Need Advice On A 1934 Scott Album

So I inherited a 1934 US stamps scott album (pic below) along with a pile of other material. It seems to be in decent condition, but the pages are yellowing.

I have several old stamps in there, including a us issue scott #1 franklin, which is probably the most valuable stamp in my collection, as well as several harder to identify ones (lots of the reddish washington profile stamps that I've never been able to clearly ID among the many similar varieties).

I've always had a collection, but this is a serious upgrade, and I'm not sure exactly how to handle it.

Are these stamps safe in this album? Is acid in the paper an issue in such an old album? Should I keep it together, or cut the hinges and get the stamps into stock pages like the rest of my stuff? Should I put hinges on my other stamps (wince) and try to fill it up?

What do you all think?

Hi redcap,
Welcome,

Yellowing pages are a sign of acidification but if there is active acidification occurring at this time is harder to determine. It is possible that the pages started creating acids if the album was not kept in good environmental situations but this process (and it is a process) slowed or stopped now that you might be keeping the album, in a better environment. (Correct environment is cool, dry and stable; temperatures should be held at a constant 70°F with a relative humidity held between 30% and 50%.)

If it were mine, I would remove the good* stamps and get them into modern, top loading mounts and/or a good quality album.
Don

*the term 'good' is relative to each collector

Hi redcap and welcome to the forum. In addition to Don's advice two items.
First, in order to ID those "reddish profile Washington stamps" please go to http://stampsmarter.com" It is a great website for help in identification of older stamps.
Second, please post some pictures of the older stamps. We'd love to see them,

Peter

Let's see the stamps!

I appreciate the advice, Don and Peter. It is stored in a cool dry place at the moment, but I will consider removing some of the "better" stamps in the near future.

I am kind of reluctant to do so, as the album represents a fair amount of work on my grandfather's part as a young man, but I would also like for all that work to be preserved as best as possible for the future of my family.

There are way too many stamps to show the whole album, and none of them have been really researched since they were hinged in there, but here's some of the oldest, starting with the apparent scott #1:


Then there's a parade of these guys:






I've got a few more of those types on loose covers. A research project waiting on enough free time...

Then there's a potential lincoln 1866, not sure which variety:



and these guys round out the really old ones in general issue:



It gets more densely filled as it approaches the 1930's, which is when my grandad had it as a kid. There's also a several non-general issue items. Special delivery motorcycles and air mail winged orbs etc.

There's a lot of fun cinderella stuff too. Here's a page of Revenue stamps from the 1860's:



If I do go cherry picking through it and sifting it into my own collection, that is going to be a long term project. Because its family history as well, I want to be sure I do the best thing for the collection as a whole. Even without the stamps the album itself seems like a collection piece.

So if anyone else has any opinions or ideas on how to handle it, please speak up. I'm not going to be making any quick decisions unless the condition begins to deteriorate.

Thanks,
Jesse
PS- not sure why some of these pics are upside down

Jesse - Hello. A personal view, but I wouldn't be over-sentimental about retaining inherited family items in the state in which I found them - or, indeed, retaining them at all. Any of us who've cleared out our parents' homes will have disposed of loads of things that will have meant something - a lot, perhaps - to them. That doesn't mean we have to keep photograph albums, scrap-books, books etc that are about their lives in relation to themselves and each other, rather than to us. Personally, I'd absorb the stamps that I need in my own collection - you can always highlight their origins, which seems a better tribute to your grandfather's interests than in preserving something from the 1930s intact. But that's just me!

Comments? Real/Fake?Repro? No lower initials.

I did a little reading and took a closer look at it this morning. The engraver initials are there, but they are hard to see. I need a magnifying glass to see them clearly, and maximum zoom with my camera phone only gets me a dull blur in the area. I can see a bit of blur in the area on photo I posted, but that's about all I can pull off with my phone.

Color-wise it seems right on for the "red-brown" version that is shown in better photos than I can take, and the size seems to be right, 18ishX23 mm. The back still has some gum.

I'm definitely not ruling out a repro or a fake. He would have been in his early teens or possibly slightly younger when he started the album, and I know how rigorous a scholar I was at that age (not at all). But he did take his stamps very seriously his whole life.

What else should or could I check to verify it?

Not a bad inheritance at all. A few stamps have condition issues, but there are also some worthwhile stamps in there too. Not bad.

I'm with Geoff. Our spare room is full of large plastic tubs of old family photos. Important to Mom and Dad; but less so with me. I keep asking my mother if I can scan the photos and then toss them out. No dice.

Jack Kelley

The album itself is a dime a dozen,looks cool but not really collectible without the stamps. You could probably find a couple dozen on ebay at any given time.

I love the stamps though and if it was my grandfather's collection, I would purchase a new album for those stamps as a tribute to him and place all of them in that. Then I would take my own and fill in what he didn't already have or do some upgrading.

All those used stamps can be soaked in cool water (except some of the 1894-1925 postage due stamps - the red ink runs especially on the 1 and 2 cent) to remove the hinges, dry them flat, put them in nice mounts and mount them in a new album. Any unused stamps with gum still on them should be careful with removing the hinges. That would depend on what type of hinges your grandfather used. There are several threads on albums in here if you search. Depending on your likes and dislikes.

Mystic has a nice hingeless album so you could clean those up, dry them and slide them right into their new home. I prefer black mounts myself and have a Scott National album where every stamp is in a black mount, used or unused except my revenues. I know sometimes the mounts are worth more than the stamps that are in them but I did this for uniformity and presentation.

Good luck with whatever you do. You have a great start!

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It seems like taking the album apart is the way to go.

That leaves me with a couple more questions:

1. I've soaked stamps before, but are there any special considerations on stamps this old? Would I be safer just leaving the cut hinges on the backs?

2. When I'm dealing with a stamp that may be worth a few hundred, is there an economical way to get them verified as real, or better yet any good advanced resources for that sort of thing?

I'm not planning on selling. I'm really more interested in getting the necessary knowledge and experience to make informed calls in that regard. I just kind of feel like I should up my knowledge along with the upgrade to my inventory.

1. The one consideration would be if they were printed with an analine ink which can "run", I don't think any that are shown are, no postage dues at least. Others could say. If any of these were particularly plain dirty/soiled, a soak may do them good. Otherwise, just leave the hinge fragment on the back. 2. Expertization-Certification: If you want to up your knowledge join the APS, then take advantage of their certificates for any that you feel would be cost effective....the perceived value of the stamp greatly outweighs the cost of the cert. Short of that, there are plenty of experts on here who can probably judge whether your #1 is real for instance, (just don't throw a 500/528 in there...), but a "good" cert carries a certain surety that you wouldn't have simply citing opinions on a website. For your own education there are many good references on early US stamp identification, try the three Brookman volumes. Yes, that album is not rare, keep it for keepsake purposes but get the stamps in a nice album with mounts, Scott or Mystic, take your pick. Best of luck.

This thread strikes a chord with me on two accounts: the album and family momentous. First the album. Years ago I inherited a 1947 Scott international album part 1, that belonged to my grandfather. He was a travel agent when I was growing up and would ncollect or bring back stamps from areas that he either vacationed in or was scoping out for clients. It was heavily swayed towards central and South America. I started to add to that album putting the better stamps in mounts, hinging the cheaper stuff ( there was a lot of cheaper stuff) and using glassine leaves because the pages were printed on both sides. The sheer size of the album plus the interleaving eventually destroyed the spine. I then transferred the better to new 4 part Scott International album except for almost completed pages which still remain in the old album. Not sure what I will do with them. Stamps that I perceive to have true value of some degree, such as high face value unused 19th century or lower face face value but unused 20th century like 1933 Falklands, I do not keep in albums but all but in the mini, ringed dealer stockbooks, one per page. If your album has mold, foxing, or odor, I would get the stamps out and dump the album--your grandfather would likely have recommended this.

I also have been the recipient of all of my fathers photography equipment including early Nikon's, projectors, lighting equipment and all of the old movies, slides ( including metal slides) that was from an age that did not anticipate the digital age. These items have been relocated at least 5 times in the last 30 years but have always been stored in a cool, dark, and dry place with the result that several years ago when my sister was visiting and inclement weather forced an indoor activity I decided to pull down a 1956 16mm reel involving her 7th birthday party and play it for her. Although the projector was a 1955 Bell and Howell and the reel had not been out of the canister for probably 50 years, it played without a hitch, no breakage or splicing needed and as this was color film the colors were still fresh and resplendant including all the azaleas in bloom in front of the house and my sisters "yellow daffodil" dress.

Thus I have considered but so far resisted the thought of transferring all to CD; the cost would likely be prohibitive and I doubt the quality would be as true. Still it is a consideration. I think the broader implications of saving family momentos is more difficult. It takes an interested party to preserve and then pass on their passion to the next generation to do the same. Transferring that interest and passion is difficult as those of us with children who have no interest in stamps or collecting can attest.

So here I think you should handle these item in the way you feel comfortable understanding that others might disagree as you might have disagreed with your parents on some of their decisions. I have always sided on the preservation side of the equation figuring that once a family heritage has been tossed it usually cannot be retrieved.

The family history aspect of it is important to me, but even without the album there is still a lot in my collection that reflects this. I have two covers addressed to my great great grandfather and a few covers with handwritten notes from my grandfather asking for particular postmarks to be applied back when that was a part of the hobby.