H.e. Harris Stamp Albums

Hi:
I've already posted in the Introduction section. I am partial to the Harris Liberty albums for my USA collection. I still have my circa 1978 Liberty album. Does anyone know if the new Liberties include the Panama Canal Zone stamps or the US administration of Cuba and the Philippines? My old album does not have these, but I may have chucked the pages when I first got the album a zillion years ago!
I have heard that Harris has discontinued their Canada albums.Is this true? If yes, then does anyone know if they will continue to make yearly supplements for the Canada albums? Thanks for reading!

RichardStamps

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

Richard, according to my favorite philatelic supply source (ihobb.com), Harris Canada supplements are available "while their stock lasts," which indicates that these have indeed been discontinued. See here: https://www.ihobb.com/c/HE_HARRIS_S..._ALBUMS.html

P.S. This thread will probably be moved to another forum by the moderators.

RichardStamps,

Before you go the Harris route, check out https://goscf.com/t/17127 here on this site. Its called "Album Review: United States Albums". The consensus across SCF is that Mystic wins hands down. Not 100% though; there are alternatives to pursue and the referenced thread will be quite helpful for you.

Jack Kelley

Consensus of whom ? , It's the last album I will used. It may be cheap, but the build is cheap too, cheap thin paper, 3 rings binders Beside they are no such thing as consensus in this hobby.

Thank you Area66

I'm not sure that there's consensus within the average collector's own head, which is why we change collecting systems so often.

I agree with you Geoff. I'm not sure I really like the Palo KGVI albums that I just received last week. I will always wonder if I should have purchased the Stanley Gibbons version instead.

Jack Kelley

One problem with Harris for me has always been the odd page size and the cheap paper. Yes, it helps them be lower priced but you get what you pay for. I started with a Harris Ambassador in the 50's but as I began to concentrate on US I migrated to White Ace. Now I use Mystic.
Their binders are attractive, at least the Liberty album and some of their older world albums.

When I got back into stamp collecting a decade ago, I bought the Harris Liberties, largely because I still had one from the 70s (hey, RichardStamps, welcome to this forum!). By then, Harris had been purchased by Whitman.

I never used them. I wasn't a big fan of the descriptions below each stamp even back then, but when I saw the more recent ones... OK, I worked as a proofreader for 10 years, and I'll gladly admit to being snotty about spelling, but I was picking out typos without even looking for them.

It's too bad, because I always liked their page layout more than Scott's, and I never had any problem with the paper (everybody's mileage varies), but Whitman's production process had more shortcuts than a gamer's Windows desktop.

Jack

Why don't you like the Palo King George VI albums?

I have both the Palo and SG and don't dislike either one.

Decades ago, I started with the Harris albums. When I retired and began collecting again, I made the mistake of just adding the required Harris supplements and remounting my collection, as the adhesive on my old 1960 Protective Mounts were failing rapidly and the albums were shedding stamps like a dog in winter. About half way through, I realized my error and decided to up-grade my albums to the Scott National and Scott plate block albums instead.

Moving and remounting everything (again) was a long and expensive task, and something you only want to do once. I had more packages of Scott mounts than many dealers carry in their inventory. However, the (IMO)far superior metal hinged Scott 3 ring binders and the heavier pages made it all worth while. This is especially true if you are really going to invest serious dollars in your collection.

YMMV.

I use the HE Harris Liberty Album for my US collection. I currently have 7 vols. I like the format, the content, the expandability, the availability on ebay, the availability of annual supplements, etc., etc., etc.. They are not perfect, they are not the worst. They work for me. If you like them, use them without guilt.

Can I back up to the first comments? Harris has discontinued their Canada album and supplements? Well, that just stinks. I have one that's a few supplements shy of being up-to-date. Of course, since I lost my source for new Canada, that probably doesn't matter much. I suppose I could just get blank Harris pages and make do the best I can.

And for what it's worth...I like my Mystic U.S. albums. I never really considered the paper to be cheap and thin. It's not card stock, but it's not cheap, thin copy paper stock either. I think the binders could be a little sturdier, but I take care with them and they've held up for a long time.

Dutchman1948,

It isn't that I dislike the Palo albums, it more about quality control or lack of it. For example,(1) some of the rings in the binders do not line up properly. (2) It is somewhat difficult to extract a binder from its slipcover as there is no place to "grab" onto the binder without spreading the slipcover apart. (3) the placement of the stamps on the pages are crowded, with the bottom of the pages being blank. Kind of weird given the fact that the pages are over sized. (4) The four ringed binder causes difficulty in page turning. Don't get me wrong; it is a good album but has issues.

With regard to MYSTIC, I have to admit that I like them despite their shortcomings, (1) Some of the rings do not line up in the binders, and (2) the binders could be lot more robust. I like the stamp descriptions and the off white paper which could be a tad thicker (not much). The stamps are very well presented in the MYSTIC albums. Lastly, one can easily extract an album from its slipcover. Hope you are watching, RichardStamps (and welcome to the group)!

Jack Kelley