Stamps On The Backs Of Leaves - Good Idea?

I have a massive stamp album but so many stamps, I'm running out of space. I know I could double the useful size of the album if I used the backs of the leaves instead of just using the one side.

I'm a bit hesitant, as I can imagine stamps getting caught on the stamps they are directly facing. I know there are some printed albums which do this, without interleaving. Does anyone have any experience of this? Is it a bad idea, or does it tend to be OK?

Ringo

My experience of albums with stamps on both sides of leaves - ones I've bought, not ones I've made - is that it's bad. The stamps lock together. Worth buying interleaving. Or, better still, cheap binders in auctions, where you can pick up good, empty albums really cheaply.

Geoff

When stamps 'fight', the perfs can often get damaged!
Don
APS #094826

I agree with Geoff. I exclusively use the loose-leaf Scott International "big blue" albums that have pages printed on both sides. I use lots of interleaving, especially since I have either migrated to the blank reverse of some pages, or have used quadrille bank pages.

I concur with Geoff and Don. It is always a bad idea to have stamps "facing off"

When things get too bulky, you can always make new pages. If that doesn't solve the problem, you can "bite the bullet" and buy a new binder. It's kind of fun having more specialized collections anyway.

Thanks everyone. It's definitely a no then. I'll have a think about interleaving as a possible solution.

I have often wondered why collectors use sometomes quite expensive printed albums which have this face-to-face arrangement. When I bought my old George VI Commonwealth 'Crown' album I was insistent that it had interleaving (some don't). Seems like that was a good decision.

Me i'd buy the 'Ringo' binder. It house a thousand pages and approx. ten thousands stamps. Having a break you can sit on it. Good day! Daniel

Here it is, timbres667 - but it's not for sale!

Ringo
Wow! You are free with that binder. I still print pages but maybe you are ahead of me. It's no question to discuss the collector choice. A big binder, I will remember. Thanks for the pics! Keep a listing of your stamps with values. Daniel

Ringo, that is one heck of an album. You show a page with some CTO "dune" stamps, but regardless of the contents, I would strongly advise you not to put stamps on the back of the pages. The only thing you accomplish with that is to lower the value of the stamps, and you would not want that!

Peter

Never on the back! Unless you glue the stamps and then you will make history...

It's a practical album, a place to keep all these stamps rather than a collection I would to take a real pride in. This one houses Ajman, Yemen, Sharjah - another one is waiting for other Trucial States.

Even with two of these on the go, I'm rapidly running out of room. There's just so much of it out there! Although most of these stamps are almost worthless in monetary terms, I still wouldn't want to damage them. I reckon interleaving is the way to go, which will double the available pages.

Geoff - reckognise the binder? Came in very useful indeed!

Ringo

Yes! Mr Minkus. I didn't dream that you'd fill it, though!

Geoff

I've got one of the Scott ones filled with blank pages as well - and enough stamps in stockbooks to pretty much fill that one up as well.

While I don't recommend mounting stamps on both sides of the page, if you do, it is almost mandatory that an interleaf be used thus ending up with almost a thick an album as if the stamps were only mounted on one side.

Ringo
If one day I do like you I will double hinge, top and bottom...