What Is The Best International Stamp Album?

I'm new to this board; I have recently begun cataloguing a collection I started as a 10 year old more than 50 years ago. Would love anyone's thoughts as to the best International stamp album to own? One that has tons of pictures for the right stamps and one that gives honest, comprehensive updates each year. Have been using a website to catalogue my collection and am stunned it has over 6,000 stamps that I've done nothing with for at least 30 years. Shocked at what I accumulated as a kid, frankly. Collection has been in boxes for years.

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There are no longer the choices that were available back in the day. The strongest has survived and there is a newer contender. The Scott International is still the gold standard in my opinion. Comprehensive, but if "tons of pictures" means an image for each different design, no album is perfect in that respect. Access to a catalog is very helpful if not required, either via your local library or purchase. The International can be acquired in sections instead of taking one big hit, if that is a concern. If you haven't been keeping up with stamps, recent year supplements for this now take up about 2 volumes.

The contender is downloadable and print-it-yourself pages by Bill Steiner. It is also comprehensive and even has varieties including some not listed by Scott. It is available by country so you can progress at your own speed based on a yearly subscription plan.

Search the board for other threads with other opinions. Good luck with your new/old collection.

There are also Minkus Supremes which have more coverage than Scott Internationals, and also the Scott Vintage Reproductions for pre 1940 which has extensive coverage.

What year are you planning to collect up to as the international albums are a small fortune if you want them all and also require a lot of shelf space.

For Steiner pages, you can pay a little extra and get the CD so you have them all now and print what you need. Or, spend the time downloading them all. Unless you collect newer issues, renewing is not a must.

For a worldwide collection, the cost of albums can get very expensive. Even with print your own type, the cost of decent paper and binders is not cheap.

Depends.

If you're collecting the world to-date (you say you want an album that is updated) you're going to need deep pockets and a ton of shelf space. There are getting close to a million different stamp issues now.

If you go with Scott International albums, you won't find the newer pages on the secondary market. You can usually get a complete set of blue Internationals, empty or mostly empty, up to 1990-2000 or so at auction for a few hundred dollars (maybe closer to a thousand if they go beyond 2000 and/or the binders are all in great shape), but the newer pages you'll have to buy from the manufacturer and they will be expensive.

One advantage to Steiner pages is that you can print out the pages that you need -- otherwise I expect you will have hundreds and hundreds of empty pages in Guyana (to give just one example of the dozens of heavy issuers for which you probably don't have comprehensive coverage).

Another advantage is that Steiner pages are actually comprehensive, by Scott major numbers at least (Scott Int'ls are missing spaces for lots of old stamps, and a smaller number of modern issues as well.)

Scotland!

You've come to the right place to learn about stamps and collecting!

Scotland ---Welcome to the chat board .

I disagree with everybody who posted here {I usually disagree with people ,so it is no surprise to the old timers here}.

So let's get to your question , everybody is doing overkill as far as what album you should use .Since you have around 6,000 stamps and looking for a album . I would say go with the CITATION ALBUM by H.E.Harris.

The album is the worlds largest capacity single volume it has room for 75,000 stamps and has 45,000 identifying illustrations. Don't go with Steiners make your own pages unless you own a set of Scott catalogs ,you will get lost trying to figure out what goes where .Scott International full set will run into big bucks and with 6,000 stamps it will be many years before the books will look like a collection .

The Citation will be fine ,I like them for duplicates and they hold a lot . GOOD LUCK

I have to agree with floortrader, many of the WW solutions proposed might be overkill for a 6,000 WW initial collection. It might even be overkill for a 20,000 WW collection.

Unless Scotland 2018 really gets the WW bug (which of course we all have who are giving advice to him ), a nice one volume WW album wouldn't be a bad way to go. One could then change course, if necessary, down the line.

Yes, the Harris Citation might be a good choice.


Global Master 1961 Edition
1956-58 Germany Page


I like the Minkus Master album for a one volume solution. One would need to pick up a used copy, however, as they are no longer published.

See my Big Blue blog discussion about WW one volume choices.

https://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.c...p-album.html

Best International stamp album to own?
One that has tons of pictures for the right stamps.
And one that gives honest, comprehensive updates each year.

"Best" is for you to decide since every collector is different, and every collector has different budgets, different taste in albums, and so on. What some collectors like I might find unappealing. You too.

You don't give many parameters so it's hard to make suggestions. For example, are you intending to collect current stamps? Or just classic stamps up to a certain cut-off year? The latter is much easier to do; the former can quickly get overwhelming. If you do want to collect current stamps, you'll need to keep buying an annual supplement for your album. That can cost a lot of money. The annual Scott International supplement covering just a single year costs about $200. Yes, for one year. The same for the Minkus Global albums. I'm not completely sure if you can get H.E. Harris & Co album supplements every year, but I think you can. Not sure who sells them, though.

Do you plan to collect the entire world? Or just certain key parts of it? Or a combination of the two where you collect some countries up to your cut-off year but others beyond that year? Do you really insist there be a space for every stamp issued for every year? Or do you prefer that "most" stamps have spaces, omitting more expensive stamps you'll never own?

You get the point.

The two worldwide albums that are most commonly used today are the Scott International ("Big Blue") album and the Minkus Global album. These are multi-volume albums, to say the least. They used to be competing albums from competing companies, but Minkus is no longer in business (Neither is H.E. Harris). Both Minkus and I think Harris albums are still manufactured and updated. Scott Publications (Amos Advantage [dot] com is their website) sells both of them. I think the less cluttered look of the Scott pages is one reason it has generally been the favored album of most collectors. It's the one I use, and it can quickly run to dozens of volumes just to cover only part of what's possible.

The Minkus album includes more spaces than Scott. But Minkus pages are jam packed to what some consider an overwhelming degree while Scott pages are laid out more clearly and are less cluttered. Their pages look very different, to say the least. For the era since about the 1950s, both albums include spaces for nearly all stamps. The Scott album leaves out harder-to-get stamps only for the Classic Era (1840-1940), but not for the later era from about the 1950s onward where Scott pages become more inclusive. For the modern era, the two albums are about equally comprehensive.

There is a variant version of the Big Blue which is a reprint of the original Scott International which once provided spaces for all stamps for the 1840-1940 era, but was later discontinued. It's sold by Subway Stamp Shop and is called "Vintage Reproductions" pages. A set of these will set you back maybe $900 without binders. Yes, expensive. You could then use Scott International regular pages for stamps after 1940. Add even more hundreds more dollars. You're starting to get the picture, I'm sure.

Minkus Global albums are similarly priced -- expensive, in other words. Each "part" covering different periods will cost a hundred dollars or more. All pages covering 1840-present is going to cost many thousands of dollars. It can quickly get insane.

The Harris albums are giant sized and pretty comprehensive, but also have jam-packed pages like the Minkus album. You may like or not like this. They cost much less than either the Scott International or the Minkus Global -- by a lot. I think supplements are still available for them, but I'm not sure. There are a number of different Harris albums with different degrees of completeness, each thicker than the previous album, from one-volume to multiple-volume albums. I think the Harris Citation is the biggest and most comprehensive. Check around to find out. Some are so large that, like the Minkus and larger Scott International binders, you almost can't pick them up!

All -- Scott International, Minkus Global, and Harris albums -- can be purchased used on ebay to save money. Be sure you get all the parts of the album you will need as chasing down a few missing groups of pages or a missing volume or two can be time-consuming and frustrating. A used, but good condition, Scott International covering 1840-1970s might cost only a few hundred dollars, but can cost a good deal more. Condition of the pages is important to consider as old album pages can be worn, ripped, musty and not a good investment.

One last choice is the Steiner print-yourself pages. You subscribe to Bill Steiner's album website (look for "stampalbums [dot] com") and either print from the website or from a CD he'll send you. For less than a hundred dollar subscription fee for one year, you can print pages for the entire world. An amazing bargain? Yes, but there are a few caveats that often do not get mentioned about Steiner's system.

First, is the cost of paper. Imagine printing 10,000 pages and what that will cost in paper and ink. For better wear and tear you'd be wise to print on sturdy "cover stock" and not on ordinary printer paper. That's more expensive than regular paper, maybe 200 pages for $12 or so. This is much cheaper than preprinted albums -- but not exactly "free" as some claim for Steiner pages.

Second, printing on your home computer printer means you are generally limited to standard 8.5 x 11" paper which will fit such printers. This cramps page layouts on the smaller pages quite a bit, and some collectors feel you end up with much less elegant layouts by using Steiner pages. I'm one of them. The look of a Steiner page is very different from the look of a Scott, Minkus, or Harris page, all of which are a good deal larger and more "album-looking".

Third, you'll need to buy binders to hold the pages times a large number of volumes. Even with the cost of paper, binders, ink, and his annual subscription, you can print a pretty decent worldwide album for -- purely guessing here -- maybe $600, 700, 800 in "supplies".

Its' also possible to print Steiner's pages on larger album-sized pages using a large format printer to create a more open page layout, but again the paper costs money and you'll need to buy many binders which will hold those pages just as you will with the smaller pages. None of this is exactly "cheap".

So, Scott International, Minkus Global, Harris (various albums of different degrees of completeness), and Steiner do-it-yourself. You choose. You're not going to want to move all your stamps later to a different album after a few years, so give it some real thought.

All are good choices for different reasons. There are less expensive albums, by Harris for one, which will cost a few hundred dollars total. But they provide far far fewer stamp spaces, too. Many collectors buy parts of their chosen album slowly over a few years to spread out the expense. I've taken five years or so to buy all my Scott International "parts" and binders covering 1840-1975. Whew! Or buy a complete used album all at once. Easiest to do with one of the larger Harris albums. Welcome to spending money!

Good luck!

Here's a plug for the Vintage Reproductions albums that were recently mentioned: these are the only pre-printed world pages (as far as I know) that come printed on only one side. All the others come printed on both sides which although helping to preserve space, can cause all sorts of headaches with stamps on opposing pages getting hung up with one another, sometimes causing damage to the stamps themselves. This isn't an issue with the VR pages so either hinges or mounts can be safely used. Also, the VR pages are larger in size, and come drilled for use in 3-ring binders, allowing the pages to lay flat. I keep my pages in green Scott binders with slip cases that look mighty handsome on their shelves.
Also, sometimes you can find only slightly used original Scott Brown Internationals (the ones the VR pages are based upon). I came across a Volume I (that covers 1840 to 1900) that only had a few pencil annotations in some of the stamp spaces for 50-bucks US. I use this one just for stamps with SON cancellations. The downsides here again are the opposing pages, and these came bound like a book, so there's no adding blank pages to these.
I guess for some of us, collecting albums is almost as much fun as collecting stamps !

I have to agree with floortrader. As a recent convert to WW collecting,I have a small collection of some 20 000 stamps which covers a handful of European countries. It seems pointless to get an international album. I have dabbled with DAVO country albums as well as Steiner and in some cases, have created my own pages (time permitting).
Unless you have in mind to start buying large collections to add to your own, consider using stock books for now, arranged by continent/region/country until you have an accumulation of any one specific country and start looking for other solutions. This will also give you ample time to weigh out your options

Agreed. Sort the stamps into stock-books or stock-pages, then transfer them to blank quadrille pages (which can be housed in various binder types - springback, peg or ring) once you're ready. A thousand quadrille album leaves cost me around £100, and they're doubtless cheaper in the US.

Hello Scotland, lots of opinions offered but you might want to define your goals first. It sounds like you have the typical "schoolboy" collection that you randomly put together with stamps up through the 1970s. Do you just want to find a good home for those? If so, no need for any supplements to try to keep current. That is a bit like chasing a rainbow anyway, you'll tire of it quickly. If you agree, then decide upon some cut off year(s). You may be able to find a one volume solution that appeals to you, particularly if you don't have a lot of the "classic" stamps in your collection, loosely defined as pre-1940. As mentioned a brand new Harris Citation might fit the bill, or if you don't intend to go beyond where you left off in the 70s, then look on ebay or with dealers for a good condition, used album that fits the years you will be collecting. Good luck.

I am blown away at the kindness and openness of this community in the responses I got. Thank you so kindly to everyone for their thoughts, opinions, and help. This information was exceedingly helpful. Many thanks.

I like the thick old Scott international album for 1940 stamps and before. I can't afford the latter Scott albums, so I invested in a Harris two volume instead. Supplements can be pricey if you're looking to update annually. Either buy specific supplements, buy blank pages, or create your own pages; good luck!