Ideas For Album Pages For Postmark Collections

Hello,

I was hoping people could help me brainstorm ideas for album pages.

I collect some definitives by postmark -- that is, given a stamp, or category of stamps, what is important to me is the town and/or date in the cancellation on the stamp. The primary one is of Machins. I've come up with these so far:

1. Make paper pages with printed captions for the various towns I own and hinge/mount on the page. Pros: Inexpensive, attractive, pages look not-too-empty. Cons: Hard to add stamps later.

2. Make paper pages with all possible towns. Pros: Fairly cheap, attractive, new stamps always have a place to go. Cons: There could be a lot of empty space, guide to possible postmarks may accidentally omit towns/varieties/etc.

3. Use stocksheets. Pros: Easy to move stuff around. Cons: Looks more like an accumulation than a collection to me.

4. Print page layout inserts to slip behind transparent stocksheets (standard or Lindner T-Blank, for instance.) Pros: Attractive, easier to move around later. Cons: Expensive, hard at first to figure out right layout to have everything properly positioned.

Ideas?

Mcgeesorg: a conundrum that I have introduced here before. A single stamp with a catalogue number is a relatively simple thing. Someone collecting postmarks also has a relative simple task. When you combine the two and possibly add a cover element it becomes extremely complex. I bet you will see the Rodster and Bujutsu jumping in on this. I will watch with interest.

Well ... in this case, they would all have the same cat number, or I'd be ignoring it. So general postmark collecting advice (or links to previous discussions!) would be helpful, too! The problem I'm facing is not wanting to find a new example (either an uncommon one that I don't yet have or one I didn't know existed and thus couldn't plan for) and then have to print new pages and re-mount everything. But I want the look of the mounted page rather than a stocksheet.

I know what you are saying. The fellow I buy my envelopes and mounts from says I should be into stock sheets but, as you say, they just become an "accumulation". Filling gaps is only one aspect of collecting. Presentation of stamps, as in the culinary arts, takes collecting to another level as far as I am concerned. Again, I will follow with interest.

Hi mcgeesorg

I know that some people collect Machin stamps by postmarks of certain counties etc. Others try to collect according to either domestic postage or for those Machins destined for overseas.

I am not a collector per se for the postmarks of GB, except for some of the Victorian era so I may not be that much of a help to you.

If you can get a hold of some Gibbons Stamp Monthly, they might help you because there is a column in that magazine that deals soley on modern cancellations found throughout the UK.

Have a great Christmas

Chimo

Bujutsu

Well I am going to use that dirty word, VIRTUAL. The additional parameters involved in collecting postmarks cause big problems. I have started collecting machine cancels with tens of thousands of possibilities. My solution is to group by state and city and mount. Scan and create a virtual album arranged not only by state and city but also by cancel type, date and machine. Simply code physical location on virtual album for easy of location mounted item(page, column and row as applicable).

I think an attractive display can be made using Vario pages, but I understand that it is in the eye of the beholder, and some collectors just don't want the look. I like the flexibility.

Even if you aren't going to use Varios for permanent display, they provide a useful staging area, letting you plan out page layouts, or holding until you have enough to fill the paper page.

The sorting is the harder question, because many postmark collectors are never "done." I might find a hooded cancel from Liverpool, but then I might find another, canceled on a birthday, or anniversary, and then I might find another, canceled on February 29. Maybe I'll find them all interesting, and want all three together.

I have yet to see a completely elegant solution. I like the pages that are written up in an exhibit style, but that isn't practical for thousands of stamps unless someone has staff or boatloads of free time.

So, rereading that, I see I've added no particular value to the discussion...

Hi Mcgeesorg.

I'd recommend Lighthouse Vario stock sheets. If you get the right sheets, your collection will look like a collection, NOT an accumulation. In this way stock sheets are quite different from stock books.

Lighthouse come with various numbers of strips per page - for postmarks I'd guess the best sizes would be Vario 2 (128 mm high strips), Vario 3 (84 mm), Vario 4 (63 mm), and maybe Vario 5 (51 mm). They come single sided or double sided - I prefer double sided because my collection takes less space and is a bit cheaper to house). (You can also get Vario Plus, which are thicker but more expensive - I don't bother with these because (a) price (b) fit fewer stamps per album.)

You can then space out the stamps on each page in exactly the same way as you would on an album page - with the huge advantage that you can easily change the layout as your collection grows or as you get new ideas - plus the collection will look great on a black background.

I've used Vario for 20+ years for my whole collection, and wouldn't change them for anything - easy to use, don't damage the stamps, look great. You'll need to get an attractive ring file to keep the stock sheets - I prefer D ring as it holds the leaves better, but some people prefer round rings (there was a thread on this a few months ago in the Accessories forum). I gather that it's hard to get 4-ring binders in the States - but Vario will also fit 3-ring binders.

Further thoughts - this time about organising the postmarks.

You could arrange them alphabetically or geographically - I'd go for geographically,l which will be more interesting but a bit more time consuming in checking where places are, and you'll probably need to build up a list of which cancellations go where. Bear in mind that county boundaries changes in the mid 1970s. One advantage of the geographic approach is that they will account for the many changes over time - so now there is one cancellation for the whole of Northern Ireland, whereas some decades ago there were lots of different cancellations.

If I was doing this, I'd collect by region - Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Northern England (ie North East and Cumbria / Lake District), Yorkshire and Humberside, East Midlands, West Midlands, East Anglia, London, South East (except for London), South West, etc - a lot of these are arbitrary as England is primarily run on County / Borough lines. Within each region I'd sort by date order, with the oldest first, to get the change from a lot of different cancellations to a smaller number in recent years.

I'd also be tempted to have two other collections for UK postmarks.

(a) one for dates - I've often thought it would be good to get a cancellation for every day of the year (ie 1 Jan 2010 would count the same as 1 January 1910 - just the day and month).

(b) and the other for interesting other postmarks, eg adverts etc, as they are fun and also can produce some enjoyable effects when superimposed on the stamp.

Another point - labelling your collection.

I use white-on-black labels for my black stock sheets. I do these in two ways - printing them out (I use Excel with black "paper" and white fonts), or writing on black paper or (easier to get hold of) very thin black card, with white or silver gel pens (which I find in specialist stationery or art shops).

I also make labels to put behind stamps with the stamp details (SG no etc).

If you're interested I'd be happy to email you an excel spreadsheet

mcgeesorg
Regarding these 2 possibilities

1. Make paper pages with printed captions for the various towns I own and hinge/mount on the page. Pros: Inexpensive, attractive, pages look not-too-empty. Cons: Hard to add stamps later.

2. Make paper pages with all possible towns. Pros: Fairly cheap, attractive, new stamps always have a place to go. Cons: There could be a lot of empty space, guide to possible postmarks may accidentally omit towns/varieties/etc.

If you have the place names in an excel spreadsheet I can produce a report for you that would look like a similar project I have been working on.If you also have a column for the region, the report will also sort by region,place name-alphabetically.

The page can list approx 25 stamps or 20 stamps with a generic area at the bottom of each page for 5 stamps.

Paul

David-

If you find yourself with all kinds of spare time around the holidays, would you be able to scan a representative sheet to show how you label? A good label system is the biggest stumbling block I've run into with Varios.

If it would be cumbersome, forget about it.

Thanks.

Collin

Thanks for all the great ideas!

@David King: Thank you! Yes, I know Vario very well. I've used several brands over the years. These days I've been using G&K, which are very similar. I use them for some things (blocks, for instance), but I don't particularly care for them for display collections of individual stamps. It's really an issue of taste. {shrug}

I would most like to use Lindner T-Blank pages. These are the size I'd use, but they are horribly expensive -- about five times the price of the Vario sheets -- which certainly makes the Vario sound more appetizing! The are much, much higher quality though, and (again, to my eye) far more attractive. And, of course, they too have the benefit of being able to move the stamps around, as you discuss. I could fit ~40 on a page and still have it attractive (to my eye).

Your idea to sort by region is very interesting. I hadn't considered that before. Is there a reason not to sort by county? It would seem to offer clearer criteria. The dates is something I've heard of, but not something I've decided to attempt yet. As for "interesting other postmarks": oh, yes! As soon as I have enough posts to not be embarrassed to ask for it, I have a Machin with a squarely socked "World's Greatest Hobby" 22mm circular cancel on it. I love it.

I keep ones from kiloware where it looks like the RTS stamp is picking the queen's nose, or that she's being shot in the head, and so on -- but I'm not sure those are ones I intend to display. I've used the labels-behind-stamps-on-stocksheets trick myself, although not with black background, which is a wonderful idea. In fact, when I designed my Free U.S. Stamp Album Pages sheets, that's the method it employs. But, again, I really want to upgrade the presentation of this collection, and while these are not expensive stamps, I am very wary about putting colored ink (especially metallic ink!) and card behind the stamps, especially as, unless you're careful, the card is likely to be acidic.

I'm thinking out loud here, as it were: weighing pros and cons. Not at all trying to shut your ideas down, just trying to focus (and have them influence) my own. Maybe if I were to use the clear Vario sheets and interleave them with pages on which I print frames in the right layout, it would have some of the effect of the T-Blank at the lower price? Hmm.

<b>plsllvn: </b> Those are quite lovely! You did those as an Excel report? That was not a technique that had occurred to me. When I've done the pages in the past, I've written scripts to draw PostScript or GIF pages similar to your own. I don't know if that might provide a slight bit more control, but it would be easier, for sure! But I'm a stickler for precise control, and I program very well, so I think I'd still likely go that route -- or if you would be willing to share the source of your report, that would be useful as well (I wouldn't want to be reliant on you to make new pages for me if my needs change, as you'll understand.)

I think I've addressed everything so far (?).

Hi Mcgeesorg

I use Microsoft Access to generate these reports ( I find manipulating data in Access is easier, for me and also very little hard coding involved).I have never viewed the source code for these reports but if you think it can be of use to you I'll try to find it and would be happy to share it with you, let me know?

Paul

Thank you @Paul. That's very generous.

I'm making up my list of postmarks right now from Collect British Postmarks, Seventh Edition. But I am wary that I'm going to mis-transcribe, or that the book will have an omission, and I don't want to redo every page. But I do want the labeling.

So I'm giving more and more thought to doing it the way a few mentioned here, with stocksheets -- the method that I suggested using myself, ten years ago, in my U.S. pages. Put a strip of paper behind the stamps, and that way the worst case is that one will need to reprint a row (if I leave enough room for one or two more stamps!)

By the way, the album software I am going to be using (at least for now!) is AlbumEasy. I'll be printing the pages and cutting out the strips, it looks like. And I tend to prefer Lindner UNIPLATE over lighthouse VARIO. It looks like the 076 type might be best, and would store the stamps for a penny per stamp without crowding.

I don't know the answer to this: Do inkjet inks or laser toners have chemicals in them that can affect stamps?