Flexible, Cheap And Easy System For Storing Worldwide Collection... Does Not Seem To Exist!!!!

First post!

I have been wanting to do something about a big accumulation of stamps for a long time... but the ideal solution does not seem to exist from the various manufacturers of albums and supplies. Because I can't find a system I like it's put me off collecting somewhat!

Either they are too expensive - eg. albums with mounts attached already.

Or too much work - eg. getting the right size mounts and fixing them yourself.

Or don't have option for displaying dates and subject of stamps like a pre-printed album or Steiner pages would ie. stockbooks.

I've thought about how I'd like to do it, just need someone to actually manufacture it! Here goes...

CLEAR stock pages, DOUBLE SIDED - front side would be usual choice of strips, 5, 7, 8 etc. Back side would be ONE POCKET and would contain printed page eg. like a Steiner page or a page designed by the collector him/herself but designed so the stamp spaces line up with the strips on the front side, that the collector inserts as required (inserted face down so that the printed side is visible from the other side of the stock page.

Advantages would be that pages could be printed as required. No messing with individual mounts or hinges. Country/date/issue info would be visible through the CLEAR stockpage. Missing stamps easily identifiable by printed info or image - when you put a stamp into the page it would just slot into the strip at the front and cover the "marker" on the printed sheet that is visible from the single strip rear pocket.

Size of the pockets on the stock pages would have to fit A4 sheet (in the UK) or US letter size.

The images or empty printed squares on the sheets would have to be smaller than the actual stamps just in case they did not precisely align with the bottom edge of each strip when printed out.

I'm aware of commercial album pages that have the transparent sheet fixed at one edge and overlay on to a printed page, but these are expensive, don't look that good IMO, and don't have the flexibility of printing out an odd page when you need it (though in my idea a whole set of pages for a country could still be supplied commercially).

I hope I've explained this clearly enough... would anyone else use such a system if it were available?

I certainly would, and I believe it would look attractive and be relatively cheap and flexible. Again, just briefly, we are talking about clear backed stock sheets with a pocket on the reverse to insert printed info page that the stamps on the front could be lined up with.

You could interleave your printed page, which you'd laid out appropriately, with a clear Lighthouse stock page. Probably the closest you'd get.

Using mounts isn't mandatory, by the way.

Hi Pete - welcome to the forum!!

Your wish list is well-thought out & sounds good to me. I'd definitely be interested!

I'd like it even better if it was delivered by someone who would then sort all my stamps & place them in the pages, do the write-ups, & complete all the pages & place them in a presentable fashion in my office.

(If that person could bring me a cold beer while I watch them do all of this, it would be even better!)

When I hear things like this from my kids, I usually reply with 'I want to go to Hawaii w/a supermodel!'

If you search through the forum, you'll find lots of discussions on this & a large variety of creative methods. Nothing I've ever seen thus far is perfect. Find the method closest to what you want & don't look back...

Welcome,
I have often wished for the same thing (clear Vario-type pages that accept self printed album pages).
Don

Don - if you simply align your printing with the clear Lighthouse page with the appropriate number of strips, doesn't his give you what you want?

https://www.leuchtturm.com/plastic-...-grande.html

Thanks to all for your replies.

Geoff, yes your suggestion would achieve the same result, not sure about matching the size of the printed paper page with the plastic stockpage though in terms of comparable length and width. I think it would be less satisfying overall.... a similar solution would be a clear stockpage with strips overlaid on a single strip page containing the printed page (but that would be doubling cost of stockpages). Both methods end up having two pages for a page of stamps and just not as neat and tidy and self-contained.

To mdroth, yes I want to have my cake and eat it! It's my hobby so why not!? Part of the reason for the question was to see if anyone knew about such a system already existing. I don't think it does because I've searched for ages, so I might even investigate having such a system manufactured... I don't want it all delivered to me on a plate, but if a supermodel comes with it so much the better!

Don, thanks, good to see someone else has wished for the same thing. I'm sure it's physically possible, if they make double sided ones with black backs and also make single sided ones with clear backs they could make double sided clear ones too. Think I'll ask them and see what they say.

Pete - You're asking Lighthouse to weld two different clear pages together for an indeterminate page size, so I suspect you can guess the response! As you suggested in your original post, you're trying to create a customised version of the T-Bat system designed by Lindner - I think the only route is DIY.

DJCMHOH already does something like this, he custom prints sheets which he inserts between Vario pages, see here: https://goscf.com/t/60800&whichpage=5#530348

Not exactly what the OP is looking for, but as you say the closest alternative.
Clive

Here is how the set up that Clive mentions looks. I am up to 1980 on my Australia album pages, using Clive's AlbumEasy to make the insert pages. These go in page protectors between the 2-sided Vario pages.

Benefit of this is you can you both sides of the Vario Page, hold more stamps per album, while the inserts in page protectors are thin so do not too heavily bulk up the album (at least not as thick as having to use 2 Vario/other stocksheets that are one-sided would be)




(Re the paucity of stamps shown - I am laying out the pages according to the Australian Commonwealth Specialist Catalog listings, so include spaces for things like UV Variations, Paper Variations, Gum Variations, Color shades etc. that were very common among Australian stamps in the late 1970s. So the Performing Arts set of 1977 at the top includes the 4 stamps of the regular set in row one plus space for 5 varieties of the various stamps in row 2.)

Thanks for posting this. It does have the advantage of not requiring stamp images and stockpage strips to line up with each other precisely to the nearest millimetre, and it does (kind of) still highlight which gaps you need to fill.

So on your pages you have a printed sheet on the left and a stockpage on the right, and when you turn over to the next page presumably it's the opposite?

I looked at the idea of slicing up the printed sheets and putting the bits in the vario pockets to mark the missing stamps, also Prinz Plus pages which include writing up strips between each row.... all fiddly/inflexible/expensive to varying degrees.

I was thinking about a Vario-type page which allowed you to slip a custom printed page into it... so it would look something like this

If the Vario pages accepted an inserted printed page, we could configure the printed page to fit the sleeves (rows) of the Vario page.

Don

Don, yes, that is exactly what I am after!

I wonder what sort of massive minimum bulk order the manufacturers would quote to produce it to order?

I know you can order bespoke stock cards from at least one maker, but never seen it for stock pages.

A Lighthouse single clear page of the Grande size would accept a sheet - Vario are too small for most modern sheets. But then you've simply created a page protector. Or you could cut up the page to fit the individual lines of the Gande or Vario page!

I suspect this is why I use quadrille. You can then write or stick any information on the back of the preceding page.

Or a clear large size stock card (or stock page without the margin with the hole punches) of the right dimensions to fit inside the single clear grande page.

Doubling the cost of course!

Or, same principle, could something be done with album page protectors like these? At £6.95 per 5 off, this seems a non-starter!

Seems you are all re-inventing Linder T-Blanko system: https://www.lindner-original.de/en/...blank-pages/

(there's also dT-Blanko which is double sided version of the same, see https://www.lindner-original.de/en/...lank-pages/)

-k-

Well, they are expensive and ugly and the plastic goes a horrible shade of yellow... but apart from that, yeah!

My idea is better.... clear vario type page with single pocket on the back.

A printed layout sheet can slot behind the transparent sheet on those Lindners - they advertise "write up" sheets for them but these just seem to be no more than a plain sheet of paper.