How Does The Harris Worldwide Heirloom 2 Post Binder Lock Its Pages In?

I am familiar with and have used H.E. Harris Liberty, Ambassador, and Statesman albums. These are 2 post binders with a screw that closes the back cover onto the posts.

About a year ago I was in a stamp shop in Portland, OR and came home with a used Harris Citation album (and 4,800 stamps). The Citation is 2 post but has a rod that drops down through the posts from both the front and back covers rather than using screws. I really like the "rod through post" system and have found additional Citation albums on ebay.

I need another binder but ebay prices for Harris Citation albums have gone crazy lately. The Harris Worldwide Heirloom 2 Post 3-1/2" Binder seems to be the Harris (Whitman Publishing) replacement for the Citation, which is no longer manufactured. However I can't figure out if it uses the "screw in post" or "rod through post" closing mechanism.

I could call Whitman or another supplier of Harris albums and binders tomorrow, but it would be handy to know today, and sometimes those who answer the phones don't always have hands on familiarity with the product. So, I'm checking to see if anyone here might know.
Otherwise, I hope everyone is safe, healthy, and perhaps enjoying some staying at home with the stamp collection time.

I doubt anybody is interested as there were no replies , but for everybody's information ...

I called Whitman Publishing this morning. The H.E. Harris World Wide Heirloom 3-1/3" 2 post binder uses screws to close.

I shall be back to my quest to find used Citation binders in serviceable condition, though based on yesterday's e-bay auction results I may need to wait until prices moderate.

Mike O'Neil

Just another cost cuttingploy. I like the rod method too, Mike.

Jack Kelley

I imagine the screw system is cheaper to manufacture, but even some good album publishers use it like Davo in the Nethlands. It holds pages well but taking pages out or inserting pages back in is a little bit fiddly since you have to unscrew the screw from the threaded post, etc, etc.

The rod system where the rod passes through the two metal bars onto which the hole-punched pages fit is a good one, but the holes in the pages tend to wear over time. Scott Publishing uses this system and you have to be a little careful not to let page holes wear out. Scott sells hole reinforcements to help with this.

One wear point is where the rod passes through the bar. That spot is often rough and wears against the paper as the pages move back and forth in the album. Remove the two bars and use a metal file to smooth out the sharp edges around the holes.

The bars which the posts go through work best if they're curved in order to hold the pages properly. Straight bars make the pages fan out somewhat awkwardly compared to curved bars. Scott uses curved bars, but Harris does not. More expensive to make maybe?

Album covers matter, too. The vinyl covers used on less expensive album binders have a proclivity for tearing, especially along the "hinge" where the album is opened and closed. Vinyl is not particularly resistant to tearing, unfortunately. If you need to repair a torn vinyl album, never use duct (or sometimes "duck") tape. Its glue will stick to everything, and it will leak out badly. Instead, use "gaffer's tape" which is immensely better.

Finally, many collectors over-stuff their albums with too many pages. A binder should never be full. If it is, buy another binder so you can spread your pages out more. Spread out pages are much easier to use than pages that are stuffed in tightly. To keep the pages from sliding along the two bars, add a cardboard strip every once in awhile. Just hole punch it to fit your binder. The cardboard strips spread the pages out enough to hold them in place better. About every 20-30 pages seems to work well.

Thank you Drew for your always insightful comments on stamp albums. I was intrigued by "The bars which the posts go through work best if they're curved in order to hold the pages properly. Straight bars make the pages fan out somewhat awkwardly compared to curved bars. Scott uses curved bars, but Harris does not. More expensive to make maybe?" I've purchased 9 used Harris Citation album binders in the past year. When one arrived I noticed the bars were "bent" and was wondering how that could have happened, I even straightened them in a vice. I'm surmising that the previous owner had done that for the reasons you mentioned. One has the front cover coming off and I'd need to tape it to use it as an album. It has clear mailing tape on it at the moment. I'd never use duct tape for this application but I'll look into Gaffer's tape.

I very much concur with not over filling an album. The very first Citation I purchased, about a year ago at a stamp shop in Portland, Oregon, the previous owner had wood strips ½" wide and 3/8" thick drilled to fit the posts and used as you described to keep the ages from sliding while not having the album completely full.

Before you give up on purchasing used H.E. Harris Citation albums on ebay, let me share my story.

I started with a Statesman album in the early 70's, and upgraded to the 2 Volume Standard albums (the step up from the Citation, and the best albums that H.E. Harris had sold) in the late 70's. Both the Statesman (which I still have for my UN and US stamps) and Standard albums use the "screw" post that you mentioned. I've kept up with the annual worldwide supplements but obviously have needed additional binders. I purchased the Harris Worldwide Heirloom binders that you also noted (six of them).

Every so often, I'll search on ebay for used Standard albums or collections, and I've purchased two of them over the last couple of years. The first set of Standard albums came with the screw posts, so no problem there. However, the last set of Standard albums I purchased about a month ago came with the "rod through post" mechanism. I could tell these Standard albums were from the late 60's though, which were manufactured earlier than my Standard albums purchased in the late 70's and the other set I purchased on ebay.

Therefore, it may simply be a matter of when the Harris albums were manufactured. So if you look on ebay, check the description photos closely or ask the seller. That's what I plan to do in the future.

As a side note, I like buying them on ebay as I get the binders I need plus a bunch of stamps to sort through. As an added bonus, I've found that I get some nice replacement pages for my 70's era Harris album (ie. more stamp illustrations from the 60's, 50's, and possibly earlier).

Rick

I realize now that my comment above that "the bars which the posts go through work best if they're curved in order to hold the pages properly" could be misconstrued. The two curved page-holding bars work best when the curve is outward. This goes against what most people are likely to assume, but that seems to be the way Scott designed them to work, so I'm going to assume that's the way they're supposed to work for Harris albums, too. The outward curve -- meaning the two bars don't curve in toward the spine, but outward away from the spine -- seems to keep the pages more even, in my experience. I've tried it both ways. See how it works for you.

I didn't know previously that H.E. Harris had used two rods to hold the page-holding posts in place before they went to the screw system. But it makes sense that they would have. Scott had used that system for decades, and Minkus adopted it when their albums first out in the 1950s (I think). So why wouldn't Harris have used it, too? Their use of screws which go into hollow posts seems more than likely a later system. It was probably adopted because it was cheaper to make albums that way. Cheaper approaches to album-making include screw posts, thinner paper, vinyl covered binders, and perhaps other cost-cutting measures. There are also other systems of holding pages like springback binders (not so popular anymore but they have their advantages) and ring binders which are very popular nowadays.