The Main Problem With Any Printed Albums Is .,...

The album himself

If you collect let say the years 1970, they are way less problems; it's pretty much static, all true some time you may like to include a single copy of a souvenir sheet or some special cancel.

But old stamps collections, especially the first few series of a country are generally too much dynamic to be containing in a printed albums. Don't you like me have much time these interesting shade varieties, cancel you will like to add? What about a corner blocks that may be the clue to an ID

Some will say just use Steiner's pages and mod them as you need, well at the end it cost me a fortune in mounts.
So I come to conclusion that the only way that will work for me is to use Vario for the first series that I'm interested to go more in deep and put the rest on Steiner's pages. But there come the problem; I like to place my pages in post binders, I hate when pages are catch in the rings joints. Vario can't be insert in posts binders, and all true the Vario binders are attractive, it's make too much pages to turn , so I need to use those ½" or 1 " binders as much as possible , not quite attractive. And they don't stand well on bookcase; you have to use vertical wood dividers every few of them.

So at the end collections not continuous in the same album, non-attractive binders. But using posts binders with plastic protector have an advantage, I can cut Minkus or Scott pages , insert them in plastic protectors and mix them with Steiner's modify or not pages, that save a lot of work not having to transfers the stamps purchased in an album

I think when you use a printed album, you have to accept from the start that the album is going to dictate what you can and cannot collect. If you're happy with that, fine. If you want your shades, errors, blocks etc, then you either keep them in a side collection or just don't use printed albums at all. For me, it never works when you try to adapt a printed album or force things into the empty spaces. It just detracts from the page layout.

I appreciate your agony! Such a diverse hobby of opportunities. Unbounded hobby? 1 million collectors, 2 million ideas.

Hi

I started with a Scott Modern album and a Minkus worldwide album. A stamp dealer in my hometown, who mentored young stamp collectors, said to throw away the printed albums and use quadrille pages instead. So for the last 60+ years I have never had a printed album. Everything is on quadrille pages.

Jerry B

Quite so. I have quite a lot of printed albums, the great majority of which I've picked up when buying country collections at auction. But quadrille is really my default. Laying out the page, drawing the boxes (oops, more ink smudges) and putting in the stamps involves a closer relationship with the material than a ready-printed album will ever give. And it solves the problem of being dictated to by Mr Gibbons or Herr Lighthouse.

Hi



And Mr. Scott.

I, however, do not draw any boxes. I use black Showgard mounts for everything, mint, used, covers, etc..

Jerry B

Jerry

Well, mounts are easier, but I've got too much cheap stuff that barely justifies a hinge!

Geoff

One major issue I have is with album publishers who feel they have to provide spaces for BOTH singles and se-tenant blocks on the same page. White Ace does this. I understand trying to make their product usable for both mint and used collectors. Why not put the intact multiples and singles on separate pages?

Stamps1962 I'm 110% with you on this one. I do print modified or not Steiner's pages for stamps I get over 1980 from album, postage and other sources. For many of them I get singles not souvenir sheets or se-tenants, So I redo the pages to make sure the se-tenant and souvenirs sheet are on a single page to be print if needed

For the same reason I'm reluctant to include semi, air and newspapers stamps, mix with the regulars stamps. I, myself not very attracted to many semi stamps, so I don't see I should force myself to collect them.

I put all of my paper album pages into inexpensive plastic sleeves to protect them. AND I also put my Vario in the same sleeves - that way all of the pages intermixed are the same size and the plastic sleeves slide through the binder rings oh-so-nice by comparison. I have eclectic pages in my albums and trim down already mounted Scott or other oversize pages I get from a discount box at stamp shows to fit into the sleeves.

I do exactly the same.

I started off putting everything in Steiner pages. It quickly became overwhelming. Printing pages, keeping the right size mounts in stock, modifying pages to accommodate special issues.

I now put everything in Vario pages by country. I don't organize the stamps other than inventory control by page and position in a Libreoffice spreadsheet.

Then I scan the Vario pages, crop the stamps and create digital albums in Libreoffice Impress. I can quickly reorganize things, carry my entire "collection" on a tablet, build a website, share pages, etc.

Definitely not a solution for everyone, but I love using technology and "sorting" stamps this way.

I prefer empty albums because it gives me the oppertunity to put in anything I want to. Lets me collect more

If I had it to do over again, I would use Steiner. The fear would be that I might overlook and omit something.