A Re-Introduction To Worldwide Collecting..........

While I am an avid US collector, I recently decided to get back into worldwide collecting after more than a 50 year hiatus. Wanting to "do it right", I asked a whole lot of questions of the good folks on this forum. With my interests being from 1840 to 1949, I went after a used Big Blue Part 1 and Part 2 off of ebay. They, and the many stamps inside, finally arrived. Here are my first impressions:

- The albums are big and heavy, with more pages than I ever imagined.
- There are many stamp issuing entities I never heard of before.
- I was amazed at actually remembering foreign stamps that I have not seen for well over 50 years!
- As big as these albums are, there is a need for more pages for additional issues.
- While the pages are in very good shape,they are old and thin and I will need to be especially careful with them.
- I speculate that - assuming my interest remains high - I will someday buy a new set of pages/binders/slipcases.

All that being said, I am really happy to be back in the WW theatre!

Hi, I think it would be wise to stay with 1949 as a cutoff..i kept buying used Scott Internationals as they came along until year 1969..and I wished I had stopped at 1960...after that it really got scary..African countries with 40 pages of stamps etc;

Hi!
I'm already looking into the future, trying to figure out the best course of action for acquiring and setting up new books. Yes, I am pretty firm that 1949 will be my cutoff. So many stamps issued after 1960 (or so) are nice works of art, but were mostly printed for collector revenue purposes.

There is a reason they are known as "Big Blue".



You will become geographically and historically more knowledgeable than 99% of the population.




Collecting stamps and issues remembered as children is one of the hidden attractions of WW collecting.




Even with 35,000 spaces, Big Blue is still a representational album. So additional spaces are often needed.



If your interest continues, think earlier rather than later about this. Transferring 20,000 stamps is not fun.



You will have more fun then what should be legally permissible.

Thanks for the comments! And, I do have a couple more questions.....

- do folks tend to keep Big Blue parts separate by year groupings, or does anyone ever combine the pages so countries are continuous from 1840-1949?
- for my "future step", as an intermediate collector, would I be better off in buying the new Scott pages (parts 1 and 2), or???

- I notice that the previous owner of one of the albums hinged duplicates and variations under the primary stamp. I don't believe I care for that, but was wondering how others feel about the practice.
Thanks all!

I see a lot of albums on ebay where the collector has combined multiple parts (i.e., auctions which say something along the lines of 'Worldwide Collection A-C.' That seems to me the logical way to do it but I suppose if one collected the world to date, you would be forever rearranging your albums to accommodate the new supplements.

It is not uncommon to find collectors who like multiple stamps in a space. Not my cup of tea, but some people like the stamps on their pages to look like "barnacles on a hull."

Mobilman: I have the International Blue Parts One through Five. I bought them in the early 1980s before Part One was split in half. Until earlier this year, I had them in more or less alphabetical sequence ("more or less" because Scott did not always follow the alphabet for smaller issuing entities).

Since Portugal & Colonies are a specialty of mine, I pulled out all of those countries from the alphabetical sequence and placed them into one jumbo binder. I'm thinking next of creating a North American binder (US, Canada & Provinces, Mexico, St. Pierre, etc.). If I do that, then I will re-arrange all the remaining countries back into an alphabetical sequence.

I don't hinge variations or duplicates under a primary stamp; I've bought collections where used copies were hinged under mint stamps. That's what blank pages are for. My recommendation for you is to experiment a bit and see what you like; what works for you.

Enjoy. Steve

Thanks all for the input......
As most of you can relate, one needs to carefully think out the future course of albums and arrangements. At the moment, I'm "only" dealing with just under 8000 "non US" stamps. The thought of moving them to a "final resting place" is something I'm OK with. But, to come back a few years down the road and move them again....... well, that's next to torture.

Unless you have proof of them being so I would not call them collector revenue purpose stamps at all. They have been used inside the countries that they were published with. If catalogs like Scott and SG list them they are valid stamps that have proof of being used.

Hi,
I should not have used the phrase "mostly printed......". Let's just say that a percentage of postage stamps printed these days end up in collectors hands - never being used to actually move a piece of mail.

I too started out with the Big Blue through 1940... Then about 6 months later I picked up a part 2.. then a part 3 and (you can see where this is going) eventually I worked up to a part 23 (1988-ish) I then have Harris supplements through the present. If you like to use mounts then the thinner pages in the older big blues will not work well. Hinges work fine. You will need interleaving. Not a horrible task to insert, but it helps out. Another alternative I do for interleaving is insert Scott International Quadrille pages in counties for all those varieties you will find. Subway G&K offers generic pages such as these and sometimes seconds for the budget minded collector (me). You will probably eventually spilt your part 1 into 2 albums (maybe 3), likewise for a Part 2 all the way up to Part 4, then from part 5, 5A etc and beyond they stick in their one volumes pretty well. You can spend the $$ now to get the stronger pages for your part 1. They aren't cheap and you are better off keeping your eyes peeled for an upgrade part 1 with stamps in it for about the same price.

As for collation. If you know for sure you will stop at a certain year then collate away, if you might go into the future I've found it is a real pain to insert sheets. This is especially true when I try to insert my chronological Harris pages to the present. The best idea I have seen for those who collect modern (post 1980) is to break up the years in blocks of five. Have one album (or set of albums) be 1980-1985, 1986-1990 etc so then you will be working on just a 2005-2010 album someday and you wouldn't need to inter-file through 32 albums. Most people eventually give up and just leave the loose supplement pages stuck in there making a mess.

As you can see there are lots of ways you can go. Have fun filling those albums!

Hi,
What I am seeing that makes me lean to combining part 1 and 2 is that in many spaces in the part 2, it refers to "like 19xx issue" - which of course is pictured in the part 1. While I may someday consider the Part 3, I really have no interest in anything further.