Greetings From The Bay Area

Hi Everyone. My name is Rem and I live in Rohnert Park, CA...about 45 miles north of San Francisco. I am new to philately. What got me interested is that a number of US plate blocks came into my possession (around 60), and I found that I quite fancied them, and would like to get some more. At this point I am a bit in the dark as to the best way to store and display the stamps. I currently have them stored in some Vario sheets, and while this works it isn't a very elegant solution in my opinion. So I am most interested to learn some alternate methods of storing the blocks, and any other information I can get my hands on about collecting and maintaining these stamps.

Cheers...

Rem

Welcome to the stamp community, remegius!



There used to be albums made especially for plate block collecting. I am not sure if any are still in print. There has been a lot of consolidation of album makers in the industry and many albums are no longer made. However sometimes you can find older out-of-print stamp albums in good shape on ebay.

You can always make your own album pages, either by using a computer and printer or simply starting with blank pages and lettering them by hand.

(I deleted your other post, since it was identical to this one. )

Welcome Rem

I'm sure You'll like it here.

Dianne

Welcome Rem, if you are anywhere near a shop that sells stamp supplies there are mounts that fit the U.S. plate blocks ..they should also have year supplements for first day cover pages or you could make your own pages with mounts say putting four plate blocks on each page...collecting plate blocks is an entry into stamp collecting for many people..i remember it was very big in the 1960s !

remegius

White Ace still makes a nice plate block album, a little on the pricey side but as t360 stated these can be had for large discounts on ebay or other auction sites. philb brought up making your own pages can be very rewarding as you can customize descriptions and notes. And, finally if the collecting bug gets control you eventually end up with glassines and shoe boxes. Too many stamps not enough time.

Welcome Rem. You have a lot of searching ahead of you, but I know you'll find what you are looking for.

to the SCF Rem! I used to live in Vallejo and drove to the Walnut Creek stamp stores several times a month. I know there is still one dealer there, but I don't know if he has a storefront or not. You might check the yellow pages. You can also Google "stamp albums" and get some ideas.

Here is one place with a U.S. Plate Block album: http://www.stampncoinsupplies.com/harris.htm

Good Luck! Share some pics with us!

That's interesting. I thought that plate block collecting was actually a specialized area of collecting, and that there were many who only collected plate blocks.

Cheers...

Rem

St. Remegius I agree that people can and do specialize in plate number collecting...but many of us used to go to the post office as kids with 12 or 16 cents and be able to buy a corner plate block.it was inexpensive collecting when funds were limited ...

Plate blocks of 4 cost 24c when I started collecting them. Those were the days! When the jumbos came along they got way too big and way too expensive for me to keep up with.

Hello, Rem... and welcome!

I am a specialist collector of the United States Americana Definitve Series, and I collect mint plate blocks (all positions) and used plate number singles (all positions). I also collect United States airmail stamps, and collect used pplate number singles (all positions)

I use the Durland Plate Number Catalogue (2005 Edition) as a reference.

What sort of plate blocks do you like to collect?

David

Welcome!

You will here a lot about the "good ole days" when the nice postal clerk would tear a single stamp off of a sheet for the little collector boy
Nice to see you here.

Jim

I wish that I could answer the question about what kind of plate blocks I like, but I really have yet to find a focus for my collecting. I have a number of US plate blocks, but I have the feeling that I am going to eventually get drawn into collecting definitives. I visited the US Stamp Company this morning in San Francisco, which is one of the only brick and mortar establishments in these parts, and had a chance to look at the Harris albums which seem to be nice offerings for the price. And then I discovered a web site that has printable pages that seem to be quite comprehensive (http://www.stampalbums.com/). As you all well must appreciate there is a lot to wade through for a newbie. But I'm taking is slowly, and sure am glad that a forum such as this exists.

Cheers...

Rem

Rem:

Take your time "wading-in slowly" and ask lots of questions.

David

This has to be the finest forum for new collectors...one fellow I know says.."we are all beginners" I imagine there is some truth in that !!

Thank you, I intend to do just that. Let me first ask if the group feels that album pages generated from the site I indicated above are a reasonable alternative to traditional album pages such as Scott or Harris. I have printed a couple of pages as an experiment on heavy acid free stock, and they look quite nice. Unfortunately, they do not contain the Scott numbers. The site owner has given permission for users to change, or add to, his existing album pages by using Pagemaker. Or, I suppose, the Scott numbers can just be added long hand.

Cheers...

Rem