The Collecting And Use Of Obsolete Vintage Stamp Albums Thread

Early form of Stamp Album, A Stamp CHART


From my stable of 20 Antique Albums
Cromwell (Date Unknown)

Rod,

That is an interesting page border on the Cromwell...

John

Indeed John,
imagine the surprise when I opened it at home.

There is a certain parallel perhaps, Cromwell was also a dictator.
(notwithstanding the original intention of the symbol)

Nesebur, Bulgaria, 14th. century.

What a great topic! Here is my grandfather Fred (Fritz) Hechler's 1888 Schaubek album given to him on his 12th birthday in March 1892 by his father Henry Hechler who was a Halifax NS dealer and collector and one of the founders (and 2nd President) of the Canadian Philatelic Association in the 1880s.

Great grandfather Henry is somewhat infamous for his philatelic creations like service covers he made during his time as head of a regiment during the North-West Rebellion in 1885. I've collected many of his covers and postcards which still show up from time to time at auctions.

Grandfather's album is in pretty good shape and has many of the early stamps from just about every country. I suspect he had other albums over his long life but sold them before he died, holding onto this one for sentimental reasons. And like all collectors, he had several boxes of "stuff" which I enjoy going through and organizing.

In answer to John's question from his original post about using vintage albums like this, my current thinking is that given the place of this one in our family history of collecting, I plan to leave it alone and just catalog and protect it.

I think many stamp collectors have a tendency to also be bibliophiles. For me, there is something appealing in seeing shelves of albums or looking through an old stamp album. After I've removed what I wanted from an old album and over several years added duplicates to them, I sell them, due to space limits. But nice to have had them awhile.

One cannot help but get old albums in large box lots. I usually pick one out if it has stamps in it and needs more, so I hold on to it and add to it as I can. There's my main WW collection, then my back-up, then my back-up to the back-up, etc. At some point, I decide I am done with it and will include it in a box lot that I am selling. I try to salt them with a few better stamps so it can get some attention. Anyway, they are a source of enjoyment for me.

tsmatx:

Interesting project! If I were to try to do it, I would try and find a better copy (the original paper would be a challenge, as you know) like this one (from Gitner on eBay):



I would then take it apart and scan all of the illustrations, numbering them for easy reference.

Then I would try and duplicate the format in AlbumEasy. "If" I could duplicate the format (or a close approximation), I would print it out on proper paper.

Actually, I would probably work on the formatting first, as the scanning of the illustrations would be the least difficult part of the project.

This method would take alot of work, but be easily editable in its final form.

John

I would love to have one of these:

1862 Lallier Stamp Album - the one that started it all.






Some sample pages (may be from later versions):





John

I collect France in a 1948 Yvert album, with every stamp in a mount, and love the vintage look. Quick smartphone photos here.

Scott Grand Award Stamp Album (circa 1968). This one was new to me.

Notable as it included Scott #s for all stamps from all countries included.
The flyleaf does not indicate number of spaces but this was a thick album...








John

1936 UNITED STATES STAMP ALBUM Whitman Hard Cover








John

I remember salivating over that one as a kid. There was an amazing store called Johnson's Bookstore in Springfield MA that had a large stamp collecting section in the basement level and the Grand Award album resided there along with many others. I could never afford it but every Saturday I window shopped. That store is long gone. Imagine an upscale department store type vibe with multiple floors of it's own buildings on two sides of the street with a tunnel connecting the two so that customers did not have to be exposed to the weather. Great, great memories. It was decorated like a palace at Christmas time.

Amen, brother!
My great, great memories came from Harrods Department Store in London, where I would spend days and days in their stamp and coin department drooling over their stamps and albums. I lusted over a Stanley Gibbons GB Windsor album (and ended up eventually getting one from a nearby brick and mortar stamp dealer, John Lawson, on Sloane Street.
At Harrods, I eventually migrated up to their magic counter in their toy department where I spent even more time. The store magician, David Cronin, befriended me and took me to many magic shows around town (with fish and chips, wrapped up in newspaper, for supper afterwards). We became close friends. The manager of the toy department was a crabby older fella, who would scowl at me since I was there so often but left me pretty much be as I would buy many tricks and illusions over time. One morning, around when I was in eigth grade, I showed up at the magic counter only to find that David had called in sick for the day. I ran back to our flat in Knightsbridge, threw on a suit and tie, and tore back to the store and ran the counter until closing, gratis, thinking I was doing David a favor LOL. I sold a tone of stuff for Harrods that day, and thereafter the manager couldn't have been nicer to me.