Design Type Collecting Of United States Classic Stamps

Is anyone familiar with design-type collecting as promoted by PSE in their 2008 design-type stamp album for the First 100 Years of United States stamps? I am interested in why it never got traction, how collectors feel about it, etc. I wasn't yet back into stamp collecting when it came out in 2008 and am interested in the everything I can learn about the acceptance/rejection/ reaction from 2008 to 2017, when PSE appears to have finally given up on it as a product.

**Moved at OP Request**

Jbodo,

I have a set of the pages and I am happy with them. As a side collection, it is a nice way to avoid the complexities of early US issues. I have a scan of a page below.

[Edit: added an additional page]

The album pages were never heavily advertised. My guess is that the project was designed to introduce people to PSE's US Design Numbering System. It never caught on.

The pages are still available on Amazon for $45

Dan

Thanks Dan. I like the concept for new collectors to affordably get into (or back into) stamp collecting and build a foundation from which they can then launch into the infinite nooks and crannies - once they are hooked.

I am researching why it didn't get traction. Maybe the targeted audience was not found and the advantages of the system as an affordable readily completable foundation was not communicated with enough marketing sizzle. I don't know, since I wasn't looking at stamps during those years. I do have the album and used it as one of my resources as I was designing my own pages.

Maybe, by housing it within PSE website, those using PSE's services weren't the targeted audience.

Bryan

Bryan,

I think you're right. It wasn't heavily advertised outside of the PSE website. If you are a sophisticated enough collector to visit PSE, it probably isn't of interest.

Dan

Dan,

Great! That actually helps me a lot. I will move forward with that assumption.

Bryan

@JBODO : We discussed this a little bit back in the day.

https://goscf.com/t/4305

If you don't have it, definitely download the PSE Book (last post in above thread).

KirkS

This actually belongs in the original place (its about an album pages, that is why I didn't move it)
Don

I've always thought it was a great idea (as I do US type coin collecting). This is one of the main reasons why I like the Scott Internatonal Volume 1: I don't have to worry about perforations, watermarks, etc. But I also recognize that a lot of collectors, as evidenced by this group, do like the complexities. It is interesting to speculate whether it would have made a difference if this had been a Scott album promoted on Amos's website.

I abandoned pre-printed albums almost as soon as I started collecting. I design and print my own. I had never heard of the PSE album, but it,seems like a great idea. Every pre-printed album I've ever seen is ridiculous. It takes almost no effort (and as much money as the face value of the stamps) to fill every spot in an album of major Scott numbers from about 1930 on. Except the 1979 John Paul Jones perf variation. And it is stupid to print albums with the Franklin Z-grill, most of the 19th century special printings, etc. It would be so easy to make a customizable print-to-order album with options for which stamps you want. Overall options like a catalog price max, and whether to include minor varieties would cover most of it, but it could be as specific as picking individual stamps. This hobby is pretty technophobic, though, so