Storing Large Used World Wide Collections

Hi Heironymus - I enjoy your postings on SCF.

Those Vario G dustcased binders sound nice.

Binder
- 1 1/2" Avery Heavy Duty three ring binder PVC free "One touch EZD ring". I don't use a slipcase. The outside of the binder when the pages are full of stamps measures width wise about 2 1/2".

Paper
I use acid free 70 lb text/ 104 gsm paper.

(Warsaw item 62571 or Domtar item 81077)

I like it because it bends like paper. I tried 67 lb cardstock, but it was too stiff for me, and more difficult for my printer.

Thanks :)

Very interesting stuff. Based on some of the comments, I looked at the Scott's International and they are surprisingly expensive (probably because I have no frame of reference). I've used Vario pages for 20+ years for MNH collections, however they too can become very expensive and are not flexible in terms of which size stamps can fit on a given page.

Does anyone use strips of mounts on home-made pages as an option to a fully illustrated album?

I also quit printing new countries on Steiner pages due to space as well as the time involved to keep up with them. I have Steiner pages for around 35-40 countries and for some of them I only make time to visit them once or twice a year. Even if I had the money and the shelf space, I wouldn't have the time to keep up with, say, 100 countries.

Artful,

I don't think I'd use Steiner pages if I were collecting worldwide to the present or even to 2000. I'm basically collecting to 1950/1960. It's manageable. I can't imagine that anyone would try to Steinerize for the whole shebang, but the pages are there as a "full catalogue to the present" platform for individual countries if people want them.

If I had to do it over again, I would have stopped at maybe a dozen or so countries - the ones I actually make a point to keep up with. As an example, I printed pages for Bulgaria because I was accumulating lots of Bulgarian stamps. But that was over a year ago and I don't think I've revisited it since, and I'm starting to accumulate more Bulgaria again. As I never seem to have enough time, I'd almost as soon get rid of them than take the time to mount them. There are a few more countries like that. I'll get around to mounting them someday.

I discovered Steiner about 18-20 months or so ago, about six months after I had started collecting in earnest again after a couple decade hiatus. I thought it was great that I could have all these albums, basically for the cost of the paper and a cheap binder. I went nuts printing pages until I finally came to my senses, about 40 binders later. Now I keep my favorite countries in nice Lighthouse Vario F and G binders, while many of the rest are still relegated to the cheap office binders and rarely picked up.

I am kicking around the idea of someday starting an 1840-1940 collection on Steiner pages, but I'm getting too much enjoyment out of Germany at the moment. That'll likely be a few years down the road, although I could see myself picking up bits and pieces here and there on the side to kind of get it started. I'd probably actually go to about 1950 to get the WWII and postwar issues in there. That era with its various occupations and upheavals is one of the most "classic" eras of philately in my opinion, or at least among the most fascinating, and I think stamps from that era fit very well with a classic collection. Come to think of it, creating a custom WWII album of Steiner pages might be a good project as well.

shermae, Definitely pick up used Scott internationals if you want to go that route. I've found you can pick up a "part" for about $75 with a couple hundred or more stamps in it. I've found parts as low as $20 (with no stamps) The most expensive parts are the ones from the 80's forward it seems. It still can add up.

Some good discussion going on above. I'll add my two cents worth...

If looking this timewise, then stock books or stock pages are the way to go IMHO. By the time you've got one stamp hinged properly, you've added dozen or so items in stock book / page. It really adds up if you're planning to collect big time.

If looking moneywise... It really depends on where you're buying and at what price. As each volume has different capacity, I've always looked at how much it costs to store a single stamp using a specific storage/album. For example I calculated that for my needs (projection of what I will collect in next 30-40 years), the total cost difference between the cheapest and most expensive storage methods would be over 20,000€. So it definitely pays to compare. I definitely place that kind of money on stamps rather than accessories.

-k-

Interesting discussion .....sounds like we all do something different .I have 85 vol. Scotts International with about 100 volume separate albums ,I have separate albums for German Inflation ,Germany post WWII city and states issues .Also NEW Republic ,Italian States ,Swiss Cantonal issues and a lot more.
I also use Steiner pages to make country albums .I also print pages for adding Countries pages into the Internationals were they made a mess of things .I found the Internationals poorly suited for anyone who advances their collection above a certain level .I used 24 lb cream or goldenrod colored paper and keep a separate hole punch adjusted to the Scott two hole setting . It all started with the mess the Internationals had with British Regional Issues.

I am using Lighthouse Vario double-sided pages to house my collection, and perhaps it is due to being in USA so prices are cheaper, but if I am doing my math right I think the Vario pages can work out to be cheaper than Lighthouse stockbooks. There are several dealers on Amazon and ebay that sell packs of 25 pages (50 sides since the pages are double sided) for between US$13 and US$16 a package, or approximately US$0.52 to US$0.64 per page. If you are collecting 1840-1940 then you prob will only need a couple sizes (6S and 5S, maybe a few 4S as well (nb the number refer to the number of pockets per side, 6S is 6, 5S has 5 slightly taller, 4S has 4 even taller pockets). Combine that with the flexibility of Vario pages in allowing you to set up a layout that can include items that are not in, say, the Scott Catalog, in the end I find them the most convenient for housing a collection.

I have some stockbooks but I don't use them very often. To use them (or any storage method) most efficiently, one must store the stamps right next to each other in a "crowded" fashion. This is a matter of personal taste, but I prefer the stamps to be fewer to a page, which kind of allows each stamp to stand out on its own a bit more. I prefer the sparser layout of Steiner pages to the more crowded Scott or Harris pages. While one can lay out stock pages with fewer stamps to a page, any cost advantage on a per-stamp basis would diminish or disappear at that point. Of course one does save the cost of hinges and mounts when using stock pages, so that comes into play as well.

Another benefit of having a sparser layout is that you end up with more full pages, which I think enhances the overall presentation of a collection. This does result in more pages, binders and shelf space, however, and the storage requirements of a general worldwide-to-date collection would get out of hand pretty quickly using Steiner. If you were attempting an almost-complete WW collection, you'd have to look at the most efficient storage methods unless you've got a whole lot of room to store it. Maximum efficiency is probably less of a concern for more limited collections such as mine.

It's global economy at it's best: you can get some (European) products way cheaper in US than in Europe.

I can buy Vario-pages at about 0.88US$/page, whereas Leuchtturm/Lighthouse stockbooks come down to ~0.50US$ per page.

I recall hearing that the price difference is because of marketing expenses.

This is a great topic. I hope that I'm not too late to the party.

I'm also using the G&K Nassau binders (I have 14). I'm looking to switch to the Vario Classic G binders.

Heironymus,

Are the G&K binders and and dustcases about the same height as the Vario Classic G? I understand that they are slightly narrower. How do they look side by side?

Thanks!

Don

They are slightly lower and a good bit narrower, hold a lot fewer pages (partly because the G&K Nassaus are round rings whereas the Vario G has rectangular (essentially the same as D rings as far as how pages flip over on them but without the curve of the D).

I don't have them side-by-side, for the most part. The slightly smaller G and K Nassaus are together on a shelf housing the countries I have most complete--GB, Canada, US, Germany, 4 and 5 binders each for US and Germany area, 1 each for GB and Canada.

But because the spine decoration and the colors are knockoffs from Vario, even if you intermingled them it would not show up very much. The logos are different and in a different place but looking at a shelf full of them you wouldn't notice it all that much.

But the biggest difference is that the Vario Gs holding so many more pages, when full with stamps in mounts weigh a lot more than the Nassaus. A full Vario G with all plastic mount mounted stamps on Steiner pages is rather hefty when you pull it off the shelf. Just at the level where it would become unwieldy but still manageable, at least until I reach my 90s and am totally decrepit.

edited for type 2/14