Singles, Pairs, Blocks, Strips, Panes Of Twenty

I've asked for opinions on this before and despite some very good thoughts, I still can't decide what to do with modern US stamps. I've designed 2011 pages multiple times without satisfaction that model will hold for other years. Exclude from the discussion the Souvenir Sheets and panes with twenty different stamps ... the choice there is pretty straight forward ... well, of course, not all S/S are created equal.

A frequent poster once told me "I save singles, unless, they are a se-tenant. I personally see no value in any kind of selvage without descriptive text. But that's just me."

This makes sense to me. So, say, one Danny Thomas stamp vs an entire Legends of Hollywood pane. The entire Merchant Marine sheet vs a strip or block for Poets. Every darn issue becomes a judgement call. Everyone says do what you want, it's your collection but I would like to hear what others have decided with issue examples and WHY.

I tackled this very early on,
and as I hinge, and decided to go without designer pages,
it freed me up completely.

I just use feint quadrille pages, and collect singles, multiple singles
(to illustrate pmks) pairs, blocks, Souvenir sheets or whatever.
I simply print another page if the requirement needs it.

I only mount perfins which I keep Bob.

I can see the quandry with designer pages,
perhaps keep an album for your singles and se tenant,
and the oddballs maintain a subsidiary album?

I don't use formalized album pages for the modern material (i.e. stamps of the self stick era). I use my own judgment on what I like to collect (not necessarily in the way the Scott catalog designates.) As mentioned earlier, I only have myself to please and none of the modern material is likely to appreciate in value to the point that I will lose anything to do it my own way.

For sheetlets, souvenir sheets and the like, I use ITOYA Art Profolio page protector-type books. They are touted to be acid-free, ligin-free and archival safe, so they work well for long term storage and are more reasonably priced than storage methods geared specifically toward stamps.

For singles and blocks and coils and booklets, etc., I use Vario-type pages or Lighthouse stock books to house them in. It works for me and I don't need to conform to any one format that the album makers dictate (i.e. some albums provide spaces for singles, se-tenant strips, blocks, etc., which do not always conform to the format that I prefer to collect.) It also gives me the added benefit of being able to change my mind along the way should there be some album maker who comes up with album pages in a format I particularly like.

My opinion of the Merchant Marines is...

You can always take the sheet and turn it into se-tenants, but once the selvage is in the trash, there is no way to get it back.

In the past, the USPS would print text in the selvage of sovenier sheets (Farley's Follies, etc.), and we all keep that without breaking it up. I think modern stamps deserve the same treatment.

I'm no saying the Merchant Marines is a souvenir sheet, but I think it's worth keeping.

And the best part is, if I mount a sheet with text on it, I don't have to go through the hassle of trying to find a good description. The USPS did it for me!