Does Anyone Keep Their Collections In Stock Cards ?

Hi guys,
I'm loving the forum more and more... everyone is so helpful and participative it's great! thanks.

I was just wondering, like the title suggests, if someone here keeps their collection just in stock cards ? I don't mean just as a temporary place before stamps are moved to an album but as an actual way to keep a collection ?

if so, would you mind sharing pictures of your collection ?

thanks
Luis

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

I don't, but I've met some collectors who did, including one who had a pretty sizable collection. I think shortly after the turn of the century, that collector had purchased one of those old library card catalogs (the ones that have like 50+ index-card-sized drawers) very cheaply after the libraries completed their switch to electronic catalogs and discontinued the card file catalogs. He made sure he got one that would fit the collector cards, and basically used that as a card file for his collection!

While it's not practical for showing off your collection to others, he didn't care because he was the only one looking at his stamps anyway. He really really like it. I regret not having asked him to post a picture.

I believe that collector may also have been in Europe, but not sure.

Thanks.
that would've been very interesting to see it seems.

I guess if we really think about it, how many times we show are collection to others ? a few times I guess it varies.. but it's mostly for my own pleasure and my daughter's I guess.
The reason for my question is because I have quite a few (500 or so) stock cards, full with MNH topical sets I never managed to put on albums but I like them the way they are... but was wondering if anyone has made this a permanent way to keep the collection.

thanks

I've heard of collectors who use dealer cards to store their colleections, my worry would be how safe the stamps would be over time given that the cards are probably NOT printed on acid-free paper.

I keep my worldwide collection, mostly, on form 102 cards. I also use 104 and 107 cards for larger items, and stock books and mint sheet files for very large items. Currently I have over 40,000 of the 102 cards containing about 70,000 different items sorted in fifty-one red boxes (the boxes can each hold 1000-1200 cards, but I like to leave a little room so it's easy to add new cards, and so I can flip through and enjoy my stamps easily). Everything is sorted by country and catalog number, and there's a complete computerized inventory.

I keep almost everything that way -- from penny stamps to $1000+ items. I also have a system of notations that allow me to compactly record a great deal of information about each item, such as condition, date acquired, source/provenance, whether I have a certificate, which catalog was used in the case of specialized/non-Scott listed items, etc. I include my duplicates as well. And I had a perfect-bound booklet printed up explaining the notations, talking up some of the better items, and giving pointers on how to properly sell the collection, should the time come and I'm not around to do it myself.

I do have some smaller specialized collections on my own album pages, and I own a couple of collections that I bought that were already written up on nice homemade pages; I don't see any reason to move those. I don't much like collecting to pre-printed albums -- first, I like multiples, stamps with selvage, back of the book and postal history material, etc., that would require lots of additional pages, and I also don't have to worry about buying mounts, hinges, binders, interleaving, page re-enforcers, supplements, etc. Making my own pages is also something I enjoy far less than looking at my stamps. The 102 cards cost about 2-3 cents a piece, sometimes you can get a bunch included in an auction lot, and can easily hold most singles or sets.

Albums are more compact though, and if you pick up nice ones in auction lots and use hinges, they are probably cheaper. I do keep Minkus Global Supremes, Scott Specialty, and any good-quality hingeless albums that I acquire, and if I get a reasonably complete set I might consider mounting some of my collection in those. (I have something like 60 Scott Internationals in my garage -- I don't much care for those albums.) But for now my mountain of red boxes works A-OK for me.

Showgard claims that their stock cards "are made of philatelically safe materials", to wit:

http://www.showgard.com/results.cfm?id=40

Keeping a stamp collection on stock cards - and in an old library card catalog cabinet, to boot - strikes me as pure genius.

I keep my postal & post cards (and covers) sleeved & boxed, and cannot imagine ever albumizing them; too much work to re-arrange them as topics expand, etc.

The sleeves protect against corner bumps (except for the ones you create when you insert the card into the sleeve) and allow me to handle, sort, re-sort, stack, move, shuffle ...

Hint: I keep one box of Arm'n'Hammer baking soda in each storage box. The three dimensions of the box are all different, so how you turn the box determines how much slack it takes up.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

thank you for the detailed response.

that is a very interesting approach you have there :)
when I made my original post I was thinking about stock cards.. not 102s but the idea is similar.. I guess the advantage of stock cards is that you can visualize an entire set
but your idea is good and seems to be working for you

regards
Luis

Count me as a convert to storing my collection in 6in. X 9in stock cards. I bought
a few hundred 30 years or so ago from an old gentleman at one of our annual Houston
shows. They are made of the same material as legal manilla file folders. After disecting
a couple to ease my curriosity, I now make my own every few years.

really ?

I would love to see some photos of your collection!

Hi


There was a stamp dealer in New York on the west side of Manhattan (30+ years ago) who had no counter books, stock books, etc.. His entire stock was in glassine envelopes in small draw file cabinets, many of them.

Off topic - reminiscing:
To enter the store you rang a bell. Over an intercom he asked what did you want. If he thought you were all right then you got to enter door 1 into an entryway. Through a peephole in another door (this one steel)he then decided if you looked honest and if so, you had the honor of entering door 2 into the shop. Since you could not browse for stamps, you never got into the shop proper. You gave him your want list and he went off opening cabinet drawers and extracting stamps. He then gave you the stamps and the price. Once I said that I did not like a stamp's centering and did he have a better copy. First, he asked for all the stamps back and then told me if I did not like the stamp I could go home. It was his choice or nothing.

Ah, the good old days of strange New York stamp dealers, and there were more a a couple.

Jerry B

I have purchased some in stock card for Hungary. I have two red boxes filled with them with many duplicates. Most are MNH. Some are imperforate. A lot of them have good catalog value. I will use them for my album pages I am making and sell the rest. I think they are a good idea for extras but not for your main collection. I like to page through my albums. In stock cards, you cannot tell what is missing and need to purchase.

Luis
I keep my entire stamp collection in Prinz, single-sided stock cards. I keep them in Hagner split-ring binders (I have 18 of these to house the collection). Most of my stock cards are 6-pocket or 5-pocket, and these sizes cover most of the stamps I collect. Larger blocks will take 3- or 2-pocket sheets. It makes them so easy to re-arrange and relatively easy to display. The pages are not up to the very high standard of some of the contributors to this forum, but I can put as much information as I need on each page. I have my information pages pasted onto blank Prinz cards.

Here's an example of both. I hope you can see some of the detail, as the file size limits me. My labels are in 'Nyasa' 12 point bold

Thanks Tim!
great page !
this looks like a good alternative to Stock Cards (158x110mm) I have

One question... how do this Prinz pages compare to the Vario ones ? I don't like the Vario ones because you they are super flexible and soft.. I prefer the stock cards because they are rigid

regards
Luis

Luis, the Prinz mounts are much more rigid than the Vario cards. I tried Vario first and didn't like them for the same reason as you.

Are the Prinz stock cards/sheets plastic or rigid cardboard?

Al

The Prinz stock-sheets I have are rigid plastic, but they also produce card-backed ones.