Album Review: United States Albums

I must have posted some opinions of stamp binders earlier in this virtually endless thread, but I'll venture in once again.

I've never understood having stamp catalogue numbers visible in an album. The album manufacturer includes them to help the collector mount their stamps in the correct place, but then the stamp covers the number up. But after I mount stamps, I don't want numbers still visible all over my album pages. I just want stamps on my album pages -- along with a short identification of what the stamp was issued for.

Catalogue numbers have been known to change. This is hardly common, but when it does happen, do you go back and renumber your whole album? I shudder to think of that awful task. A few years ago, Scott dropped a bunch of catalogue numbers after deciding some early stamps were actually not really stamps, but essays or proofs. Do I need to remove that album page? I've just left it in the album. I'm not renumbering anything -- because I have no numbers on my pages.

And what exactly is the point of all those numbers? How am I better informed to see #179 or #3107 below a stamp? It gives me no useful information. In mounting the stamp, the number helped me locate the right space (and then disappeared when the stamp went into that space). But later, whats' my use for the catalogue number? A a lot of numbers cluttering up pages is of no help to me. I want to see only stamps.

I do like identifiers, though, and I think they're pretty important. It's often very difficult to know what event or topic a stamp is commemorating or who that person on a stamp actually is -- and even the stamp itself is not always clear about that (and you need a magnifying glass -- or at least I do!). An identifier solves that problem.

For years, Scott kept their pages "pure" of names -- but in recent years, their album pages do identify subjects of stamps which is a very good thing. All I need is their name and maybe a word or two identifying them if it isn't obvious. For "Abraham Lincoln," I'm pretty sure the name is enough, but for "Richard Wright" or "Ralph Ellison," two very famous authors, I'd add "author" or "novelist". (That should also be on the stamp, but the USPS often fails to do this fairly obvious thing. I can't tell you how many people honored on stamps I had never heard of -- and the stamp itself was no help! Thank goodness for the internet.)

As for little paragraphs next to each stamp, I have no problem with that, but you'll notice they're mainly in beginner albums. For a reason -- album makers knew that most young people don't know a lot, so describing the subject of each stamp seemed useful and educational. In fact, years ago, stamp albums were sold partly as "educational" toys so parents would buy them. Since I'm educated (and a history teacher, too!) these little blurbs aren't really necessary for me. I'm fine with them if that's your thing. Also, for me, in albums which have little stories or descriptions, once I've read them, I don't need to read them again. So why have them? Or do you find each description surprisingly new each time you look at it?

Each to their own, though. This should be the approach to all of stamp collecting. Sometimes, like at a stamp show, I find myself looking at someone else's stamp collection, its subject matter, the way they've mounted it, and so on, and I find myself saying "Huh?" or "Why do that?" But then I catch myself. It's "Because they wanted to do it that way." In a world with lots of rules, just do whatever feels best for you with your albums. And I'll try not to cringe at some things collectors do. They're your stamps and your albums. Mount everything upside down if you want. I have a Russia collection in which all the Stalin stamps are in mounts upside down. Yeah, weird, but we all need to express ourselves.

I like to see Scott catalog numbers on my pages.

When adding a stamp to my album, if I have a stamp that is say Scott #1234, I can flip to any page in the album and see the catalog numbers on each page to identify if #1234 is closer to the front of the album or towards the back of the album.

I don't always fill the space with the most perfect copy of a stamp that I ever hope to acquire. Sometimes I want to upgrade a stamp and replace it with a better copy. Without the catalog numbers on the pages I would have to lift each stamp/mount to peek at the number hidden on the page behind the stamp.

That said, most of my albums do not have the catalog numbers pre-printed on the pages, although I would prefer if they did. Instead, I write on the pages in light pencil in places where it matters. Usually I will just write the first catalog number of a set. Or the first stamp on a page. In some cases I will write the catalog number and type or shade beneath every item on the page when the stamps appear similar to each other (Washington Franklin offsets and other classic US).

Similarly with the modern US flags, Transportation series, Great Americans, etc, these series were issued across many years and the catalog numbers are not consecutive chronologically. Seeing the catalog number below each stamp is helpful to know which is which.

With a stamp in hand, for example while going through an APS circuit book, I can confirm that I have a stamp based on seeing its catalog number on my album page. I don't have to validate whether the microprinted date is 1995 or 1996 and in red or blue, I can just see yes, #2914, I already have it.

I would prefer to have the Scott numbers discretely printed on the pages below each stamp frame rather than my handwritten markings, but it is a trade-off that I can live with.

I believe it is more important to know WHY similar desigsare different (shade, perf, die, etc.) than the catalog number is difference.

DrewM,

For the more creative collectors amongst us, making your own pages is a great option if you don't like the little nuances found in the various albums. And for the specialist, creating ones own pages is almost a necessity; how else would you display the endless varieties in your collection? But for us average collectors - especially for those countries we focus on - catalog numbers are almost a must!

Since this thread was dedicated to US stamp albums, one would naturally conclude that the Scott Specialized US Catalog, for all its eccentricities, is the preferred numbering system for US stamps. And while Scott has reclassified or removed a number of items, the numbering system hasn't changed since god-knows-when; a Sc 245 is, and always will be, a $5 Columbian despite the fact prior catalog numbers have been removed (Sc #48-62, for instance) and those numbers could have been reused.

My argument against removing catalog numbers from albums is that doing so requires you to either add long, detailed descriptions of the stamp that needs to be placed in that spot, or remove that spot altogether. Using the Washington/Franklin third bureau issues as an example, having a dozen unlabeled 2c Washington stamp spots in my album would be confusing. And I suspect a high percentage of collectors are like me - once I've filled that empty spot in my album, I rarely open it to look at catalog numbers or description - that's what catalogs and other literature are for.

To your point: Lighthouse doesn't put catalog numbers in their albums, but I still love them. I won't use Lighthouse for my US collection simply because they leave out too many varieties of US stamps, but they work well for my other collecting interests!

Brian

For is AMATEURS, which is likely most of us out there, the Scott numbers provide a great reference - I can dig up information using those numbers. At times I've been pretty sure I had Scott #ABC and then after a year or 5, find out - oops, some research and digging deeper, I need to change things around - THIS one is actually that number. It makes it easy for us non-professionals, newbies, rank amateurs and worse to at least enjoy things.
I understand the professionals and experts here maybe not liking it - but there's a lot of us out here who are never ever going to be to your level, no matter what or how much we want to be........ it's a handy reference, a way to easily find where a newer addition fits in quickly (ok, this new one is Scott #XXXX and here I'm at this page - so it's likely a couple of pages later.
I think it also adds something if I pass all of this junk along to a grandson one day - give him a starting point and handy references.
It would be nice if some day down the road I'm not the only one looking at these things - but, since it's a dying hobby left mostly to us old people, who knows.

Choosing any stamp album is about trade-offs, with trade-off defined as giving up one thing in order to gain something else often involving a compromise between two desirable qualities or options.

Some want color illustrations of the stamps, descriptive text about the stamp itself or what is depicted on the stamp, while others prefer a clean place to mount a stamp without color or text. Some want fancy borders on pages while others prefer something that is simple. Some want white or beige paper pages while others prefer colored pages for different categories of stamps.

As with every other aspect of stamp collecting and philately, there is no wrong way to do it. It's all about the personal preference of the collector. What doesn't make sense to one person makes perfect sense to another.

More than 50 years ago, as a young collector I was more than happy with my paper H.E. Harris Explorer album until it no longer could hold all the stamps I had accumulated. Over time I graduated to the Traveler, Statesman, then the Scott National.

Being dissatisfied with Scott National album, I began making my own pages in 2009 and placing them in Lighthouse Grande albums with slipcases. I now have 42 binders housing my collection - 38 binders of U.S., 2 binders each for Canada and Mexico. Many here have seen examples of my pages which I try to strike a balance of including the issues I want to collect with layouts that are aesthetically pleasing (at least to me.)

The debate on which album to choose will never end. To the collectors who have trouble choosing which album to go with, compare your options and just pull the trigger on the album(s) that come closest to fulfilling what you want. Again, there's no wrong choice if it makes you happy!


Scott

I am loving this thread right now. I am trying to decide if I want to buy some albums. I don't think I can afford the hingeless albums. I already printed up some home-made ones but they do not have a description, and that is one thing I really want with an album. Therefore, I am trying to decide.

I googled "free stamp album pages" and found a website with user-uploaded album pages, free to download and print yourself. I really like these US pages!

https://sourceforge.net/projects/al...pdf/download

The site has a LOT of different countries you can download. The previous link appears to be a host site for the files. The classic US album pages I linked is a 195 mb file.

https://www.thestampweb.com/albums/free-downloads

Brian

Brian,
As you have noticed, the sourceforge.net site hosts the album files listed on https://www.thestampweb.com/albums/free-downloads. However, I suggest that you download them from the latter site, as this also includes a description of each album.

Also, I may move the album files to a different host sometime in the future, in which case, irrespective of where the files are hosted, they would still be accessible via the stampweb.com site.
Clive