Which Binder For My Collections

Hello folks,

I'm pretty new at restarting the hobby. I have very small collections and I'm interested in binder to put my album pages. I know I should focus on getting stamps but I like a nice presentation as much as the stamps.

For my US collection I'm using the Mystic pages to which I mount showgard mounts. I was thinking about getting the Lighthouse Grande binders as I really like the look of them. For my foreign countries I was thinking using a different color Lighthouse Grande binder with custom made pages.

Being born in France, I'm also extensively collecting French stamps. I just received today 20 years worth of the most luxurious album pages for this country. The Ceres album Presidence. The pages are 10 5/8 in wide (27cm) and 11 1/8 high (28.2cm). On the picture you can see what I believe being a two post binder system. I did not purchase any binder with the pages as they were outrageously priced the "cheaper" binder being over $100 and the most luxurious over $400 just for the binder.



I don't think lighthouse make any compatible binder for those pages and even if I were to perforate those pages the pages dimensions given for the Grande do not match.

Could somebody guide me if there would be a lighthouse binder that could work for me and if I could get recommendation for some great looking binders that would fit those pages and not brake the bank.

Thank you in advance.

You can always get a springback binder - would remove the need to find a post binder with exactly the proper spacing.
C.

The Lighthouse Foilo would take these (see page 22 in the attachment), but it would be oversized, and the price would come close to the Ceres binder. You'd also have to re-punch. May be better to look for a sturdy, non-stamp-focused, binder.

http://www.stanleygibbons.com/image...amp-2014.pdf

After looking at the option, I'm wondering what is your opinion on the Grande Gigant, I know the pages would barely fit heights wise and I would have to re-perforate the pages but the Folio is way too big and I couldn't find a spring back that was satisfying and cheap enough.

I don't think buying the Grande Gigant over the standard Grande would make any difference - the Gigant simply has greater capacity (and is thus even heavier). The height of the leaves for these binders is 24cm. At the most, you could squeeze in an extra cm on the height, so you'd need to trim them. However, they might just fit the Grande F (in the same catalogue), which doesn't come slip-cased, and seems to take pages up to 28 x 32.5. Confusing!

jlaport,

Welcome to SCF! If you're looking for guidance, try Rileysan's critiques at https://goscf.com/t/17127. The thread is quite extensive.

Jack Kelley

I had never heard of the Ceres Presidence album before. I found their site and what beautiful pages and binders. Just amazing but the sure are expensive.

jlaporte - I was looking at the Presidence Album. I don't speak French so the web site is difficult to interpret. Does Ceres make pages for France prior to 1939? It seems from their site that those pages begin with the year 1939. Thanks

Looking at this again, your Ceres pages would, I think, just fit a Davo binder. Not sure I wouldn't spring for the real thing, though.

Dekka37- The pages do exist from the origin of French stamps up to today but before 1939 you have to buy them in set, they are not available year by year. You can have a look here http://www.album-de-timbres.com/21-...sidence?&p=8 If you do not understand something French let me know. This album existed already when I started collecting stamp many decade ago. I wish something similar would exist for the US.

GeoffHa- I understand that the lighthouse Grande or gigant grande are exactly the same size except for the later one bigger thicker, there is also a difference with the later one being 4 rings while the other one # rings, I believe. What is confusing me is that it does say that it can hold 9 1/2 pages (24cm) while the binder is 11 7/16 (29cm) or 11 1/2 (29.2cm) so I would think my 10 5/8 (27cm) pages would fit in the binders. Anybody with those binders I would appreciate your thought.

Jack- Thank you for the link, this is one that brought me to the forum.

Thanks for the link. I sent an inquiry to Ceres today about their pages and binder. Is the quality as good as it looks in the pictures? I would assume that this is not a hingeless page. Thanks Tommy

No problems, I forgot to mention this store to the best of my understanding is the Ceres store. Though they do not ship outside of France. I ordered 2 ten years set 1980-1989 and 1990-1999, over $600 just for the pages. I don't think I paid shipping but I had them send the pages to my brother in France who then re-shipped the package to me in the U.S. cost me an extra $100 in shipping as the packages was 12 lbs. (just for the pages) ! Next time I will see if I can have them ship directly to the U.S. The pages are very nice extremely thick, my digital caliper is telling me 0.72mm this is also why I'm looking for an alternative solution with the binders as to fit those 20 years I will need at least 4 binders. All those pages together give me a stack almost 4.5 in (over 11 cm) thick.

All the boxes around the pages and stamps are real gold, the writing is a nice gray, you have the denomination and name of each stamp written under the box and it is hingeless (if I understand what hingeless mean). The mounts are glued to the bottom of the frame (there is a little mark for correct positioning) and there is a little incision toward the top of the frame so you can secure the mount (it is sealed only at the bottom). To mount the stamp you lift the transparent flap, insert the stamp and replace the transparent flap in the incision so the stamp is sealed. Because the incision is only visible on one side of the paper (the back is always blank without any incision) I believe that each pages is in fact a sandwich of two pages but it is very well done as you cannot see it the sandwiching. For the negative side, some of the mounts are not holding very well anymore so I had to re-wet them to glue them back on the pages. I had a few mounts that were cut a little bit too short and had a tendency to pop out of the incision, finally it is not always easy to put back the flap in the incision, you need some very thin tweezers. Starting 1996 I believe they changed the systems as their mount are all splitted in the middle like a regular Showgard and they are glued to the top.

As you can see in the first post the mounting side is renforce with real tissue and instead of having hole for the articulation like on the lighthouse album pages you have a band that is only tissue (you can also see that in the picture).

Let me know if you have anymore questions.

Thank you for the information. I have enquired about the years 1849 through 1939. The workmanship in this Album and pages is amazing. You are right I believe this is the most luxurious album that I have seen. I own a couple Yvert and Tellier Albums. One a leather two
post binder and a large Country binder, both which have been discontinued. But they don't seem to compare to your pages.

Has this company been making Albums for a long time? I had not heard of it until I saw your post. I think the old style high quality Album is slowly disappearing. I bought a Frank Godden Deluxe Album on clearance the other day. The quality of the workmanship is amazing. I am slowing moving my Russian Empire collection to it. I guess there is just no demand for this kind of material any more.

Thanks again
Tommy

Hey Tommy, yes they have been doing it for a very long time. Actually the Ceres catalog was the reference and Yvert et Tellier a little lower cost competitor. Now the Ceres catalog does not exist anymore.

I started collecting stamps when I was 7 years old and heard of the Ceres presidence album them. I always look at it with admiration because I could not afford any of it at the time ;) But restarting the hobby 25 years later this is the first thing I looked for and there are still in existence. Not as popular because of the price I think. With pages and binders a year cost basically more than the stamps in it!
But I do care for a nice presentation.

I agree. I am now in a position to afford a few nicer things. I used to love to browse the Stanley Gibbons shop in London and look at all the things that I couldn't afford. I have over the years purchased a few of their Philatelic Albums that I use for my cover collection. Nice old style Albums.

I also agree about the presentation. I think I equally enjoy finding the right album and pages as I do collecting the stamps.

I am going to try and attack a copy of my Yvert album. This was a binder that they used for their county album pages. You could select pages world wide. I have pages for Canada, Island and Germany. Through the 1990's. They stopped making this Album and sold their stock on clearance.

Hey Tommy this is a very nice album. I remember those :)!