So My Mystic Heirloom Stamp Album Came In The Mail Today...

I started asking about that Mystic Hingeless Album back in March,
https://goscf.com/t/13116

but I had forgotten it covers only the classic era.

I think if someone could make a hingeless album under that $100 price point, it would be a HUGE success --- even if the paper, layout, and binder were less than the highest quality.

KirkS

KirkS

kirks. that was one of the issues, the previous version had issues with the paper and hinges. So that is why they stopped production. I expect to get my new version in the next month or so. And I knew it only went to 1946.
Those are the stamps I want in the hingeless album.

smauggie and Yirmeyahu, I have gotten the package weighed. I can't use this forum to send emails, it seems. If you could please shoot me an email so we can go over shipping. My email address is my username here at gmail-dot-com. Thanks.

So, I think I may have hit the first Mystic Heirloom "snag."

I really love the descriptions on the left side of the album. I really think a lot of Scott National albums end up on the auction block or in a dealer's hand after grandpa dies because all people see are a bunch of stamps. If they found an album and could look through and see stamps AND descriptions, I think it might actually spark some interest in a younger person...

But I digress...

So, the album is three volumes. Of the 3, Volume II is probably the smallest, and when I added the 2010 supplement to Volume III it pretty much filled the binder up.

So I thought I could move some years such as 2000, and 2001 into the Volume II binder. Problem is, when I do that, I end up taking the description of the first page of Volume III to the end of Volume II. So, there's going to be some scanning and printing involved if I choose to go that route.

Something else that irks me about the album now.

I started moving a good chunk of stamps from my old Minuteman album over to the Heirloom. The 1968 Historic Flag Series(Scott 1345-1354) will clearly fit onto one 8.5"x11" page, but Mystic wants me to break up the stamps instead of mount them as one long strip. I mounted the stamps as one strip across the middle of the page, but I might redesign the sheet to better show off the stamps.

The 1973 postal service employees strip (Scott 1489-1493) is also broken up into individual stamps, but I think that strip may be too long to fit in an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. I don't own the stamps, so I will need to measure it and see.

The 1974 Universal Postal Union Se-Tenant (Scott 1530-1537) also is also to be mounted as individual stamps. The Se-Tenant block of 8 that I have will easily fit onto a single page. I mounted those stamps right in the center of the page. I may scan and redesign this page also.

Overall I am extremely happy with the album. You can't go wrong for the price. But those 3 design decisions are really making me scratch my head.

Great information, Apastuszak! Can I use your remarks on my album reviews thread? I'm working towards getting information on all US albums (initially) as means of helping others make intelligent decisions about buying stamp albums. You are also welcome to comment, esp if you have more to say.

https://goscf.com/t/17127

Brian

Sure. Go ahead. I emailed Mystic and asked them if I could redesign the sheets myself to keep the se-tenant whole and put them up on the web for free download. Waiting for a reply.

Mystic needs to deal with the fact that the 2011 supplement is going to have to start volume 4. Volume 3 is pretty much full. They need to have a catalog item for the 2011 supplement+binder.

Overall, still an awesome album for the price. Had I bought the Minuteman I was originally looking at, I would not be able to hack the album this way, since the sheets are too big to fit in a conventional printer.

what type of mount are you using? Do they fit within the box for the stamp? Currently my mint are just stuck within vario sheets. My choices are to purchase album or print out desfriptive labels (non-adhesive) and place in pocket of vario sheet next to stamp(s). Being retired, the price of the Heritage is appealing.

oops - slip up. I mean the Heirloom

I'm using a mix of the Mystic mounts and Showguards. I bought the Mystic mounts so they would arrive with the album and I could get to work. The stamps I am moving over are in Showguard mounts. They both fit inside the box.

If I recall correctly several sheets of stamps such as the 50 state birds & flowers are also broken up individually, whereas I have a whole mint sheet.

Would a possible solution be to use a quadrille sheet or vario sheet for the mint sheet of stamps and just insert it in place of Mystic's pre-printed page? You could do some scanning and printing if you wanted to retain the descriptive information on the reverse side of the page.

That would probably work. None of this stuff is a deal breaker. Overall, I still love the album.

The 50 state birds, the state flags, the greeting from America and other "50 state" issues are all broken up in this album. I think all those sheets are too big for a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. I think the "Greetings from America" 50 postcard sheet is actually BIGGER than the binder itself.

The same problem exists with the Minuteman album. I'm not sure how the Scott National treats these pages.

I posted a "review" of the album on this thread:

https://goscf.com/t/17127