Israel Albums - Suggestions/Comments

I was wondering why Israel collections were being almost given away. I purchased a large lot at Cherrystone last year that had three complete MNH collections with all tabs in it, all mounted in hingeless albums. There were a few true rarities missing but other then that the collections had a very high cv and condition was fantastic. It left me scratching my head. I suppose Scott does not want to change values downward to reflect the market. The stamps went on sales cards and were put away and the albums went in the dumpster.

One thing that has always puzzled me about this area is how the price of so many of the the early issues seem to be kept at an artificially high level. There are all kinds of 7-9 singles sets out there, still they all seem to be set at over $300 per set by most dealers with a price list. I'm not suggesting s rigged market but something just does seem off.

Part of the reason is Israel changed currencies in the mid eighties, and so all stamps before that are not valid for postage. In the US, there is basically a floor for the value of stamps, since they are still valid for use. Even bulk lots will sell for ~50% of face. There is no such floor for Israeli stamps. Second, there is a huge imbalance of supply and demand. Many more older collections are being sold than new collections are starting. I believe in the 50's and 60's, Israel was a very popular country to collect. It was easy to complete a country collection (the country started in 1948), and Israel produced around 10 new issues a year. The number of new issues a year has shot up in recent years, as has the nominal face value (many issues have a face value equivalent of $3 or so.

Seems as though a new white ace album is tougher to find than one would think! I see albums with only a few years, like 1948-1956; but that seems odd as there were not that many stamps per year. Am I missing something?

White Ace made one set of pages without tabs and a separate set with tabs.

Scott also produces 2 sets of pages, one with tabs and 1 set without. For a country since only 1948, they use a lot of pages so albums are not cheap

I believe the white ace albums were released in multiple parts, each part covers 10-15 years. Later years have more stamps per year.

You can also get Safe, Davo, Palo, Lighthouse and I am sure others as well. None will be cheap unless you can find them used, but that has its own problems.

Any albums other than White ace have descriptions about said stamps/sets? Would really like to learn something as I go.

Have seen White ace albums full of stamps, but prefer to pick my own and mount as I go rather than just buying a collection.

As always, thank you for all the feedback/knowledge.

I don't know of any albums other than White Ace that have descriptions of Israel stamps and sets of stamps. As noted before, WA is out of print by maybe coming back into print -- not sure.

There's nothing stopping you from using blank pages and adding your short descriptions if you want to spend a little more time. Often those sorts of collections, if done well, are the most interesting and best looking compared to standardized albums. That was the way classic collectors, even those with a lot of money, mounted their collections for many years.

It will be difficult to find a complete White Ace album for Israel, unless they come back into print. Yes, they were issued in 'parts' with each group of pages covering a number of years, but that's the way all other albums are sold, as well. You'd need many parts to complete the entire album. Cost would be at least $400 for all the pages, with tabs or without. And you'd need binders to hold them. So, $500 for an entire Israel album of either type. That's new, but they're out of print. Used would be cheaper, of course.

You might at least look at Bill Steiner's print-your-own pages online. It's at "stampalbums(dot).com". They don't have descriptions, but only labels. The cost is not very high and you have access to printing any country's pages you want either from the website or from a CD. Might not be what you're looking for, but worth looking at.