What's Best British Commonwealth Album & Catalog Approach?

Boy, Scott Internationals will be nowhere near the level of comprehensiveness of a Gibbons album for British Commonwealth classics and, of course, will not follow the "Gibbons format" as you mentioned earlier.

I would take a second look at Steiner pages before considering Scott Internationals for a BC classic collection.

"I am starting from scratch and currently own no British Commonwealth albums, collections, or reference guides."



That's explain the reply you make to my post. "Lighthouse simply leave out tons of issues" Lighthouse Canada Albums are probably THE most comprehensive Canadian Stamps Albums. I pay well over $ 1500 over the years for my 4 albums, 3 for Canada and 1 for the Provinces, because the Provinces are not included in the Canada albums ( the supplement are very expensive ) Price was not an issue , I simply want the best one. Beside Lighthouse have an office in Montreal and they give a real good customers service. From what I can see you will probably never purchase the stamps of the first page and even less some expensive provinces stamps , so what the purpose to have more space ? Are you expecting an album with the 2-cent Large Queen, Laid Paper ? A guy purchase it for 250k and refuse to sell it at 500k

If you want to be serious collecting the British Commonwealth, you get a Great-Britain set of albums (with the different plates) A Canadian and Provinces set of Albums, a Set of Australian albums and something else for the rest.

dcaraz1949,

Collecting British Commonwealth Classics to about 1940 after your focus on US classics sounds like an interesting project. My own focus is on worldwide (including US) stamps 1840-1940, with some countries a bit later.

A key question for yourself is how far you hope to take this, and to what level of detail. There are tradeoffs. For example, Stanley Gibbons has catalog numbers (and spaces) for three different shades of the penny black, versus Scott with only one. The SG approach for me makes no sense at all since these so-called shades are really due to differences in plate wear, not ink. What about watermarks, something King George V himself ignored? I've struggled with this for WW, and am happy to have gone with the blue Scott International volume 1 for a representative WW collection, adding pages for cancellations, blocks, and more detail where I want it. The next step up is to the Minkus Supreme Global, which I've found to be just too comprehesive for me… with US pages to the $5 Columbians, 37 spaces for Australian roos to 2 pounds and the 5 shilling Sydney bridge, etc. Both of these album options have double sided pages, something I really like (using transparent interleaving) but probably not what you're looking for.

That said, I think your "look before you leap" approach is a good one, as the next steps up can become quite expensive. Perhaps a logical breakpoint would be for you to use a cutoff after King George V. This would limit album mass, and allow you to add George VI albums later if you wish. If you go this route, then something like Stanley Gibbons is what you are faced with…

Best Regards,

InforaPenny

Area

I think it's the "something else for the rest" that creates the problems. Gibbons, Lighthouse, Davo and others cover GB, Australia, Canada, NZ etc perfectly well. But if you want most of the rest, the main options seem to be adding expensive Palo or, where available, Seahorse, pages - or Steiner. Hence the benefit of the New Imperial, which covers everything to 1936. What the new ring-bound edition will be like is, of course, unclear!

Geoff

area66, I understand that you're happy with your Lighthouse albums for Canada. Having 4 dedicated albums, I assume that country is a big focus for you. But I am not mistaken when I check the 2016 Lighthouse catalogue and see for Canada 36 pages for 1851-1951 and 32 pages for Canadian Provinces 1851-1947. That's 68 Canada pages for my needs. Lighthouse also offers Great Britain 25 pages 1840-1901, and 33 pages for 1902-1951. So GB = 58 pages. So Lighthouse might actually be perfect for my interests -- through 1940's. Lighthouse has a Great Britain Vol 1 hingeless album for 1840-1970; 105 pages at $349 which seems a bargain.

The current Scott Specialized pages are overkill for me since the Great Britain set includes 466 pages 1840 - 2014.

InforaPenny, thanks for sharing. But after considering some of International albums, I have decided against any album pages printed 2 sides. I don't want all the other countries at the expense of fuller coverage of the Brit Commonwealth. Also I really don't like over crowded pages or light paper stock weight.

chris2015, Still considering Scott Specialty, Lighthouse and Stanley Gibbons. I am ignorant about the Gibbons line, so am anxious to receive that company's product catalog. Palo is too costly for me.

geoffHa, you hit it on the head...I am as interested in the Commonwealth colonies as in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Great Britain. I love the colonies and want ample space for the earlier issues. That means I don't wish to invest $2000 in Lighthouse "country" albums and still be missing most of British Americas, Africa, and Asia. It seems Scott Specialty covers the whole span of the B. Commonwealth. And I am waiting to confirm that Gibbons does as well.

Just an update on my progress as I've researched British Commonwealth albums for the classic period.

Gibbons:

November 2015 product catalog shows a confusing array of incomplete album products. Some are only available as springback albums, others are very nice looking ring binders -- but only available for Great Britain. SG's "Luxury Hingeless Albums" are twin peg -- which I am not fond of. Plus they are available only for GB, Aussie, NZ,& Canada. What about all the colonies and protectorates?? Worst, SG does not show an all-encompassing Commonwealth album/pages solution.

Palo:

Covers the entire Commonwealth range following the royal reigns in a beautiful set of ring binders with choice of standard or hingeless pages in color or B/W. Set has 1808 pages covering 1840-1952 (perfect for my interests!). Standard pages cost $1823 + $998 for 19 binders. Figure double for hingeless pages.

Scott Specialty:

I own 4 empty Specialty albums and the British America Specialty album with all pages and some stamps. So I am currently pricing the rest of the Commonwealth pages plus some additional albums.

I'm leaning toward going with Scott -- as long as the savings is substantial enough to buy some nice stamp additions. I have to really think this through so I don't kick my self down the road for not springing for the gorgeous Palo set.

Honestly, I'm torn...If the difference between standard Palo pages and standard Scott pages ends up being something like $800 bucks, I'm not sure what I will do.

dcaraz1949,

Based on your post, it seems clear to me that you should go with the Palo albums if that's what you like. After all, it's very important to enjoy looking at your collection, and in the long run the album cost may get lost in the noise.

Is there an option you can work out with them to initially get only part of the Palo BC set with some of your favorite areas to try out first, then add the rest of the BC later? … any Black Friday specials?

Best Regards,

InforaPenny

And, if there are countries you are less interested in, or have few stamps, one could use Steiner pages (either permanently or temporarily), which are essentially Palo pages without all the enhancements.

Penny & Blue,

Thanks for your suggestions! I'm keeping my options open for a while longer. I'd like to get my albums soon, but I am torn about the high cost of my favorite albums -- Palo Hingeless -- which are so much more expensive than standard albums.

Gibbons offers the most reasonably priced hingeless albums but they don't yet have the classic years in a ring binder set.

I have asked Gibbons Customer Service to confirm if there's a publish date for a ring binder New Imperial set, or for a hingeless version?

Also waiting for cost proposals from two US Scott distributors for full sets of Scott Specialized BC albums.

Many folks in this Forum have discussed printing Steiner pages and other custom self-produced album page solutions. So I think this alternative resource should be mentioned...

I just came upon a small business run by collectors who have designed simple country pages for some 60,000 stamps.

http://www.albumpages.net/

Thing that caught my eye is that they will deliver custom printed page orders on archival stock at US$0.20 to US$0.30 per page for only the countries and or time periods wanted. Best thing is that page sizes can be ordered in three different trim sizes: 8.5" X 11" standard US 3-hole punch (or with no holes if using page protector sleeves), Scott National, or Scott Specialized page trim sizes with holes that match the Scott albums and paper stock that matches Scott!

One downside: the pages have no stamp images; instead, the pages are ruled boxes, nicely arranged with generous white space between stamps, with stamp denominations and descriptive type in sequence.
This may not be for everyone, but ability to order pre-printed, pre-punched pages that match Scott albums certainly meets a noteworthy segment of the market.

They also sell the CD for those who wish to print their own pages. But since most of us don't own a printer that will accommodate Scott's larger pages, the fact that this group can print and ship pages that fit Scott albums is very interesting -- and worthy of sharing within this Forum.

dcaraz1949: you've found that there are a wide range of opinions about how you might proceed. I'll offer that you should see what works best for you and follow it. As Yogi Berra allegedly said: "when you come to a fork in the road, take it!"

I'll disagree with Chris (post on Nov. 19) who prefers Steiner pages over the Big Blue international pages. I checked out Steiner and they won't fit into my BB binders. What I've done with my Newfoundland collection is to use BB blank quadrille pages; as an aside, I buy these pages, and the glassine interleaving, from Subway Stamps in Pennsylvania rather than Amos. Subway has their own brand, but same size. I draw lines across the pages, in pencil, to divide up the years and Scott numbers. I think my handiwork looks good. I'll be doing a remodel, like the Newf.; with my Canada earlies through 1939; will re-do my North Borneo collection in the same way; and likewise with the new stuff I've gotten for British East Africa. I've already gone this route with my Portuguese colonials and it works fine.

The value to me of using the blank quadrille pages is that I can format and structure my earlies anyway I want, without being bound to somebody else's printed pages. And even the best printed pages won't fulfill all your needs. As just two examples: Canadian booklet panes from the KG V and KG VI eras; and all the souvenir sheets from Portugal & colonies during 1939 to early 1950s.

Hope this all makes sense. Steve

Climber Steve, no problem with disagreements, I'm still trying to work out my "system" as well. Fortunately (or unfortunately!) the options are endless. One can even print Steiner pages onto blank quadrille pages for the Scott International binder, even with a regular printer.

Just using blank quadrille pages is truly the "classic" method. According to a recent article, FDR's collection was in over 100 albums, mostly written up in pen/pencil on blank quadrille pages.

If I had better handwriting, it might be a fun option

I think, however, using Steiner pages - as long as you are able to edit them - gives you the same freedom as writing up blank pages.

Chris

I use blank quadrille quite a lot - in fact, my project for the next few months is to transfer my QEII material from my old New Age albums, and arrange it as I wish, not how SG thinks I should!

Geoff

GeoffHa is going to have fun! Thumbing his nose at Stanley Gibbons page layouts sounds mighty rebellious to me!

Chris2015...a question for you and the others who seem to adore Steiner pages...

Aren't the Steiner pages comparatively tight regarding spacing of stamps? I would think the smaller 8.5" X 11" paper size would make page layouts cramped when compared to the nice larger page trims employed by most album publishers. As a graphic designer I find more "white space" between items on a page highly appealing.

Regarding my choice of stamp album display "system" for my British Commonwealth, I've decided to go with the classic US solution: Scott Specialty Albums. And I'm staying with traditional hinges since I've already purchased several old albums and pages with hinged materials. This decision was made due to my recent chance to purchase first a used Scott Specialty album with stamps for British America which includes Canada and its provinces. Over Thanksgiving weekend I also purchased a Scott Specialty with stamps for Australia.

Tempting as it was, I couldn't see spending such a wad on my favorite Palo albums. Maybe just for one country, but the Commonwealth is going to include 7 or 8 albums; most holding up to 250 pages. If I hit the Lotto I'll go for Palo!

The Steiner page layout is exactly the same as Palo pages. Palo pages are just on a larger sized paper.

Actually, one of the biggest criticisms I've heard against Steiner pages is that there is too much white space!

I only "adore Steiner pages" because of the cost and total flexibility they offer compared to any other album system, especially for a WW collection.

Palo regular (non-hingless) pages cost about $1USD per page, whereas I can buy nice cream-colored 70lb text paper at a cost of about $0.03USD per page. Yes, there is the added cost of ink, binders, etc, but these are still no comparison, plus those costs are spread out over time.

It did, however, take me a while to get over the smaller 8.5" X 11" paper, but I edit my pages to remove the border and place them in page protectors, which gives the look (illusion?) of being larger

The other really nice thing about Steiner pages (same goes for Palo pages) is that there is a brief description given for each stamp or set. I then use some of that "extra white space" to add some historical info and/or photo and/or details about stamp design or varieties, etc. Now, when I go back and look at pre-printed albums (Davo for example), they look quite sterile.

Of course, this is just my opinion; not trying to push anything on anybody, this is just my experience.