Worldwide Albums Comparison

I thought for my 200th post I would do a broad comparison of the major worldwide print albums covering the first century of philately. Corrections or additions appreciated as well as comments where you think I'm being biased one way or the other.

Scott International originals (Browns) - 5 vols

Pros:
—Comprehensive for major numbers in Scott Catalog (at the time each volume was published)
—Can purchase for bargain prices from ebay et al

Cons:
—Originals are out-of-print and most offered for sale are in less than pristine condition
—Hardbound so you can't interleave volumes or add your own pages
—Thinner, non-archival paper printed on both sides of the page
—No catalog numbers in spaces
—Most countries missing the stamps for mid-1939 through 1940

Scott International reprints by Vintage Reproductions (Browns) - 6 vols

Pros:
—Comprehensive for major numbers in Scott Catalog (at the time each volume was published)
—Looseleaf so you can integrate volumes and add your own pages (however, names of countries changed over time)
—Heavy archival paper printed on one side only
—Includes stamps through end of 1940

Cons:
—Expensive
—Takes lot of shelf space
—No catalog numbers in spaces

Scott International Volume One, 1 and 2-part versions (originally called the Junior, now commonly referred to as the Blues to differentiate them from the more comprehensive Browns)

Pros:
—Possible to house representative worldwide collection in a single volume (although as you add more stamps or interleaving, you'll will be hard pressed to keep it in even a jumbo binder)
—Can purchase earlier editions for bargain prices from ebay et al
—Used by many collectors so a lot of information is available on the Internet, including a wonderful checklist in progress by Jim (http://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/)

Cons:
—35K spaces represents no more than 50-60% of face different 1840-1940 stamps
—Unevenly edited; all editions are missing thousands of common stamps; some stamps are in some editions but not others
—Some countries that are in earlier versions are missing in later
—Printed on non-archival paper on both sides of the page
—Some editions are on thin paper which is prone to tearing
—Difficult to integrate with later volumes or to add your own pages
—No catalog numbers in spaces

Scott International Volume One, 4-part version (current version of what was originally called the Junior, now commonly referred to as the Blues to differentiate them from the more comprehensive Browns)

Pros:

—As above plus the 4-parts edition is on heavy archival paper and has been redesigned so you can integrate with later volumes as well as add you own pages

Cons:
—As above as regards scope and editing
—Better paper but still printed on both sides of the page (although there are a lot more blank backs of pages)
—More expensive to buy new than to purchase "used" earlier editions
—Missing hundreds of stamps and a few countries that were in some earlier editions


Minkus Supreme Global originals

Pros:
—Even the first edition went to 1952 which will be appealing to collectors who would like to go beyond a 1940 cutoff without buying any supplements
—Possible to house representative worldwide collection in a single volume (although as you add more stamps or interleaving, you'll will be hard pressed to keep it in even a jumbo binder)
—Most countries are noticeably more comprehensive than the Scott Blue Internationals
—Includes Minkus catalog numbers for every space which greatly simplifies matching the correct stamp to the space (as long as you acquire the out-of-print Minkus catalogs)
—Can purchase for bargain prices on ebay et al

Neutral:
—Contains more stamps per page than other albums listed here (form versus function)

Cons:
—Thinner, non-archival paper (but not as thin as some earlier Blue Internationals)
—Minkus catalog numbers are no longer used by sellers
—Some pages display more than one country making these sections somewhat difficult to integrate or expand (although better in this respect than earlier Scott Blue Internationals)

Minkus Supreme Global reprint of 1952 edition by Amos Publishing

Pros/cons: Same as the above but with the added advantage of being on thicker, archival paper
—Somewhat cheaper than the equivalent Scott Blue Internationals

Steiner (http://www.stampalbums.com/)

Pros:
—Comprehensive coverage
—Collector friendly policy of fixing mistakes
—Inexpensive compared to some of the other albums if you print your own pages
—Can use 8.5x11 inch paper which allows cheaper binding options
—Extremely easy to expand/integrate with your own pages

Neutral:
—Contains fewest stamps per page of any albums listed here (form versus function)

Cons:
—Almost no images of stamps, only descriptions
—No catalog numbers (but spaces correlate easily with the Scott catalog)
—Either must print your own pages or purchase preprinted pages from third parties (expensive); some collectors would disagree and rate the print yourself option as neutral or even a plus!
—Requires a lot of shelf space


Not included in the above:
Scott Speciality or Minkus Regional/Country albums could be used to house an 1840-1940 collection if you can find the ones that are out-of-print. Several very large worldwide collections that go beyond 1940 have used these albums.

The Gibbons Ideal Album covering 1840-1935 has virtues but I don't think is a practical option today. You can read more in my blog: http://globalstamps.blogspot.com/se...l+album

Nice Summary Bob!

I would add as a Pro for the Steiner that 90% of the time, the Steiner pages and stamp spaces follow the modern Scott stamp catalogue (especially the Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue) sequentially, so it is quite easy to identify or pencil in catalogue numbers in the Steiner by simply having the issue page open in the Scott catalogue. This mitigates a great deal the fact that there are no illustrations in the Steiner.

Jim, that has been my experience too on the couple of countries in Steiner that I have checked. Let me see if I can figure out how to add that to my original message.

For my core, pre-1936 collection, I use current reproductions of the SG Imperial for the Empire and the Ideal for the ROTW (for post-1936 Empire, SG produces multi-volume GVI and EII albums, although the current version of the latter ends in 1962).

The Imperial is well bound and uses better paper than the original printings, although the quality of the illustrations is lower. I haven't found great difficulty with bulging, although I probably have less stamps with mounts in the two volumes. The Ideal is not as well bound. The paper is better quality than the original albums, but, again, the quality of the illustrations is lower. It does present serious bulging problems, making the slipcases difficult to use. It also includes rather less space for some watermark etc varieties than the original editions, although these changes tend to be for countries, eg Mexico, where European interest is likely to be lower. It also omits officials and postage dues, which isn't, in my view, much of a loss. And it doesn't have the messy separation of definitives and commemoratives that one finds in some albums, eg Scott.

I do like the fastbound design, and I like the comprehensive coverage. There's a real sense that this is a worldwide stamp album. But you do need a lot of complementary volumes, which is another story. Both the reproduction Ideal and Imperials and original editions can be picked up for fairly reasonable prices at auctions in England (very reasonable in the case of empty reproduction albums).

Geoff