Scott Albums - How Can I Be Sure I Have All The Pages???

Hi,
Over the last few years I've bought and sold a number of Scott's Internationals (Vol 1-5)in order to get the best grouping of those binders/pages I could put together.

I've ended up with a pretty good set, but I wonder if I am missing some pages.

So my question is, is there a listing of the complete set of pages for those early albums?

Thanks all!
Mobilman44

Mobilman44-

The 1840-1940 International Part I (Big Blue) has had a number of editions- with stamp spaces added or deleted.

Perhaps your question is "Do I have all the pages for a certain edition?"

The 1947 edition- and perhaps the 1943 edition- should have all the stamps through 1940. The 1941 edition will be missing some of the 1939+ stamp spaces.

The 1969 edition is where the big changes occurred- as the editors removed a number of smaller countries, and lopped off some BOB from other larger countries. But stamp spaces for certain countries were added also.

So it is complicated.

Bob Skinner of "Filling Spaces" blog fame (http://globalstamps.blogspot.com/) has a list of the additions and deletions of the various editions.

Well that is one of the big questions about using earlier editions of the Blue Volume One. Ideally, it would be nice to have a comparison between all of the editions starting with 1943/1947 and going through the latest four parter. But I rather doubt that this is going to happen!

When I first started looking at the Blues, I assumed that the 1943/47 version was the most complete and subsequent editions dropped stamps. I later found out that while the earlier version may be the most complete, some later editions have stamps not in the 43/47.

I think one would start with a list of the countries that have been in the Blue and then more detailed lists where you can find them of issues within countries that have been added or gone missing over the year. I know there are some mistakes in these, but two posts on my blog might be of use:

Stamps in the 1943/47 edition missing in [most] later editions:
http://globalstamps.blogspot.com/20...m-later.html

Stamps in some later editions missing in the 1943/47
http://globalstamps.blogspot.com/20...all-bad.html

If you don't have any stamps without a "home", then I say you have all the pages. This obsession... hobby is complicated enough, don't go looking for trouble!

Kim Possible, alas the specific album under discussion contains spaces for only 35K 1840-1940 stamps out of perhaps 70-80K stamps issued during that century. This means thousands of common stamps that you might expect to be in the album aren't, so having a stamp without a space isn't revealing one way or the other.

However, I agree with you on the larger point. If you are going to use the Scott Blues, you need to come to terms with collecting to the album rather than the catalog. That doesn't mean you can't add missing stamps, but you are in for a lot of disappointment if you expect to find spaces already in the album for every stamp you come across. "Don't go looking for trouble"--great advice!

May I clarify a bit.........
I ended up with volume 1 and put it in a big blue album to contain the classic period (thru 1939). I then took volumes 2-5 and consolidated the pages alpha by country - essentially going from 1940 thru 1960/61. I think that a page or two may be missing from some of the later years. In example, there seems to be a void between the last page of a country in volume 4, and the first page of said country in volume 5. My problem is, I don't know if said page ever existed or not.

Said another way, I'm not concerned about stamps not appearing on a page where they would fall (chronologically), but that I may actually be missing a page.

I'm doubting there is a way to solve my problem (if I really have one), other than getting ahold of additional volume 4s and 5s and comparing contents.

Mobilman44, I now understand what you are asking. I don't have any suggestion beyond the obvious of enquiring on various stamp boards if anyone has a volume whatever Scott International and would they check the last/first page of whatever country. I know, I'm no help at all.

Mobilman, I would think that if a page is missing there would be a gap in the pictured stamps? I would suggest to find the stamps on the last page of volume 4 on www.stampworld.com. They list stamps of all countries in chronological order. You then check and see if the next stamps on 'stampworld' are the ones that start volume 5.

Peter

Volume 5 seems to be one of the trickier albums of the Scott Internationals. It is much easier to see what is going on before the shuffling. I think Volume 4 has stamps up to mid 1959 and Volume V starts in mid-1959, but might not be the case for all counties. A good litmus test if you pick up a random Scott international is to check the US section (if it was not already removed). If you are familiar enough with U.S. stamps you can get a good idea what date range that particular album has. Past Scott International 2, most world stamps are included minus souvenir sheets. It is a good idea to keep a pack of quadrille sheets handy for those extra stamps and just interleave these quad sheets in with your album.

I agree with land-o-quakes' suggestion about using blank quadrille pages, also published by Scott. I've been doing just that, with my Blue Internationals, since I purchased Vol 1 - 5 in the mid-1980s.

I am missing some Scott Minuteman pages from 1987 thru 1990 and I'm wondering why I don't have at least one or two of them.

For years I have been thumbing past this glassine envelope with some stamps in it that are in my stock book. Then one day something bit me and I looked inside the envelope. They are one years worth of stamps from a set that runs from 1987 thru 1989. Since I stopped keeping up in 1988, and began working backwards on the, now "classic" stamps, that explains the problem, but not the confusion that caused it.

Anyway, I've decided to complete the set, even though it goes past 1988. I have had the pages made already. I will then post the stamps and share the set here.

Then I got to thinking, if I do that, what about the other "exceptions to the rule" where I have incomplete sets because I stopped in 1988 due to the rapidly rising cost of keeping up. If you look at the number of stamps released between 1847 and 1988, then look at the number of releases from 1989 to the present, I would venture to guess that there has been at least 1.5 times the number of stamps released in the latter time period than the former.

Sets like the transportation coils and great Americans series continued long after 1988. And if I decided to get into all the varieties it seems like walking into an abyss of new pages, mounts and stamps. But then I look at what I spend by now on one single classic stamp, and I wonder...

But I just CAN"T get past that beautiful lost art of engraving.

Much confusion in the stamp collecting part of my brain these days.

Sorry I rambled.


-IBFS

I have a similar situation - Scott volumes 1-5: started as a gift vol 1-2 gift then built up pages through purchases through the years. I've rearranged the entire set alphabetically. I have some of the same problems - missing pages, but due to changes Scott made over the years, I also have some duplicated pages. My advice is to keep some blank/quad pages on hand to fill in the gaps. They are not the same as printed pages, but it saves trying to find 1-2 elusive pages.

To add a twist into my collection, I purchased a wide format printer and now add "Steiner" pages into the mix. Remove the outside border, adjust the centering and they make an excellent way to customize the set while keeping the same look and feel. In the past I had tried Scott Specialty and Minkus pages but they sit in the album like a sore thumb.

Hi!
Well, I was bidding on a second part 4 and part 5 but they skyrocketed, so I'll keep looking. I wanted to get them to assure myself that I have all the pages in my sets. Then I can resell the extras.

I do use the Scotts quadrille paper for stamps not on the regular pages, but again, my "problem" is to determine if I am missing pages, or not. Of course this isn't a major deal, but it is a sticking point for this retired "business analyst" (who can be somewhat anal)...........

mm-

After Peter's suggestion, if you do find that you are missing pages, can you make the pages yourself? Have a border scanned black and white to a disk at a copy store, use Photoshop to put what you need on the page, then have it printed back at the copy store and cut it to size? I know this would be awkward if the number of pages you were missing were many. The windows font "Palatino Linotype" is VERY close to what is on my Minuteman pages. Perhaps yours as well? I've done this all several times now myself. It's worked very well for me.


-IBFS