Hello! My Collection, Concerns & Questions

Hello forum. I'm Quanah from Texas with a few of my stamp collecting thoughts and info on what I've done so far.

BACKGROUND:
I collected for a few years when I was a pre-teen in the early 1970's but the Harris Citation, Liberty and Canada albums didn't get much action again until 2005 when I got interested in printing my own more complete series of pages and assembling regional albums of Scott International pages.

INTEREST:
I have been interested in assembling my own albums. I haven't found the time to create my own pages but I do like to print pages, assemble them by regions or Colonial affiliation and create country introduction pages with flag, coat of arms, maps and data.

I have tried a few approaches:

* buying collections on Scott International pages and assembling them into a binder by region (i.e. Middle East, Spain/Portugal).

* buying a collection on Scott Specialty pages and adding to it (i.e. my German collection)

* printing Steiner pages using an HP LaserJet. I started with 8.5x11 & office binders then moved to Speciality binders and pages cut to Scott specs. At first I only printed what I needed but sorting pages was a pain so I print complete albums (to an end date I select which is usually 1970). I have printed pages for several:

1. USA & Canada supplements to my Harris albums (using more Harris binders)
2. France, French Africa, French Colonies (outside of Africa) to independence (5 vols)
3. Great Britain, British Europe
4. British America to Independence
5. India/Burma/Ceylon/Maldive Islands/Pakistan (2 vols)
6. British southeast Asia
7. Australia & Dependencies
8. New Zealand & Dependencies
9. British Oceania
10. British Africa
11. Nordic countries to 1970
12. BeNeLux
13. China (ROC & PRC) to 1970
14. Japan

I have been interested in all the former colonies, where they are on the globe and their affiliation history. I like to create header pages with flag & coat of arms plus pages with maps and facts & figures. My Harris album had a lot of countries in alphabetical order and I have enjoyed reorganizing them and learning more about them.

Of course building albums has lead to a lot more capacity than stamps and what I thought was a large collection gets diluted pretty quickly over all these hundreds of pages. I still like to flip through my Harris Citation because I can see my common stamps for most countries on just a few pages. I like placing stamps in my printed albums because I get a sense where it fits within the SCott number sytem and sets and where I have holes.

I have also learned lessons in creating pages/albums.

I use hinges except for MNH and higher value stamps. For those I use a black mount hinged in place unless I can perfectly place mounts.

I like buying collections and moving them to my albums....especially when I find some gems. I perceive I need to save and buy pretty advanced collections to get a good mix. I bought 5 Mexico collections once and the overlap after the first 2 was massive. ebay has allowed me to sell of duplicate or items outside my interets to help raise funds.

Issues I'm still wrestling with:

Mounts
* I like the look of black mounts perfectly sized and placed but that is time consuming and expensive. Complete pages with just a few mounts seems odd...incomplete pages with just the gems mounted seems ok...it points me to the better stamps in my collection.
* Top loading vs. center cut. Do the stamps fall out of the top cut?

What to collect and how to acquire
* I have way more blank pages and some countries have a lot of blank pages that won't get filled buying lots with an average price of 5-10cents a stamp.
* More country specialization is needed to get a higher completion percentage
* My goal has simply been to create a set of albums and just stuff stamps into them for enough coverage to be interesting. Completeness seems out of reach in many cases.
* I have not found a topical collection of interest...but that may change as it might allow for creating pages and actually completing an album because I can select what complete means. I just don't want to collect CTO's.

I am trying to put what I own into albums or sell, finish any incomplete page printing (i.e. add early Syria to my French Colonies album) and pause to reflect where I want to go. I think I need a lot more focus.

You are not alone....for worldwide I do not try for completeness..i do like a a representation on all pages...of course I like some areas better than others..i prefer used to mint stamps and generally stop my worldwide with my 1969 scott international.i also like foreign covers very much so I am all over the place..Welcome by the way !!

Welcome, Quanah!

Where in Texas are you? I lived in Brownwood in 1994-1995. As a result, I collect Texas air postal history, Texas postmarks on air mail, and Texas pre-cancels.

Doing your own albums is tough! I use the Steiner pages for my Netherlands Indies/Indonesia... but for everything else I use pre-printed albums and supplement the pages I need for varieties, blocks, etc, with blank pages and my computer... it's a good compromise that works for me.

Enjoy yourself, here.

David

Welcome to the family. There some good pointers online on how to make your own pages using a desktop publishing program such as Word or Excell for PC users. There are also some good topic threads here, do a search and see what comes up. There will be some links to online sources members use.

Hi Quanah!

Welcome to the Group!

Dave N.
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Same same here ---

welcome to the forum looks like you have your work cut out for yourself. enjoy.

Welcome Quanah

I Collect WW and have decide to concentrate on 2 or 3 countries at a time for the time being (Kind of). I here ya when you talk about focus. I am very much lacking in this skill.

Good luck in your endevours and keep us posted

Dianne

Welcome. You'll find lots of friendly and knowledgeable folks here at SCF.

Alas, you may stay here for years and never answer some of your questions/concerns, for I believe some of them are the issues that we all struggle with :-)

KirkS

I think collecting stamps boils down to a personal preference. Over the years it is subject to change.
I worked with a guy that for years told me I was not thinking of the end result. His goal was to make money.

For about 15 years he purchased full sheets of commemorative issues thinking it would be a good investment, and about a year before he retired he took his stamps to a stamp dealer to reap his reward. You guessed it, the dealer offered less than face value for the stamps. If he had just purchased the plate blocks and put them in an album he would have had something.
I may not be right, but I made money when I sold my Plate Block Albums.
Conn

Welcome Quanah.

A very nice post.

All this talk of printed albums and pages is making me jealous !!

Londonbus1.....Searching for a hingeless Cinderella album !

Here is way too much...more of a blog....but I am pondering my collection strategy and questioning if I am pursuing too much...and need more focus.

Thanks for the warm welcome….here's some more thoughts:

I live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex

What to collect?

I think about what I enjoy and about the end-result. These may be different at first but need to be aligned because I want to be proud of the result and enjoy the process.

At first buying, sorting and filling holes is fun but I then question what I'm trying to achieve, is it achievable and how much I enjoy and am proud of the collection I've assembled so far in terms of quality of production (pages, mounting) and quality of stamps (mix of rare and common, set & page completeness, condition and consistency between M & U).

I often go through phases of quantity followed by a desire to consolidate to quality. From a pure quality perspective I saw a collection of just 19th century stamps which was well populated and presented mounted on Scott Specialty pages…wonderful but tough and expensive.

I have also thought about originality. The stamp shows often showcase collections focused on a theme with a good mix of quality collectibles (rare and interesting stamps & covers) presented in a creative, artistic and interesting manner. If I decide to pursue this idea I would like the collection to focus a balance of unique and interesting philatelic material presented as a postal history story with artistic flair.

My current vision is to stay the course of collecting worldwide stamps with some minimal boundaries and realize it's a life (if not multi-generational) journey that pursues subsets of completion or just density… the analogy is using a shot gun to blow a hole in a target. I want to define a target broader than the "bulls eye" but takes shots that focus the BB spread on portions of the bigger target…blasting holes bite by bite but allowing for some strays BB's to make smaller holes all over the target. Anything outside the boundary would be recycled (sold to raise funds for more stamps).

I think of my collection as many individual collections not one multi-volume collection like a 26 volume International series. Some collections can be combined like all my British albums or stand alone (British America).


Boundaries (not many):

I am trying to limit the collection: helps free up stamps for resale/trade to ease the cost of acquisitions, reduces the number of pages/binders needed, and helps narrow the "target". The boundaries I am considering are region, country, year, colonial affiliation & independence plus I collect major Scott numbers. I have thought about focusing on just a few countries or just one colonial empire but I like a collection that is more world-wide for variety and I like the challenge of segmenting the world into individual collections. If I want to keep a stamp outside the boundary I put it in a stock page (vs. outside the cells on a printed page). For some countries I put a Scott hingeless/stock album page at the end of the binder for misc items of interst.


My current segmentation is as follows:

o Regional Scott International albums into the 1970's or 80's if easily found pages
Middle East (including Turkey w/Steiner supplemental pages as needed)
#61607; Independent Asia – a place to deposit what few Cambodia, Nepal, Thialand, etc. stamps I have. I like one binder with all the exotic small Asia countries and don't have a priority on getting the rare and expensive stamps.
#61607; Latin America (no colonial islands) – I am thinking of selling all these countries and not collecting them
o Green Specialty binders with Steiner printed pages to 2000 and beyond as I come across stamps. Adding these later years is pretty easy and affordable. These are my targets for kiloware and other modern lot acquisitions
#61607; USA, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain & Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France and Japan.
o Green Specialty binders with Steiner pages for colonial empires to 1970 or independence for the colonies, etc.
#61607; British Europe, America & South Atlantic, Africa, Middle East, India/central Asia, East Asia
#61607; French Africa, French Colonies (outside Africa)
#61607; Spain & Colonies
#61607; Portugal & Colonies
#61607; Italy & Colonies (I supplemented a childhood Minkus Italy album with Steiner pages)
#61607; Belgium & Colonies
#61607; Netherlands & Colonies
o Green Specialty binders with Steiner pages for western European countries to 1970
#61607; Switzerland & Liechtenstein
#61607; San Marino & Monaco
#61607; Greece & occupations
o Green Specialty binders with Steiner pages for eastern Europe to 1940
#61607; Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Poland
#61607; Balkans (Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria)
o Scott Specialty Pages (since I don't have too many stamps I like the illustrations)
#61607; Russia & states (including Baltic states) – pre USSR only
o Green Specialty Binders with Steiner pages
#61607; China (ROC & PRC) to 1970 – this is a pain due to over prints. I have thought of just having a few dragons and other stamps I like an creating a small custom collection.


Acquisition Strategy:

If I don't buy more advanced collections I don't think I will get much coverage beyond the most common issues and I will begin to get a lot of duplicates, however, if I buy the more expensive advanced lots and make far fewer transactions I might get some gems in each purchase and a high coverage per country w/o spending much more money (key is saving and making only a few purchases). As worldwide buys start to produce duplicates I should have a good residual for resale to minimize the cost and still have the fun of sorting through bigger lots looking for hole fillers/gems. If I want more volume to process I could buy the affordable kiloware, etc. and play with the few countries I collect up to current years.


Albums & Pages:

Green 2-post specialty Binders – I like flipping through the pages in this more bound format. The margins on Steiner pages are wide on this sized pager. The 2-post binders are also more plentiful and lower cost used. International binders seem too big and not as durable around the cover hinges to the spine. I like printing maps and flags for inserts into low 3-ring binders but they look too homemade or office supply looking.

Scott Specialty colored (is that ivory or cream?) – I like the contrast to whiter modern stamps and the tan look is more vintage and pleasing. I have used a lot of white pages and like the contrast with pre-1960 stamps, the white base as a color reference but they look too white and home printed….especially in 3-ring binders….this has been my big debate as I have a good investment of time and some money in white pages.

I use alkaline buffered acid free archival paper. I have a die for die-cutting the rectangular 2-post holes needed for Scott Specialty. I have been printing on a high speed HP LaserJet 9000 and the local Kinkos Xerox.

Pages all cut and punched at the same time to form a consistent block of pages in an album. I also would like to investigate corner rounding like Palo pages as the corners show wear the soonest.

Page border – I have been tempted to design a fancier & perhaps larger border similar to Scott Specialty but that would take more time and creativity.

Illustrations – I have also thought about pasting images of the early super expensive & rare stamps into the pages (at least one per set…i.e. A1, A2, etc.) so the first few pages of my albums aren't always blank. I don't mind blank holes because I like to know how many stamps comprised a set and which I own and don't.

Custom content – I like to add a few introductory pages per country with flag, coat of arms, maps, history (especially as it relates to common people and events portraited on the stamps) and postal history found on Sandafyre web site. I also like to have some pictures of the watermarks at the beginning of the album although that content is duplicated by cross referencing with a catalog.

I have a few blank pages in some albums for hand written notes. Rather than write near stamps I just make notes of any special stamps on the blank notes page….ie. I have a log of some years and Cat #'s for the notable ones per binder. I have tried to resist the temptation to pencil in the price next to my best stamps…i.e. $50 under the mounted stamp.

I also start each album with a cover page like Scott Specialty albums (Country, years, table of contents) and like Harris I write a cover letter describing the brand of paper used, the printer, the theme, a summary of the collection content (this can be updated with a revised letter) and some personal thoughts on the collection). The one page letter is signed and dated.

Cancelled vs. Mint:

I have some 1960's complete German pages of mint stamps mounted in black mounts and they look great, but that seems like an expansive way to collect the more common items that probably won't appreciate much (at least US mint). Buying new stamps from the post office seems a lot more costly than cancelled (buying kiloware, etc.) and the volume of what I collect is too high. I would rather put that kind of money into a more focused 19th century collection or more WW buys with "better" old stamps to fill holes. I do buy US stamps of designs I like (baseball, comic book heroes, etc.)


MOUNTS & Hinges.
I debate this topic. I like cancelled modern stamps hinged to the page. It's easier & cheaper to mount and more fun than cutting mounts in volume, but I like the look of a stamps against the black background when well mounted. I also don't hinge MNH stamps.

My strategy is to focus on cancelled stamps were possible. Hinge mounts with relatively more expensive stamps to pages and MNH stamps allowing me to protect the MNH stamp and potentially easily remount w/o damaging the page once I get higher completion on the page…at that point I might take great care in getting the entire page covered with stamps in mounts well sized and positioned for a consistent look on the page….or I may find I just want a complete page of cancelled stamps. For 1960's and newer MNH sets I often will fill the entire page with sets I buy at a show and mount them attractively. I don't mind a few pages with complete mounts and others with hinges. I am concerned I may be getting too many pages with scattered black mounts and lot's of hinged stamps. Since I hinged the mounts in this situation I will probably update the page to one or the other (w/o hinging a MNH stamp).


In the end I would like an album to have a good sampling of stamps from the country or region and not mostly blank pages. Where I can delay printing or buying a set of pages and simply build stock on stock pages I will but there are economies in production that has left me with few albums still needed. Knowing that with time there could be a scattering of completion makes me not worry although some albums seem to have a lot of spots for harder and more expensive stamps making me wonder why I have a entire binder… Without hope I want to dramatically narrow my focus.

I hope the binders I assemble will be of value to a future owner and not just another homemade album for cherry picking the stamps and disposal. Without a believe the printed albums are high enough quality to be used by future owners I tend to want to focus and just buy a few professional Scott albums.

Hello Quanah, welcome to the forum.

Your posts make a good read. Thanks! Good to refer back to.

I have rather a mish-mash of what not and whatever here and there and everywhere at times. My focus changes a bit with my interests. I have tended to focus on one stamp or idea and try to stick with that, just leisurely accumulating material as my focus goes in and out on different interests at different times. A floating focus if you will.

I think people have different levels of focusing ability and it sharpens and clarifies when you are interested in something and wanes and changes as you change interest and focus. People have greater or lesser stick-to-it-iveness abilities also, that ability being dependent upon life circumstances as well.

The good thing about all that (I think) is that as you do more (practice) your abilities mature and grow so you can focus more strongly and stick to an idea longer. And get to where you want to go with a bit more enjoyment of the process or journey, appreciating the stops along the way.

Doug

Quanah, when you are ready ..make those 50 posts..i will be happy to help you fill in those inexepensive spaces..i have way too many duplicates..like some I went box lot crazy when I got back to collecting..you get some nice stamps in the process but a lot of stamps you do not really need..at least in my case..i generally stop around 1969...i also offer to trade with anyone else on the forum..my terms will not be harsh...phil

Excellent! I am stuffing stock pages with my extras so I can post trade bait. A few more posts to go.

welcome Quanah, enjoy yourself here.