Desirability Of Binders, Folders And Books Associated With Modern Commemorative Issues

How desirable are binders, folders, and books associated with modern commemorative issues? For example, there is a custom binder with sheet protectors for the Celebrate the Century series. What percent more would you pay if the 10 sheets in this series were sold with the binder vs without the binder?

Is the average collector interested in such companion material when purchasing the associated sheet(s)?

IMO they actually deduct value. Most collectors will not collect and display their stamps/sheets in those heavy, costly to ship, non-archival binders. For myself, the binders end up in the dumpster.

I can see their appeal, but I prefer plain vario stock sheets.

If the collector is interested in these "designer" items, he/she should definitely buy them in the secondary market, at a fraction of the original price. One of the biggest cons in philately is the marketing of designer packages that have no actual resale value.

John

I agree with the others. For me the binders and other items are nothing but sales gimmicks that add nothing but hype and cost to the item being sold, whether stamps or coins.

I do not see the books as a philatelic collectible any more than I see stamp catalogs as collectible. However, there can be interesting history with in the books, be they Celebrate the Century, WWII and the like. Those I share with children for the "history" with the child noticing the history is reference on stamps.

Then again, I am interested in collecting a US #2179, the twenty cent Apgar but I am far more interested why Dr. Virginia Apgar showed up on a stamp and most interested in the Apgar score as the new family additions show up. For me, there is more to stamp collecting, philately, than just the little pieces of paper.

Edit: Regarding interesting stories behins some stamps, see my 16th post on this thread: http://goscf.com/t/81312&whichpage=1#742090 to learn why we have 3D, vinyl record, video CDs and other unusual stamps.

I only purchased at steep discount a 2003 Stamp Yearbook (originally issue price $49.95 which adjusted for inflation is higher cost than present stamp yearbook). Loved the quality of the stamps and the information in the Stamp Yearbook was quite interesting. However, I do not see these as particularly collectible except in rare cases (such as the 2020 which only 13,000 were printed and sold).

They make great coffee table books w/o the stamps and I would think may be part of a fun gift package (with stamps) for the family of a newborn to keep as a momento. But otherwise, a pass most times unless purchased at a steep discount a few decades later.

This could lead to a self fulling prophesy. By destroying these items, they became rare and therefore over time possibly more desirable and collectable. After all, the the tastes and rules of collecting are always changing and evolving. At least, I hope they are.

I see the issue as more an integration of the materials into a collection. They do not integrate well with unique packaging. One may want a duplicate set of stamps for the actual collection. For example for presentation booklet stamps one may have a complete booklet stored elsewhere with sheets or individual stamps from a second exploded booklet in the actual collection.