My Collection So Far, Using The Steiner Page System

How are you applying the mounts? A dab of glue stick is really all that's required. All over moistening will make the mount very difficult to remove. But why use mounts? For anything but the expensive or the unmounted mint, anything but a hinge is a waste of money.

"waste of money" is subjective. Not everyone treats money like George Costanza. I am printing Steiner pages on Neenah Exact Vellum Bristol, 67 lb, Ivory color, and using black mounts for every stamp because I love the way it looks - albeit for only 12 countries, and only for 1840-1940 and in some cases for even narrower time frames. The choice is driven by having a combination of costly and cheap stamps on the same page and desiring a consistent and museum-like appearance. When the same page has a $200 Irish overprint Seahorse MNH plus a $0.25 mint previously hinged definitive, it wouldn't look right to put the former in a mount and hinge the latter.

I use the mounts for all my stamps. I believe that consistency is important for me.

Mine is 99% hinged

Over the many years I have collected world wide, I have from time to time, changed how I did things. It may be more accurate to say I have evolved in the way I do things. I began exclusively producing my own pages at least ten years ago, as I was finding the supplements increasingly more difficult to find and increasingly less satisfied with the items included. My collecting interests have also evolved, wanting copies of my desired pieces with selvage, corners and or margins, I also collect Souvenir Sheets. Using Minkus pages and albums since the early 70's and don't wish to change now. I started out using blank Minkus pages and hand designing them, once again I evolved and began printing on the correct size pager measuring each and every piece to be mounted. I use the Steiner pages, on occasion, because he has included many of the Souvenir Sheets and having the ability to modify these files, to some degree streamlines my design and production of pages.

Recently my large carriage inkjet printer died and finding a suitable replacement has been no easy task. The printers available from the normal outlets will not conveniently handle the 11.25 X 9.5 pages I use. After months of research and searching I went to a auction and bought a used HP9050DN laser which is a office high volume unit. I found out quick not to make any mistakes as they cost a lot of paper. But other than that it creates a beautiful and perfectly registered copy on both sides. Even if the back is blank I like it to have county name and a border.

I have also began experimenting with the Softpro AlbumGen program to design pages. It is a very good program and I may eventually produce some pages to fit into my collecting interests. At this point I use a older copy of a sign design program for my pages but as time goes by and operating systems change I may have no other choice but to give it up. The Windows 7 operating system is the latest system it will run on. I have moved on to Windows 10 but am maintaining a Windows 7 Machine just for this.

I believe self produced pages is the way to go and possibly the wave of the future for stamp collectors. I'm not so sure it is that much cheaper, for me, but I am able to make my collection all I wish it to be.

For the parts of my collection housed in Steiner, I mostly use hinges with more expensive or NH stamps going in a clear mount. Clear mounts and hinged stamps look just fine in the same album together or even on the same page.

I agree with SDTOM. I too like the consistency of using black background mounts for my collection. Yes it costs more, many times the mount costs more than the stamp. For me, and everyones likes and dislikes are different, the consistency is important and I like the mounts. For my tastes I just think they look so good surrounded by that black background. LOL

I have been playing with the 65lb paper also. I really like the way it looks for the three countries I am focusing on, Austria, Germany, and Belgium. Definitely costs more and takes up more space so I doubt I'll use the heavier paper for all the other countries, but who knows, as time goes on and I start collecting more of other countries I might put them on the heavier paper as well. LOL

I do like the Steiner pages. No they don't include every stamp I want in my album. I try to fit the varieties on the same page if there is room and most times there is. I use a ruler and pencil to mark out where I will place the stamp. For the few times there isn't room I use a blank Steiner page and again using ruler and pencil lay out the stamp or stamps.

I think I posted in another thread before that "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder". I have my MNH USA collection mounted in black backed mounts and a GB & Commonwealth collection mounted with hinges. I like 'em both!

Jack Kelley

We all got positive things to say about the STEINER PAGES , so as many of you know I also like to throw in a negative statement here .
I use the STEINER Pages and they are great but I also every few years buy a new set on CD .Why because I learned things may not be the same in the future and here is my fear .
The success of these pages are going to attach interest from some of the bigger album firms or a new company that figure to buy out this system of pages and make it their own . Then they start changing everything to maximize their investment by canceling out the CD and making you pay a subscribtion fee to download from them . You got to realize these pages are winning over a lot of collectors and others are looking to profit from them ,maybe not right now but if stamp collecting picks up these pages are going to be in demand as a profit center . So my advice put away a CD and not rely on the down load of pages off the internet .

Floortrader you are so right. I never even thought about the commercialization of Mr. Steiners pages. Any time something like Mr. Steiners stamp albums show this much popularity the big companies see a profit to me made and horn in. I've been putting off getting the CD and have been downloading the pages as I need them. I think I'll make getting the CD my next priority.

I wish Steiner would sell the files on flashdrive. CDs are also outdated. I don't actually own a computer with a CD/DVD drive, and my laptop works almost exclusively off cloud storage. Actually, flashdrives are somewhat outdated with the move to cloud storage, but if the goal is to have the files saved permanently somewhere not in the cloud, then flashdrives would be a much better choice. Most laptops have multiple USB plugins. They also aren't subject to scratching or easy breaking as CDs are.

As soon as I get my printer up and running (it's supposed to be wireless but has been giving me an attitude about connecting), I'll be purchasing the Steiner pages and, likely, more shelving.

Well, bit the bullet and ordered my subscription. I'm waiting; I got a note from his wife that he's apparently been under the weather and he'll get back to me as soon as he's on his feet again. Which I totally get. In the meantime, I realized he's offering quite a few countries either in part or in their entirety for FREE, so I naturally decided that collecting Zululand is now a must. (Apparently Zululand is also frequently forged, so this may be an interesting collecting adventure.)

Here's how I've modified my Steiner pages in the past. However, I realized this takes quite a bit more ink to print! And a lot of time if you are collecting WW.

Chris-

Nice modified Steiner pages.

Chris,how are you housing your collection at present? I know you tried various approaches in the past - what have you settled on?

Jim,

That's a good question! I have the full set of Vintage Reproduction pages, but I still really like the BigBlue 2-volume set that I've been using since the mid-1980s. And I like the at least theoretically realistic goal of being able to complete a BigBlue collection. I do use the Vintage pages for a few countries that I have more depth in, like Turkey and couple of others. But, after trying several different systems, I must say that I still have the most fun and relaxation just adding stamps to my BigBlues…the joy of filling a space and the joy of a completed page