Are Stamp Albums Negative Reinforcement?

Went to a stamp show this weekend with the sole purpose of cleaning up some gaps in my Washington-Franklins. So I dropped some coin but that's not the issue. My stamp albums keep whispering to me about what I "don't have" rather than what "I do have." It's those gaps on pages. I may have a beautiful page of stamps but right in the middle is the expensive one I can't afford and it makes the page a downer when it should be a positive. I know that is part of what collecting is - my point is albums can be a downer. I guess the thought is collect stamps you like and not because the album says you are missing one. Anyone else feel that way?

I guess the question comes down to whose collection is it? Is it your collection or is it the stamp album publisher's collection. If it is your collection then you have every right to decide what it is you will and will not collect and damned be the album publishers. For some stamps, more albums have been printed for that stamp than are still in existence.

On the other hand if you are collecting for the album publisher, is it really worth it?

I agree with Smauggie. Collect what you like. If an album page presented by a publisher doesn't meet your needs, you can always edit a scanned copy of the page, or create your own page, or put your collection in a Vario page so you need not explain to those you present it to what's missing. Of course, "what's missing" is a relative term. Sometimes there are minor variations of a stamp that many people won't bother to collect (even though there may be space for them in an album). Others may view the minor variety as not worth collecting (as in some modern issues) and still others aren't identified as a collectible variety for sometime after the stamp has been in circulation, meaning that some earlier albums may not have a space for the stamp, whereas some newer albums do have a space for it. There are even some stamps that have been pulled in or out of a series based on the whim of catalog (and album) publishers (ex.: The Pershing Stamp is no longer part of the US Liberty Series, yet every album printed from the 1960s to the 2010s have it placed there, until the Scott Catalog publishers decided to move it just last year.)

Yet another example as to why the phrase "there are no rules in stamp collecting" applies. Simply do what pleases you the best.

Well, I have to say those open spaces do call to me. Its especially hard when you have a series of stamps and there are one or two missing.

That being said, the albums are a must to me.

That's why I'm a strong believer in custom album pages or if you don't have an artistic eye stockbooks which allow you to arrange the stamps any way you want and not have the added pressure of missing stamps.

CF

I think I know exactly what you mean. I'm tempted to print a picture of the missing stamp just so the hole in the page is not so obvious.

Page 1 of my Canada album looks pretty bleak !

Empty spaces do seem to call out more than filled spaces.



Since I collect classic WW 1840-1940, there are a lot of empty spaces in the Steiner album.

Bur fiscal reality is, unless one's name is Bill Gross, many of those empty spaces will need to remain so.

What to do?

The solution for myself is to make a tangible goal- which is difficult, but not impossible.

I collect based on the checklist of Big Blue ,the Scott International Part I 1840-1940 album. The nice thing is many of the expensive stamps are not found on the checklist. (After all, Big Blue began life as a "Junior" album )

So, although I need to find 35,000 classic stamps over a period of many years, it might just be possible.

This is a major reason why I am moving away from albums towards stockbooks and Vario sheets. For the US, which I keep in Scott's National Album,I am removing pages for special printings and for all those Washington and Franklin coils which do not at the moment interest me. I keep many of the nineteenth century stamps in Vario sheets so the emphasis is on what I do have rather than the gaps.

Scouter, I stopped using album pages some time back. I make my own pages. I collect multiple copies of the same Scott#. I try to get at least one good mint, one good used and some good on-cover example of all the W/Fs. Can't do that with a pre-printed album. I know the ones I'm missing (yep, the big dollar ones) and If and when I get one of them I'll add a page for it. It really is all about just what and how you want to arrange what you collect.

That's something that's inherent in collecting anything. If you have a list of things that you are supposed to be collecting, the things that you don't have is always going to call out louder than the things that you do because the things you already have don't need to be collected anymore. Of course, you don't have to let the album dictate what you want to collect, you're free to pick and choose what you want to have and make your own pages if you like, but the reason most of us have albums and catalogs is so that we know what we have and what we still need to get. Once you have everything that you want to collect, you're no longer collecting!

Hi to all

Even with printing your own pages, you sometimes get tempted to to leave a space and description for the elusive missing item.
However, having said that, I only do it for stamps that I know are relatively easy to find, and know that I will come across a reasonable price copy, as I have done on this page as an example.
Regards
Horamakhet
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Scouter,
I went to a stamp show this past weekend also. I bought some UN and some US, all mint NH. I completed my UN-NY collection up to date for which I'm really happy. I know that I can fill the holes in the UN Geneva and Vienna, but the US will always have holes in the album. It doesn't bum me out just shows that I'm not rich but I sure am having fun and learning along the way. I'll keep filling the holes that I can as time and money goes. For precancels I will print my own pages with spaces for just what I have. So it's up to you, it's your collection so collect and present it the way you want and the way it makes you happy and proud. Dan

I learned as a ten-year old collecting trading cards that the moment of completion is briefly exhilarating, but then it's pretty empty. So from that time on I have not pursued "completion". It seems to have worked for me.
Here are a two pages which reflect my aproach:

I collect and buy what I want,never thinking about the blank spaces.

The problem is that albums could entice you to seek and buy something that would not otherwise interest you. My French album is mostly complete except for easily forged philatelic overprints and stamps that were never actually issued. The album suggests it is less complete than it really is, and also more complete as it does not include all kinds of varieties. For America I just want the major designs, and I have most of those, but the album insists that I go for allsorts of fly-speck varieties.