Minuteman Vs Scott National

What do I get with a Scott National album, that I don't get with a Minuteman, besides the better paper and binder?

Checkout this previous thread:

https://goscf.com/t/17127

Most would choose the Mystic US Album over the Scott Minuteman for basic stamp collecting.

On the other hand, if you're an advanced collector and are convinced you want the best, the Scott National Album is the most comprehensive, the largest, uses the best paper. Of course, that all comes at a hefty price:

No descriptions in the Scott National. The Minuteman has descriptions on some of the stamps at least. I have the Mystic Heirloom, but they keep breaking up se-tenants. Even older se-tenants from the 70s are broken up by Mystic. And when you go to Mystic's online catalog, the same Se-tenants they break up are only available for sale as individual stamps from their web site. The albums is obvuiously designed to get you to buy stamps from them, which is a pretty shrewd move on their part.

Though I like the album, I have learned it is geared for the way Mystic sells albums. Se-tenant blocks are strips on the Mystic album, because Mystic sells strips. As can be seen from my various threads, I have hacked album pages to make them what you want, but when I hacked more than 50% of the 2011 supplement, I had enough.

I have an 8 and a 10 year old, and my time is not my own. I would rather spend my time mounting stamps, rather than making pages to mount the stamps.

I went to Amos' site and went to the 2011 Minuteman supplement section. On the bottom of the page they have a file that lists all the mounts you will need to mount the stamps. When I look at that, Scott is laying out the stamps almost identical to the way I would want to lay them out.

So, I am thinking of moving my 21st century collection (of which I have mounted very little), into a Minuteman or LIberty album. I have not been able to see the layout of the LIberty yet, to know how it fits with layout preferences.

The only hesitation I have with the Minuteman is that the pages are 9.12"x11.2" (Mystic sent me a PDF of one of their Minuteman pages). The pages are bigger than US letter. Which means you can't feed blank pages through a stadard home printer if you want to add a page with it's own heading..

Apastuszak, FYI in case you didn't already know, the Minuteman looks nothing like the older Minuteman in the thread that wt1 referenced. It's now based on 3 ring binders and it's currently 2 volumes for the US, inc. BoB. Vol. 1 is 19th, and 20th, centuries. Vol. 2 is 20th centuries. Also, all the pages are laid out to use mounts, meaning that they are not laid like the older Minuteman side by side like Excel cells. But are separated by white space..

The binders are vinyl but sturdy. I recently purchased the 2 volume set, and come with updates to 2010. Most stamps have descriptions (99% of the commemorative stamps). And it includes spaces for lots of the varieties.

As I mentioned in a previous thread, I also have the Philosateleians pages printed on 32lb. bond paper...

I really like the Minuteman except (and this is a big one for me) it comes printed in 20lb. acid-free paper. And I collect MNH on it, so use mounts which beg for heavier pages. All the pages come in shrink wrap packages (one for 19th, one for 20th, one for 21th.) The 19th set came printed in slightly darker pages that appear to be 24lb. bond.; so they are actually nicer. However the album kit came with 8 or so supplements to bring the kit to 2010, and those supplements are printed on the same 20lb. weight paper.

I have not purchased the 2011 supplement, because I've actually considered not moving forward with these albums.

I asked Amos about the paper issue, and they said that depending on the supplier / batch, the weight may change. However, I believe from hence forward, they will be on 20lb. if the supplements are indicators.

I owned a 2 POST Minuteman years ago. I really liked the album, but decided to move to White Ace, because I was young, and could afford it. 2001 hit, first kid was born and everything went on hold until last year, when I pulled to collection out.

Well, with 2 kids and a mortgage now I can't afford what White Ace charges any more.

I went with Mystic, and considering the mounting issues I am having just moving stamps over from the White Ace albums, I am considering Minuteman for my 21st century stuff.

I would consider Harris Liberty also (in my own binders. I am so done with 2 post binders), but I have never seen their pages, and I don't want to buy anything sight unseen. Whitman told me they can't email me PDFs of any pages, so I am left with buying a supplement and comparing, which is something I would prefer not to do.

I really want descriptions with my stamps.

I really wish some of these album makers would let me buy PDFs and use whatever paper I want.

Here's a sample album page from an HE Harris Album I have. Mine is rather old; only going up to the year 2000:



You will note that some of the page is off the scanner, because the size of the page is actually 9" x 12" (as opposed to 8.5" x 11") and, of course, it's punched for the two post HE Harris Binder also sized to accommodate the 9" x 12" pages. What I don't like is the fact that the stamps have to be mounted on both sides of the page, rather than Mystic's way of printing text on the one side and the stamps mounted on the other.

This is about as much text/descriptions for stamps as you'll get with the HE Harris album:

The new Liberty is punched for 2 post or 3 hole. 9"x12" is a nice size piece of paper. The Minuteman is 9.12"x11.2".

What was the logic to 2 post binders? My Minuteman used to drive me nuts with the thing auto closing on me and having to place a book against the right pages in order to mount stamps. I'm so glad almost everyone has moved to ring binders.

I went from a Minuteman to a two post National a few years ago. It is a huge task to transfer everything over, anyway if I was to do it again I would not.

a-zak, the National will make you go huh? a few times. An example being the Postal People issue of 1973 the Minuteman has it laid out as a se-tenant strip vertically and it intrudes into the borders, the National is laid out at an angle across the page and looks goofy. Scott should have broken it up as singles or at least run the strip vertical like the Minuteman.

I do miss the text of the Minuteman and the paper difference to me is not that big of a deal as I collect used only so mounts are not an issue. I purchased my National from a hobby shop that was going out of business that had it since the early 80's, so I did get it for less than the cost of a new Minuteman at the time. I will be converting my older National pages to 3 hole rings as my 2 post binders are falling apart. Overall I do like the National and for the most part I like the layout and style.

If you want the quality of Scott Pages along with stamp descriptions, I think the White Ace is the way to go. White Ace, however, is expensive as all get out. The 2011 commemorative supplement is going for around $23, and that doesn't include coil stamps or definitives. I think for a full 2011 supplement, you may have to she'll out close to $50.

But the stamps pages are sooo nice. If you can afford it, White Ace is the way to go, in my opinion.

Andy

This thread, as well as the one suggested by wt1, has been extrememly helpful. I am a collector returning to the hobby, and I've always wanted to "upgrade" my Scott Minuteman albums. I always assumed a National was the natural progression, but never really understood what I was really getting. . . and more importantly, if its really worth the investment over my original albums.

I currently have my US in two Minuteman 2-post binders, with one binder housing Air Mail, and BOB. If I get supplements (I'm easilly 10 years behind,) I'll obviously need to expand the amount of binders. At this point. . . I'm probably better off getting a whole new Minutemen set (if that is the album I choose.)

The National interests me because of the heavier pages, and the increased amount of spaces for special issues, and variations.

Hmmmmm. . .

All this talk about albums makes me want to collect all of them!

Welcome to SCF, Bobafett!

Be sure to take a look at the Mystic Heirloom US album reviews. Just about everything I've heard from other SCF members about them is positive, and the price & quality makes it a great alternative to the Scott National albums.

Brian

I have all three albums discussed here if anyone has any specific questions or wants to see images.

I have a Harris Liberty vol. 1 (actually my son's) which goes up to 2000 I think.

I have a Minuteman vol. 1 which also goes up to 2000. I bought the pages last summer from a local dealer that was frustrated with the cheap Scott 3 ring binders and he punched it for the old style 2-post binder and I bought two new (but old style) Minuteman binders.

I also pieced together a Scott National album, through Vol. 2 (maybe vol.3 - can't remember), but I also have the extensive BOB stuff, including the revenues, officials, envelopes etc. I really like the Scott paper as its 80lb and 10x11.5". My old Scott National albums (2 of them) and slip covers are used copies won through auctions so they look pretty crappy. I'll be mounting my better stamps (and mint) in the National.

The main problem I have with the Minuteman and Liberty is the quality of the paper. I think the Liberty pages look better but there are advantages to the Minuteman (e.g., Scott numbers, better paper alignment). Of course, faced with the choice of the cheapo Scott Minuteman 3-ring binder (rather than the older Minuteman 2-post) and the Liberty 2-post, I would choose the Liberty - I don't mind the pages not laying flat.

Overall though, if you plan to build a serious US collection, choose something better, like the Scott National. I was recently looking at an auction for the Lighthouse US Hingeless albums, thinking how much easier it would be to go hingeless, but first, although I like Lighthouse binders and such a lot, I don't know how the pages are laid out, and second, I can't switch now I've sunk the dough into the National.

I too have found these posts about the differences in the albums to be very helpful. In fact I purchased the Mystic Heirloom based on all the positive reviews.

Having just gotten back in to the hobby after a 25+ year absence I wanted something that was affordable and also had the descriptions I remembered from the old Harris album I had back when.

I have decided to use the Heirloom albums for only used stamps and I am thinking of something nicer for the unused. I also think I will use mounts for anything, used or unused, that is older than 1940 just because of the age factor. The Mystic pages seem heavy enough to handle the mounts, especially if I use some type of re-positionable adhesive as opposed to moisture. I figure the pages won't distort then.

I would love to do White Ace for the mint collection as I really like the look of the pages with mounted stamps.

I did pick up an old National album off ebay and the paper is very nice but they are rather sparse looking. It only goes thru 1972 though.

Is there any difference in the pages, layout or weight, of the old two post Minuteman vs the new 3 hole? That might be the way to go for the mint stuff.

I also grabbed some older Scott and other cloth bound albums dating from the 40s and 50s. To me there is something neat about a bound album that can't be expanded. They are almost more of a book. I might use them for any used overflow.

Check out this review on US albums. The Minuteman album is not a good choice for various reasons.

https://goscf.com/t/17127

Brian

Hi

I have a question that no one seems to have asked, or discussed.

If you have a ring or post binder album and the stamps are mounted on the right page and descriptions on the left (back of the preceding page) what happens to this arrangement if you have to add a page

Be careful when buying a Minuteman album. I believe the older supplements do not fit in the new green binders without re-punching the pages. There are some of the older binders out there but scarce and very few.

For what it is worth. I mount covers, stamps and whatever on the same page. I found that 65 pound paper was adequate for the extra weight.

Jerry B