's too late to change now.

Steve

Steve, to each his own..who is to say what is the right way or the wrong way to store our stamps?..i use stockbooks as well but I find find the 102 cards and red boxes work the best for me putting stamps in the correct catalog number order !!

Steve..I like your system 3 thumbs up

Looks like everybody has a different method and a different reason that makes it the best for their filing system .
I use a combination of notebook binders for loose and cheap stamps and S/S and other large pieces . But most of my duplicates are kept on 102 cards and stored in red boxes . These red boxes are filled up over a period of two or three years and then I spent about two weeks sorting out the 8 to 10 boxes on a table ,first in a A thru Z piles ,after that is done then I sort by country and use rubber bands on the cards to hold all that countries group together . The last sort is to put them in catalog order .Then I cut down 3x5 cards and write the name of the country on top and file them in the long red boxes .As I said it gives me about two or three years of making up the cards and two weeks to finalize the sort into a good index/storage of my stamps . Then I start again. I have a few sets of 8 or 10 boxes that someday im going to combine into a more bigger master filing system .
I don't card any stamps under .50 in value and if I get too many of the same stamp ,I'LL only card 4 or 5 of them and the rest goes in a binder .

falconrw,
Rather than small pieces of paper I number the pages of the stockbook and then keep 1 ringbinder with A4 sheets in upon which the contents of each page are listed. This way the reference to the page does not go adrift. Great conversation though gentlemen, some very interesting stuff here, thank you all.

I need a sniffer dog to find some stamps at times.

KGV Collector,
A fellow collector, do you collect specialized shades?