H.e. Harris Liberty Album (Lot Of Pics)

Finally got my new albums that will replace some molded ones I was using. Thought someone else might be curious so here's some pics. This is more of a "here's what you get" instead of a review since I'm no expert.

Purchased though Amazon through Boscastle Supplies from H.E. Harris. Amazon is Amazon. No need to discuss them. Boscastle I will mention a VERY helpful lady named Susan who worked diligently to get my order to me. I ordered just before Xmas. Like the 23rd. Not a good time to order stuff. Order was delayed, found, delayed more... seems every company/org took a turn losing my order and this Susan person hassled with all of them and kept me posted until I got the product so CHEERS for good service.

Here's how it arrived:

Flimsy filler in the second pic. This allowed the product to slide around in shipping.

I ordered Liberty because the price was in my range plus I had used them before. I have several Liberty albums from back when they were still marked MADE IN THE USA. Hurricane and floating in water aside, these albums have withstood handling for decades with very little wear.

Out of the box:

(No idea why one would not be shrink wrapped. Did they steal someones to fill my order? )


Here's the parts pouch that comes with each album:

The UN-shrink wrapped albums parts pouch was opened. One of the rods came out and was loose in the box.

Here's the spine and backside:

Sturdy enough. Welded plastic seams, rivets, wrapped cardboard. Not MADE IN THE USA any more .


Shot of the poor riveting from China:

Hope these don't tear the plastic up. Rivets on my old albums are perfect and never caused any issues.

On to the pages:

Bundled page packets.

Liberty only uses 2 holes. Nice to see them allow for use in other albums.


Couple of issues:

Five or six sets of pages were not separated completely. Had to cut them myself.

Four or five near blank pages. Ink is very faint. Will have to contact HE Harris and see if they will replace them.

That's about it.

I love "un-boxing" photos and videos.

Thanks for this. The HE Harris Liberty was my first album as a kid. Of course, it was only one volume back then

I just looked at my HE Harris Liberty Album that I've had since childhood. Sure enough, the reference on the back cover says "Made and Printed in USA". I bought a newer one to change over to a few years ago. Never did change over, though, as I never liked the new Harris layout (at least in the copy I bought at a bookstore) as it was printed on both sides of the page, and some of the long strips were shown to have to be mounted diagonally (neither "feature" did I like).

I finally decided to go to a Mystic Heirloom US Album (3 vols.). I still have it shrink wrapped as I haven't yet opened it to start the migration to a new album as yet.

The old HE Harris is quite familiar to me though, and it lasted 30 or 40 years and only in the last couple of months did the binder start separating.

They want you to take your Looney Tunes sheet and cut it in HALF? What the heck are they thinking!?

I got a Liberty album off a bid board a few years ago.
It was made in 1967 I think...had spaces for some 1966
issues. I started collecting in late 66 so it`s a perfect
fit for me. I thought I might make some pages and update
into the future a little. Retro-collecting...collect the
older instead of the modern crap.

Stampmutt, thanks for the unboxing. Wondering what the outcome of your RMA or return was? Did you get new pages send? Did you go to Boscastle or direct to Whitman Publishing?

Lots of question, but we are curious...

Thank you for the information, Stampmutt. You have confirmed what I have been saying about Harris albums since I arrived ... their quality and quality control is terrible.

Brian

I hate to say it but it looks like the answer is staying with the German made ones.

The Liberty album was my first US album back in the late 1980's. I also bought a newer version like you showed above. A few years ago I switched to Davo hingeless albums because I got tired of searching for different mounts all the time. One problem I noted with my older Liberty Album was that the pages started to curl with the weight of the stamps and mounts. I did not use the new album long enough to notice if the same thing happened to the pages. The thing I miss about the Liberty album is that they had a description under each stamp, which the Davo album lacks.

Putting boxes on pages is easy. Adding descriptions takes a lot of work. Take it from someone designing their own album.

Good questions Pookie. I went to Boscastle first. Again, they were exceptionally helpful. Within an hour Susan had an answer from Whitman and saved me the hassle of dealing with them. Here's the amusing solution from Whitman. They are going to send me a FULL SET of pages. Yup. All 900+ pages just to replace 4. That was a week ago so still waiting for delivery.

The thing I enjoy most about Liberty is the details they add with most stamps or sets. I collect for the knowledge not the value. When I see a stamp I imagine the time it was printed. What the subject history is. The notes Liberty provides add a lot to my enjoyment of collecting.

Sadly yes, their quality seems to be lacking. And hingeless would be awesome. Some day.

I've never had issues with page curling even on the heaviest of loaded pages. But my experience is limited to 95% old school crystal mounts. Only time will tell what these Showgard/Scott heavy mounts can do to a page.

Thanks for the comments y'all.

NB - Over the last 3 years, I have found several errors in the descriptions of stamps that when communicated to the liberty album publisher are acknowledged and corrected, but only in future issues. No errata sheet is offered. No corrected page. Etc. So, while I use Liberty for my modern US collection, I stick with Light House for European and Stanley Gibbons for United Kingdom.

It was a very interesting read.

Stampmutt last visited in 2013.

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