I'm A Slave To My Album

I guess this tells me what kind of collector I am....space filler. I have a set of hingeless Davo U.S. albums. In the case of se-tenants, the album has spaces for the issue joined, AND individually. This seems odd to me. If the stamp(s) was/were issued in se-tenant form then it seem the ideal way to collect would be joined and having them as singles would be redundant, but I can't stand to see the empty spaces. I recently transferred my collection from a Scott's National Album where I already had the stamps joined, so now I've been buying them again and separating them (blasphemy!) to fill the single spots. Please tell me there are others suffering from this need to complete a page. At least the stamps are cheap, and yes, I know whatever money I spend is money down a hole.

*** Moved by KirkS to the Album Forum; I think there are a couple other threads here along the same topic. ***

Ummm. Don't know what to say here. Perhaps you should have stayed with your original album. In my philatelic world, my main US collection is housed in a jumbo Scott International binder as part of my "North America" collection. The binder also has Canada & Provinces, Greenland, Mexico, SPM, and UN-New York; all through the mid-late 1960s.

I have a second US collection that I inherited a few years ago from the deceased father of a long time friend. It's housed in a four volume Mystic American Heirloom album set through about 2005. Lots of empty holes prior to 1930, even common stamps. I've filled some of the holes with duplicates from the main collection. But I'm not obsessing about the unfilled holes and I'm not buying anything just to fill holes in the inherited collection. Any way, good luck with what you're doing.

You got to do what you got to do. I use Steiner for my WW collection. When I am not happy about the layout of a page (e.g., se-tenats or sheets instead of separates), I make my own page. But that is not a simple option with albums on larger than 8.5x11 pages.

One of the reasons I switched from printed pages to Lighthouse Vario pages for my collections. Total control over which format I want an issue to be, not dictated by someone else. No longer a slave to the preprinted page.

dkabq8: "but that is not a simple option with albums on larger than 8.5x11 pages." Actually, the option works fine if one is using International blank quadrille pages as needed.

HOWELL 1018 said "I know whatever money I spend is money down a hole " What ?????
I spent tens of thousands of dollars and never ever "spend money down a hole" My stamp collection got me a better job, it got me more friends ,it got me thru dark periods of my life , it got me the ability to bring girls back to my apartment ,it helped me sleep after a rough day on the trading floor even rough days of working 12 hours in the sun laying asphalt . My collection kept me relaxed after many days of work .
I put a few hundred thousand dollars into stamps and sold a lot never ever felt I lost money . It is a part of me that most people remember about me .

It's a Catch 22 for me. The upside is that I design and print my own album pages so I can collect the way I want to and not how Davo or Scott or anybody else thinks I should. The downside is that I prefer to collect both the se-tenant and the singles, the blocks and the singles, the souvenir panes and the singles, etc. <heavy sigh> :-)

I understand the frustration in the OP. So, I'm doing like DJCMHOH, not being a slave to pre printed pages.
Happy go lucky Vario!

My U.S. album has individual spaces for things like the State Flags, State Birds & Flowers, etc., so I've broken up sheets to fill those spaces, but I also have full panes in separate mint sheet albums.

For my topical collections, which are my main focus nowadays, Vario pages are the only way to go.

I do the same as Walkman82.

Whatever you do and feel comfortable doing, is the correct way for you.

There are no standards.

I have a general worldwide collection in Scott albums (filling spaces), but I also collect a couple other countries more in depth using custom pages, so I end up having the best of both worlds.

You're right it does seem a bit silly to "have" to collect se-tenants both joined together and separated. Maybe this is the European way, so Davo does it like that? I know in Swedish collecting stamps are collected that way, a practice I've refused to follow because buying multiple copies of the same stamps just (frankly) seemed really, really dumb to me. Also, how rich do they think we are? One is enough for me in whatever format it was issued, joined or separated as needed. With Scott albums, I've always found the locating of semi-postals and airmails later in the album away from the era when those stamps were issued (following the Scott catalogue practice) a very silly way to organize an album. Most European albums include all stamps from each year on the same pages -- together, they way they were issued in the style of that era. That makes a great deal more sense for an album presentation. So, every album has its annoyances, I suppose. I move air mail and semi-postal pages to the approximate year location in the rest of the album where I think they belong. Why don't you just leave the separated stamp boxes empty -- or insert (cheaper) used copies into them?

I've been there. What's cheaper - see a shrink, or just buy the damn stamps and move on? :-)

Lighthouse - my used to be preferred commercial album vendor - has also changed over the years.
Example: 1930's Denmark. In the old pages, there were room for a couple of se-tenants. 10 years ago they 'redesigned' the pages, so now there are only room for the singles.

These days, I'm using Varios and custom pages.

Drew Wrote: "I move airmail and semi-postal pages to the approximate year location in the rest of the album.........." During my "philatelic career," I've used both Minkus and Scott albums, after I "graduated" from Harris. Minkus drove me crazy with their placement of airmails and other B.O.B. in the same year. I greatly prefer having my airmails & other BOB separate, as Scott does it.

For what it's worth, my Mundifil/da Mota catalog for Portuguese colonies "splits the difference." In Mozambique, for example, the 1920 semi-postal set is listed with the regular issues. But airmails and other BOB follow the regular issues. So, each to their own, so to speak.

That's why I use Steiner pages. If a layout doesn't suit me, a few clicks and it is the way I like!

Now it could be worse. I bought some se-tenant stamps from a collector-friend in Germany. He sent me some "free" material. At first I thought he was just dumping duplicates on me. A check with Michel shows that se-tenant stamps are collected in every combination!



How's that for complete!

Dan