Popularity Of Philately Outside Europe And North America?

First I should say I got more albums than just about anybody ,that is a lot more than you think .That is NOT other peoples albums in cardboard boxes in the garage . These are albums filled by me . Second they are on selves in order .

I highly reckownment that new collectors start with pre-printed albums, if your a worldwide collector and have less than 100,000 stamps than go with the Scott International or Minkus albums . As your collection expands then you can start looking at print-your-own {Steiner pages }, speciality albums or plan your own in stock books .




It is sad when I went to Rasdale Auction last week and see a box of Scott Speciality albums and Pablo Albums which cost the collector over $700.00 new and the lot sells for $150.00 because out of the five albums there was not $200.00 worth of stamps in all those expensive books . It really tells you a collector had high hopes for his collection and ended up losing what he put into it .

We got this stupid idea the the bigger the album and more expensive paper results in greater value of the collection and it is also sad to see hundreds of cheap two cent stamps all in mounts on a album page,collectors need to stop thinking that putting cheap stamps in those expensive plastic mounts some how increases or advances their collection level . . Honestly I must of thrown in the trash 200,000 to 300,000 plastic stamp mounts in the trash while making up foreign mixture lots .

Most definitely, just not part of the process I have interest in, at least for 90% of what I collect. I spend time thinking about it, but outside of real specialties (Sudetenland locals, that new 300+ page (!) release for Manchuria overprints from the CSS, or some study of errors or colors), it's just not my thing.

Nothing ruins a collection for me more than sloppy presentation. Cramming variants into margins, poorly cut mounts, things off center or crooked, ugh. I'm not a persnickety kinda guy (as I note, looking at the mess on the table I'm at currently), but I feel if one is gonna spend real time at a visual hobby, it should look good.

Speaking of which, does anyone have experience with DAVO mounts? I remember some discussion months ago about them, but answers seemed vague or cursory. How do they compare to now-lost Hawid or everyone's standby, Showgard?

GeoffHa wrote:

I completely agree, creating albums to match one's specific interests adds a whole new dimension to the hobby.

For myself, early in my collecting career, I realised that an off-the-shelf album wasn't going to meet my collecting needs so soon gravitated towards Vario pages.

The flexibility that Vario pages offer make for an almost ideal system that can easily be rearranged as one's collection grows and interests change.

However, for me, Vario's suffer from two major shortcomings. Firstly aesthetics - they just don't appeal to me, but of course, this is personal taste so others may not feel the same way.
The second and by far the bigger issue is dust. The pages are like dust magnets especially in winter, the dry air from the heating system causing the pages to develop a static charge which seems to attract anything not nailed down and before long the pages are completely covered with DUST!

A brief flirtation with quadrille paper was my next stop along the custom page route, however, this soon came to a rapid end thanks to my really awful handwriting.
Also, I found difficulty in visualising a nice looking layout before drawing boxes on the page which meant going through a few iterations with plenty of discarded paper before completing a page that I was satisfied with.

Eventually, it dawned on me that a computer-aided solution would be the answer to both of the quadrille shortcomings I was experiencing. There is a wide selection of software to choose from, e.g MS Publisher, Adobe Publisher, MS Word etc.
My choice though is AlbumEasy, it does absolutely everything I need, well it would, wouldn't it (gratuitous plug).

I have been creating custom pages for some years now, and wouldn't have it any other way - whatever tool one chooses creating one's own pages satisfies not only the collecting bug but offers a creative outlet as well

Clive

51studebaker wrote:

Actually, this is available right now, World Collector allows one to choose stamps from its database and have the program automatically generate an album in AlbumEasy format ready to be customised by the user.

Currently, the World Collector database has about 500,000 stamps but collectordave, the creator is rapidly adding to it. Unfortunately, he recently had a computer crash, so only the Windows version is available to download, but he is planning on having the Mac version backup soon - no Linux version unfortunately

Clive

Most of us started our collections with different goals/ambitions and refined them as our knowledge grew. I think the best first album for a beginner is a stock book/pages as it offers the most flexibility.
Graduate to a pre-printed or pre-laid-out printable album after the new collector gets their feet wet.
Then when and if they outgrow it, explore other options including making their own.

I don't see this as a waste of time at all. I actually enjoy making the pages and since I have built up a good library of objects (frames, text blocks, templates, etc.) private dies aside, it doesn't take all that long for me to crank out a new BoB section/binder.

Although I do spend money on storage and display, tools and research materials - all of which reduces my time and budget for stamps. I think it's worth it and it keeps me off the streets at night . I'm "generally" budget minded, buying in bulk and also big on re-use. The MSRP cost of a new Scott's US National Album set is more than 12-14 of my piano-hinged binders, paper and probably toner included and which offers me more flexibility. (Not including my time or mounts.)

Hands down, the best fun is the treasure hunt, but the research and that includes the text I put on my pages and section divider tabs is also part of the fun for me. Same with doing the research to write whitepapers and articles. Of course, for me this is also a potential delineation between a collector and a philatelist. Not that there is anything wrong with either, its just a different focus.

Again, this is what's great about the hobby. Unless you're doing harm, if it pleases you there's no wrong way.

I'm of a mind that anything that is fragile but important or is over 80-100 years old, regardless of value has earned the right to live in mount, so it can be enjoyed by another generation. I generality mount anything used pre-WWII and also anything that is MNH. The extra protection may or may not be necessary but we're just the temporary custodians on their way through time. Someday my or maybe you're descendants may like having them in their collection.


All of this, is just my two cents.

And I, for one (no doubt amongst many others) am exceedingly grateful that you did, Clive. In many ways, you are the Bill Steiner of the 21st Century. You have made a huge impact on modern stamp collecting...

John

Not everyone views their hobby as an accounting exercise in which an amount spent, decades later, must turn a profit. Costly paper albums, every stamp in a mount, can result in a stunning presentation that is completely satisfying to some collectors who factor in that satisfaction, and overall hobby enjoyment, into the profit calculus. I am in that camp and refuse to be cowed by those who think a $0.25 stamp in a mount is a "waste". I enjoy the presentation so FLOORTRADER ... Your way is not the only right way.

Agreed. I mount everything. No hinges ever, for anything.

Does World Collector frame the stamp for mounts, or is it exactly stamp dimensions, or something in between?

I mount everything. I am talking stamps here.

No matter the stamp value. I want uniformity in my presentation. I do it for me. Nobody sees my collection apart from whatever I share here. It is for me, myself and I. I challenge anyone that besmirches my approach to a duel with peeling knives at close quarters in Long Term Parking Lot C of The Mall of the America's. Bring a second.

Roger,



John

classic_paper:

The automatically generated World Collector AlbumEasy file has a box frame that is 4mm larger than the stamp dimensions, i.e., leaves a 2mm space all around from actual stamp size. This is easily customizable (the AlbumEasy source file is plain text).

The absolute BIGGEST problem, of course, is to get the stamp dimensions (actual stamp size, not the design frame) right. This also is easily customizable in the AlbumEasy source file...

Once you have the basic framework down, you use the power of AlbumEasy (margins, background image, border, truetype font, etc.) to create your album from the AlbumEasy source file. The AlbumEasy program is backed up with an outstanding help file, within the program. Once you dive under the hood of AlbumEasy and practice, you will be creating professional-looking pages in no time.

John

If one goes to amosadvantage, there are so many album products (like a complete set of Scott Nationals for about $650) are listed as backorder with no indication when they will be in stock. Why have a website with so much out of stock. This reminds me of how Subway ended up so I stopped using them.

From two years ago:

https://goscf.com/t/68842

Just curious, for those who are creating and using custom pages, are you printing out on regular 8.5x11 size paper and hole-punching them or are you putting into plastic sheet protectors or some other option I'm not thinking about?

Thanks!

I am printing Steiner-based pages on 8.5 x 11 and then inserting each page into a page protector. I like the idea of the sheet protectors because I can slip minor varieties into glassines and tuck behind the page until I decide to create a new page or modify the existing page. If I get tired of the sheet protectors, then I can still punch the holes. The sheet protectors keep the pages cleaner. I know it is overkill because I also use clear mounts for all the stamps.