Struggling On Album Page

i am considering to move my collection from stock pages to preprinted hingeless country album. I saw many album pages from members in this forum. it is beautiful and organised. I am focusing on countries in South East Asia, mainly Malaya/Malaysia. if not mistaken, Palo is the only one that offering hingeless pages for Malaya.

i am struggling on should I buy the pre-printed album pages from Palo or should I just print it myself. If I buy it from Palo, it will be easy. I just need to put my stamps into their hingeless album. but the problem is, I know there are some spaces in the album that will never been filled in. those rare varieties will be most likely to be empty forever.

then, if I print the album myself. it will take times, I need to measure, print, buy mounts, papers, binders, etc. many jobs need to be done. but, in this way, I can design my own page. and there will not have any empty space in the pages. However, for some sets of stamps or some periods of stamps without much varieties and with reasonable pricing, the page layout will be very similar with those I buy from Palo or other suppliers. in that case, it is actually better if I just buy it from supplier.

any of you having the similar problem last time? and at last how you choose?

Hi johnlcp

I have been using quadrille blank pages for years. Just recently I had a local printer print some for me as I did not like what was currently on the market.

I collect only 3 countries so it is not a gargantuan task. For one country I collect varieties, etc. I mount a stamp and its varieties on the same page, and maybe a pertinent cover. I only mount what I have. If I get a new variety I will redo the page.

Just a suggestion for using blank quadrille pages.

Jerry B

"If I get a new variety I will redo the page"-------sounds like you spend too much time remaking pages. Waste paper basket must be full of all the pages you created .

I do something similar to jbcev80 but I usually don't mount stamps until I have complete sets or enough continuous stamps to make a nice display on the page. I keep incomplete sets on Vario sheets until they are completed. My albums are Lighthouse three ring binders. I suppose some people might find my albums messy but it works for me. Very little remounting is required. The paper I buy is good quality quadrilled paper printed specifically for the stamp market and I use Lighthouse open-top mounts (trimming required). I am not a fan of pre-printed album pages and don't have enough time to fuss around arranging and printing my own displays, although I admire those that have the patience to do so. If some description of the stamps is required, I will prepare the write-up and print it on a facing page opposite the stamps on display. Takes up a little more album space, but that's OK.

Malaya- Sungei Ujong in Steiner pages

An alternative is to subscribe to Steiner pages and print out your own, and add mounts.

http://www.stampalbums.com/

Steiner pages have the same layout as Palo pages (minus the images),as he licensed his pages to Palo.

thanks for the suggestions..quadrille page is another option for me now.

Jkjblue, nice Sungei Ujong page!

Floor Trader - not to hijack this thread, but how do you keep your own collection updated?

I ask because, as many of the regular board participants probably know, your collection is huge. So your experience and recommendations can be very valuable.

-Duncan

PS: Are you still in Chicago? Still buying large collections?

Hi floortrader

I do not redo as many pages as you would think.

Unlike nbstamper, I do not use Vario pages. I purchased some Hawid three row stock cards years ago. These cards fit nicely in a steel file box. I keep stamps, in mounts, on these cards until I decide to put the stamps on a page, usually one or two issues to a card. I have little labels describing the stamps I have and the stamps I am looking for.

I will mount the stamps on a page when I have enough for a page. I know what is needed and since everything is in Showgard mounts I mount an empty mount. The empty mount doesn't bother me at all. These issues are mainly classics era. For modern issues it is not a problem.

I have not remounted a page for years using this method.

Jerry B

Steiner pages are a great route to go.

That said, I have a couple of Palo albums (Israel, USA) and they are VERY nice and high quality. I can't speak for Malaya/Malaysia, but one of my collections is Haiti. The simple fact is the hingeless Palo Albums are pricey enough that they actually be worth more than the collection itself. However, the collection would look really nice in the Palo.

So at the moment, Haiti is on Steiner pages, and I continue the debate on moving them to Palo Albums.

I have considered Palo in the past, but to be honest the color pictures turn me off. It looks as if the album is already filled up! But they are very nice albums!

Peter

Questions on the Palo albums..........
I got their catalog with the monthly APS mag. My question is, do their albums have "all the stamps", like Steiner pages? Or do they have representative slots, like the Scotts Internationals?
Thanks,
Mobilman44

They have all the major numbers with a space- just like the Steiner albums... well, because they are Steiner all gussied up!

Duncan-----yes, still buying large collections but also buying more specialized material to expand my collection.I had purchased four or five large lots of new issues from Cherrystone.

Peter, as I know, Palo also offer pages in black and white.

The black and white pictures are their "economy" pages. You have to provide your own mounts or hinges, but they are still quite nice. My untabbed Israel is on these pages.

the "Premium Page" also available in b&w



ecmorgan, did you measure all the mounts and cut to the size to fit the frame in the pages? is it hard to make sure the mounts are fit in exactly and look nice?