Album Review: United States Albums

It would be fair to call the All American "simplified." It was fairly comprehensive and didn't eliminate stamps just because they were expensive (for example, there were spaces for U.S. no. 2 and the $5 Columbian) but on the other hand it had limited spaces for the grilled issues and I don't believe there were spaces for any of the special printings. The Minuteman was the Scott corollary of the All American. They were substantially less expensive than the Scott National, which is why I would hesitate to pay $200 for an All American unless I was collecting out-of-print albums instead of stamps.

Minkus All-American
apastuszak: Good point about the quality of the paper. It is my understanding that Amos Advantage is selling the Minkus All-American pages on a heavier stock page than what was available several years ago. I am familiar with the Minuteman and Harris Liberty pages which are printed on very thin paper. I also prefer pages that have commentary on the stamps depicted. For non-collectors this adds interest when looking at the album.

A LOT of Scott's album supplements are print-on-demand. I actually sent an email to Amos last year asking if they could offer Minuteman pages Print-On-Demand on Scott National paper. The rep that got my email thought it was a GREAT idea, since she said they don't have to do any special on their end, except load different paper into the printer. She said she was going to forward it up the management chain.

Got an email a week later that management shot down the idea.

The descriptive commentary was definitely something I loved about the All American. Also, I didn't realize that Amos was reprinting it on higher quality paper. I just generally have a hard time getting my head around the cost of new albums these days. The pages alone for a Scott International Part One are almost $500 at Amos Advantage prices and $600 at regular prices.

That's why a lot of people use Steiner pages. They'd rather spend their money on stamps than on albums.

I have the Harris Liberty album that I have been using for my US used/canceled stamp collection. I hinge most of my stamps except for the more valuable older issues. There is one aspect of the Liberty album that I particularly like. There are pages for both the se-tenant blocks and the singles. The challenge, of course, is finding the se-tenant block in postally used condition. But if you have the singles you can still find a place for these stamps. The pages are nicely laid out and are not overly crowded. Commentary is provided for each issue. Nearly all stamps are illustrated. The paper is light weight -- similar to Minuteman and early Minkus. Over time the pages have sagged a bit in the binder.

Whitman now has the rights to selling the HE Harris line of albums. The new version of the Liberty is now punched for both two post and 3-ring binders. They sell both types of binders.

I have enjoyed the comments on this topic. I think it is important for users of albums to offer their opinions for those who are looking for an album or who are contemplating a switch. Hence my interest in the Mystic All-American in the previous posts. I cannot recall reading any reviews of albums in the philatelic press. I am not sure why this has been the case but forums like this fill the gap.

The Palo US album was never fully reviewed, so here is my review....

Palo United States Album Review

I purchased a Palo album last month to house my US classic stamp collection. Prior to using the Palo album, I had my US collection split across 2 sets of albums: Mint issues were in a 7-volume set of Mystic Heirloom US albums. Used issues were in a set 5-volume set of "Steiner" albums. There was no way I could complete either collection for the "classic" pages, so I decided to upgrade 1847-1940 to a single hingless Palo album.

Review:
• I purchased the following items
o USA10 – United States 1947-1940 Hingless (109 pages)
o PB101 – Premium Binder with Slipcase (said to hold 100-110 pages)
o 2 x LB101 – 2 Labels "United States" and "1847 – 1940"
o 3 x QUAD – 3 Blank quadrille pages with "United States of America" heading
o with Tax and shipping, the order was $421.50
• The album arrived in approximately 2 ½ weeks from the order date (Palo states that hingless albums are custom made and take approximately 2 weeks to ship)

Pros:
• Overall it's a beautiful album to house my most valuable stamps
• The paper is a light cream color – 100lb with rounded edges
• The pages are oversized – 11 x 12 ½ creating a layout that is spacious leaving plenty of room between stamps
• All the hinges are clear and sized to fit the full outline of the stamp "box" on the page
• Being hingless, it's quick to mount stamps on the pages
• When pages are full – they layout is excellent. Over the years I rarely read any of the "historical" information found on the Mystic albums and prefer the simpler layout of my Scott International and "Steiner" albums.
• The album covers both regular and "back of book" issues for the time period.
• The binder is well built – I suspect it's a covered wood composite with metal protectors on the corners. The labels match the binder. Overall, the quality and presentation of the binder rivals the Lighthouse binders I have been purchasing lately.

Cons:
• The price is steep – too steep for most budgets. For comparison, you can purchase a US #1 for less than I spent on the album. A 3-volume Mystic album is $39.99, the premium Hingless Mystic is $99.00.
• Palo's site says you can fit 100-110 pages in the binder. I do not think this is realistic if you plan on viewing the stamps on a regular basis. I have 112 pages in the single binder and it's difficult to manage. I would estimate that 75 pages are more realistic.
• The binder is a unique 5 ring binder using 'O' rings. I would have expected 'D' rings for the amount of money spent.
• The pages sometimes get caught on the binder locks, making it difficult at times to move to the next page. Again, I would expect better rings for the price of the binder.
• The "Duck" stamps are not present in the "Back of Book" section.

Palo pages vs. "Steiner" pages
There has been discussion about Palo using "Steiner" pages. Here are my observations.
• The Palo album is based on the "Steiner" pages, but has made some adjustments.
• The layout is spread out to fill the larger pages. As I moved stamps from my Steiner album to the Palo album the Steiner album now appears crowded – especially once the mounts are added to the pages.
• The fonts and page borders have been changed
• The Palo albums move some of the stamp information out of the stamp space. For example "Type I" appears outside the frame of the stamp and can be seen after the stamps are mounted.
• The Palo album followed the "classic" US pages found on www.stampalbums.com with the exception of the Duck stamps. The following "Back of Book" issues are included: Airmail, Airmail Special Delivery, Special Delivery, Registration, Postage Due, Offices in China, Official, Newspaper, Parcel Post, Parcel Post Postage Due, Special Handling, and Confederate States.

Conclusion – would I buy another?
Yes, I would and I'm considering purchasing the New Zealand and Canada albums based on the Stanley Gibbons catalogs. However, the price will limit these albums to a small segment of the stamp collecting community. I would recommend other albums to my fellow collectors unless they are looking for a premium album that comes with a premium cost.


Here are some photos from the album:



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My uploaded images don't appear to be working, I'll look into this and find a way to post some photos of the album...

Doesn't anyone like White Ace anymore?

pk

Excellent review - thank you.

I believe that Gibbons is re-doing the Imperial album (covering GB and Empire to 1936) later this year, probably in a loose-leaf, ring-bound format (rather than the classic fastbound format). Might be worth looking at that before you spring for Palo Canada and Australia alone. My Imperial is mainly gaps, however!

Geoff

I love White Ace. I don't love the fact that make you mount your se-tenants twice, as attached stamps and as single. You can buy the White Ace simplified, which doesn't do this, but then you don't get a major Scott catalog numbers.

Following on apastuszak's point, for the White Ace U.S. Plate Block albums (non-simplified), you had to get all four plate positions for any se-tenant that contained 4 different stamps in order not to have any blank spaces in your album.

It's an absolutely gorgeous album with unnecessary redundancy.

Sure, White Ace Album Pages are nice to look at, but no one has mentioned the cost factor. Just take a look at the cost of their US album pages:

https://washpress.com/showWhiteAceT...sp?themeId=1

Also, when White Ace references "commemoratives" they mean just that; no regular/definitive issues are included. You have to buy additional supplements to accommodate those collecting requirements and you also have to buy the albums/dust covers separately, too. It can quickly become a very expensive proposition.

Unless you're using the Scott Minuteman, Steiner, or Mystic Heirloom, I think your albums may be worth more than your stamps.

I think my "perfect" US Stamp Album would be the Scott Minuteman on Scott National paper.

My mom got me hooked on stamp collecting when I was eight years old. It is a hobby that I have never given up. In 1999, I updated my collection and bought some really expensive KABE hingeless German albums to house my stamps. I continued to purchase stamps each year, but recently decided to update my collection again. I realized I hated my expensive albums because they didn't contain the history behind the stamps that is part of the reason for my collection. So I scoured the market for something to satiate my desires. Everything was too boring, too expensive, or too juvenile. So five months ago I set out to create my own albums. 870 linen archival pages later, a full set of laser color toner, and countless hours with MS Publisher, I have finished my project. I bought a collection of Lighthouse Blue Vario-G classic binders, a package of vellum paper, a page rounding punch, and a ton of mounts to put it all together. I enjoy my collection so much more now and I was able to lay the stamps out the way I wanted and include the information I liked (issue city, issue quantity, Scott numbers, etc). I am attaching some sample pages. I used a bunch of websites to gather my information including Wikipedia, USPS and several stamp sites. I have blurred out the information so that I don't have to site every website I used.