Storing Large Used World Wide Collections

I really like this thread, so many interesting views from such noble heavy weight collectors.

Jim is considering lifting his cut-off a decade or two. Hieronymus's is sharing some very interesting thoughts on a ragged cut-off. Both made me consider why the (..) do I collect all the way until 2000?

When I picked up collecting again and made my album set-up I allowed plenty of room for post-1940, and then less and less room for more recent issues. I did realize that recent issues were less interesting, but still I decided to collect them all as a general collector. Now your thoughts are making me reconsider, especially this:


I certainly agree, and the same goes for the stamps. Most of the more recent issues are simply 'deadweight' anyway, causing pain both with regards to storage and time spent to get them into the albums...
I seriously need to consider getting this deadweight overboard, and find more time to focus on the more interesting classical stuff. You might have inspired me to join the club of classical collectors - and abandon the idea of being a 'general collector'

Would still need to keep up certain areas though, like France, Canada, UK, US, Scandinavia. Hmmm - where to draw the line?

Thank you all for sharing your wisdom, it is really inspiring

Jim:


Yepp, all major no.s, including numbers listed as eg 2A (not 2a)

Those are some good countries (except maybe the US!). For the period 1960 to 1990, there are some other good areas to consider.

Any/all of Western Europe except perhaps Faroes and Aland
Much of Eastern Europe (I include Greece and Turkey) with perhaps some exceptions. Poland printed a lot of wallpaper, although I personally like most of their stamps. Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania all had periods of excess as well but again I like most of these stamps

Asia is very interesting for this period- Japan, Korea, Malaya, Thailand, Burma, Singapore, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and many others. Australia was prolific as time drew closer to 1990 but most issues don't seem exploitative. Mongolia was very much over the top

Aside from Trucial States, the Middle East is great during this period although Saudi Arabia is extremely difficult to complete.

Africa, unfortunately, presents some problems during this period though South Africa, SWA, Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, and a few others in Northern Africa were conservative and issued locally relevant stamps.

Just some thoughts on 1960-1990.

So while we discuss which countries we include when mounting large, mostly used collections, I'm curious how you all feel about Saudi Arabia and how hard do you chase it for your WW collection?

Blaamand

I suppose I'd draw a distinction between actively "collecting" and "owning". If I acquire modern material, including junk, I hold on to it, but I don't generally do much more with it than put it at the back of a stock-book. I have a rough cut-off of 1970, but there's plenty of good European material to enjoy after that, although I tend to acquire it in the course of buying earlier material.

And I do like the stories that stamps tell about the political world - which is why I don't spend my life sorting Machins!

Regards.

Geoff

Czechoslovakia make very nice stamps especially the one using engraving and photogravure together.

Geoff, no problem--I'm well aware that Czechoslovakia in that era is considered a delicacy and I don't doubt you are 100% correct about it.

The "ragged principle" would permit making an exception for one country. Or two. Or maybe three. One doesn't have think, "well, if I do one Warsaw Pact country in the 1950s I have to do the USSR and ALL the others.

Rather, I'll make this exception because I have a solid reason for it--GeoffHa says so." If I make an exception for two, it's because I have a good reason for those two but I don't feel pressured to round all of them up.

If someone sees my collection and asks, "why aren't you consistent? You have post-war Czechoslovakia but not Hungary. Why?"
I can then expatiate on the exquisite beauty of post-war Czechoslovak stamps citing the famed GeoffHa of Stamp Community Forum as my authority.

Indeed, now that GeoffHa has primed my pump, I may just print out those 1940-1960 Steiner Czechoslovakia pages tomorrow and get going. . . . .

Or should I go beyond 1960, Geoff?

That's the beauty of the Steiner pages. I can print what I have stamps for and ignore the rest. And when I get more stamps, for pages I've not printed, I just print the pages out.

For the US I go to about 1964. It was going to be 1950 and then I decided I do want to complete that Liberty definitive series and then it went to 1960 and then past that . . . largely because of what I happened to have on hand from my wife's childhood collection (she's no longer interested in stamps and my US childhood collection is long gone). Those early 1960s US commemoratives were the mainstay of my first years of collecting--the ones we eagerly watched for on letters after they were issued. But going beyond 1965 or so? Sure, even the US issued interesting stamps after that. No matter where I cut a country off, I will be forgoing some interesting stamps. That's a given. But I know for sure I'm not interested generally in the 1970s or 1980s and beyond stuff. Others are--I'm not saying the stuff is no good, but I know for sure it's not for me.

Ragged edges. Now that's something I know how to do well. Be grateful for little things.

In my "core area" (British East, Central and Southern Africa) the cut off is easy. All pre-1935, though this gets a bit sticky with the first SA rotogravure issue. Where possible the last set of stamps is the KGV Silver Jubilee issue. Iceland is simple: 1874-1974. Greenland is more quirky and I cut off at the millennium. Baltic States are all pre-WW2. Yemen is the usual basket-case and in general is up to the end of the first Civil War, but a historical demarcation around 1964 and no later. Memel is easy because it begins and ends neatly.

Horses for courses, basically.

Fine discussion!

GeoffHa,
Thanks, you're absolutely pointing to an important aspect. If I should decide to cut down on my timespan, it would still be very difficult to let this other material just pass by...
I already have a similar dilemma on stamps from this millenium, I don't bother much about them, but still do not have the heart to let them go... so I just stow them in at the back of the album.

Jim and Hieronymos - believe both of you are primarily classical collectors - what do you do with all the recent material I would presume is ending up on your desk?

Shermae - yepp, you're listing many fine areas. Surprisingly even the most boring areas like e.g Mongolia or Rwanda CTO might be somewhat fascinating once finding the motivation to start sorting... so I would find it very difficult to draw a line. I would probably end up with more or less all western countries and a few others. Saudi Arabia is not my cup of tea, except the Hejaz era. Kind of agree with you on cutting down on US. I simply included it on my list as an act of diplomacy, so as not to offend you good people at the wrong side of the Atlantic

Why does anybody collect to any cut off date might be a more proper question... I think it all boils down to personal preferences.

For some it's personal associations like their birth year. Can't really argue with that.


If it's about designs / techniques used on stamps, then why not simply go with the flow, and collect whatever appeals to you despite the date. For example 90% of modern French stamps are more or less 'wallpaper designs', but the remaining 10% are smoking hot. Same can be said for just about any country.

If you're into postmarks, how about collecting only SOTN postmarks. Again, no cut off year required.

If you're into specific designers / styles / topics... Again, go with the flow and pick whatever pleases you.

If looking at historical connections / backgounds... Well, the ultra modern issues don't have history yet, but it's in the news.

Yes, it might lead to collection that has got more holes than Swiss cheese. But so what? 'Collect what you will & have fun with it'should be the motto of every collector.




Like it very much... Good historical background, very conservative new issue policy, interesting designs, challenging...




Ye Norwegians are always so diplomatic (unlike us Finns), LOL

-k-

keijo

From a classical perspective, interesting area, with many Hejaz and Nejd overprinted issues, and some overprinted for use in Transjordan. Good window on a historically active period.

Interesting comments on Saudi Arabia and Transjordan as I have been considering these for a couple of years. Historically very interesting and really good to put in a historical context as a written up collection. But where to cut off though?

BTW as a point of order I wrote 1874-1974 where I should have written 1873-1973 for Iceland. 2 days out of hospital after appendicitis and I am not at my shiniest :-/ especially when unable to sleep.

STORING LARGE USED WORLDWIDE COLLECTION ?????
Did we see a clear answer to that question ?????
Since I read and understand things different than most of you ...........I am going to answer it my way .
First I keep a few collections ,there are my worldwide Scott Internationals ,there are the Specialties Albums ,these include Swiss Cantonals ,Roman States ,German Inflation ,you seen my Blue Flea and my Heligoland,you seen parts of my forgery collection ,you see my Cinderella collection .Also stuff I am working on to make pages.
Then I keep a inventory of 102 cards in long red dealer boxes,these are better stamps and complete sets .
Then I have my stock books which have country binders and a set of binders for A -Z for smaller countries on both manila and black stock pages .
So keeping a large collection breaks down to Album pages ,102 cards and stock pages is how it is all kept .I hope in the next 20 years it can expand to a decent collection .

Thanks, Floortrader to put the tread on track, to continue

- My world collection is on Scott Int up to 1980, I printed many Steiner pages to add the missing stamps, I put them in plastic protector that I re punch holes to fit as interleaves in the Scott Int.
- Canada and US are in Lighthouse Album
- Philippines in a Minkus Album
- Sweden is all redo with Steiner modify
- Russia in a Minkus Album
- I have many binders of Stamps over 1980 and I will print pages for them
- I keep only 1 samples in dplicate in binder, the rest is sold as kiloware or individual, I mainly exchange them in brink and motars stores for albums
- I keep also many of the albums I purchase even if I removed the stamps in them, they are reference.

Now for the cutting date, I don't cut, I mainly purchase albums from stores, ebay or auction, so if I have stamps , I print the pages. I Purchase Albums for the stamps of 1840-1950, but many of thoses album go to 1980, some 1990 and rarely 2000

Every collector has a different approach to storing his/her large worldwide collection.

In my case, I use the Vintage Scott Brown pages reprint for 1840-1940, augmented
with Scott International pages to 1949, housed in Scott standard binders. I also
use Scott Specialized pages for China and Canada, plus the Van Dam 4-volume
album for Canada Revenues. I supplement my albums with Steiner pages as needed
(for example for XIXth century Afghanistan and Indian States), and create my own
pages using AlbumEasy for my specialized areas such as the Spanish Civil War.
I use yellow post-it's (with a punched hole) placed on the back of 8.5 x 11 pages
at post level to secure them into the Scott binders. Works well and can be moved
around easily. I also add historical maps in re-punched plastic inserts as the
historical context of the stamps is an important consideration for me.

Medoc you remind me; I own few olds Scott Brown, if it was not from the damages to the pages ( the paper is old and the edge easy to tear, very dry out ) I will make the covers and spines repairs and use them to host my stamps, nothing will look better than 100 years olds stamps in a 100 years old albums.