A General Question To Worldwide Collectors. How Do You Do It?

WW collecting can be fun if you set some imitations.

In my case, it is usually pre-1965 issues. I use an older
WW Album (1964 Harris Senior Statesman in excellent condition,
bought on the cheap) which I have converted to 2 Harris Heirloom
3.5 inch binders (also bought used). I use glassine interleaving
which I had left over from a large Minkus Global Supreme collection
I bought several years ago. I like to fill spaces in printed albums -
I suppose it brings back memories of my youth... I have been hoarding
Harris WW Speedrille blank pages for about 10 years and have managed
to accumulate a few hundred of them. I use these to fill in the gaps
and for "specialized" items.

My goal, for this particular album, is to fill it. There is space for
about 34,000 stamps (680 original pages) and it has decent coverage
for quite a few countries. The vintage albums like this have the
advantage of years of issue (as a year range) included, and also
much better coverage of the earlier years. I figure by the time it is
filled and added to, it will number at least 50,000 different, maybe
more. I don't add damaged stamps and I try to use only vintage hinges
(often cut in half) which I obtain as cheap as possible, using rewards
points or buy using "gift" money. I strongly dislike modern crap hinges.
MNH and better items get a clear mount.

This is just a side project, when I get tired of my more serious collections
(German Area to 1990, Canada to 1980, United States to 1970). For these
collections, I use Steiner, or other specialized albums.

I also have an AFSEC (A Stamp For Every Country - Comprehensive) album which
I play around with to relax. My primary interest in this album was designing it
initially. This is also a side diversion.

The thought of adding 100-200 stamps a day to a collection, day after day,
week after week, month after month makes me cringe. That would bore me to
death. As it is, I have sorting/mounting sessions when I am in the mood for it.
Whether I mount 50 stamps or 200, it makes no difference.

It is a long, slow road, even with the limits I have set myself.

Well, that is one guy's methodology in dealing with the WW itch...

John

I collect worldwide more like the oil spot method - slowly spreads over time. I started with mostly British Commonwealth but continue to expand to suit my interests and what stamps I find. I have recently added French Indochina and subsequent countries. I do not try very hard to complete anything but just enjoy the journey.

Using print on demand Steiner pages, I only print pages as needed so do not have a shelf full of binders with completely empty pages. I will modify Steiner pages to add catalog numbers/page numbers and re-do layouts to break up blocks or add varieties.

I use StampManage to track everything to prevent from purchasing duplicates. I scan every page (every page has page number) so it can be stored in an organized by country.

There are different levels of Worldwide collectors ,to ask "How do you do it " is going to get a lot of answers that don't apply to the whole group . The way worldwide collectors have their collection is vastly different from each other .

You got members on this board from those who buy Kilo mixtures to those who buy at the major public auctions ,big difference .
Another area is many collectors call themselfs worldwide collectors and they have dozens of plastic lunch bags of stamps to the collector who have spend hundreds of dollars on albums to mount their stamps .

On here you can get this difference ---"-Where is the best place to buy Kiloware " to " booking a flight and a hotel room plus a car rental to attend a East Coast auction "

so HOW DO YOU DO IT ?

Floortrader,




That's why I deliberately asked such an open-ended question rather than more pointed ones. I was curious how other collectors approach worldwide collecting. I expected the replies to be all over the place.

If you are asking me how "I" do it, the short answer is, I don't. While I enjoy looking at worldwide collections such as the impressive one you have, I found out collecting worldwide wasn't for me for reasons I mentioned in an earlier post. It just didn't fit my collecting style. I'm happy with the way I collect and am content to admire the work of those who venture into the worldwide arena.

Dan

Probably my story is similar to johnsim. I started as a youngster, dropped it in high school & college, and picked it up again in 1974 with the purchase of a 2 volume Harris Standard. About 100,000 stamps later the Harris has expanded to 11 volumes, plus another 10 or so country albums. I collect nothing past the year 2000 and no US classics, although I do have an almost complete US commemorative collection. For almost 50 years I collected whatever came my way and into the albums they would go. A couple of years ago I decided to give it up and bought a Scott Big Blue part 1 and then later part 2. The album came with about 3500 stamps. Over the next couple of years I added another 7000 from my duplicates, 2000 from Ken Relyea auctions, 3000 from another Big Blue and another 2000 or so from other purchases. It is now about 50% complete and I am enjoying it very much. I have yet to cannibalize the Harris albums, but maybe tomorrow.

My annoyances and dilemmas with Big Blue I will enumerate in a separate post.

For me it is all about flexibility.

Currently, I have four Scott International albums, but have decided to transition to either Vario or stock books.

I don't have to feel like if I get some stamps from Iceland, I can't add them to my collection. That said, I kind of specialize in a few areas and that's where the strength of my worldwide collection resides. So, yes, you'll get a broad swath of nations, but I'm heaviest in Haiti, dead countries (especially Russia and Soviet area), newspaper stamps, and a couple other areas.

Get a little bored with Haiti, I just go do some dead countries for a while. And when I run across a few stamps from a country I don't collect, they just get added to the album. :-)

Like I said, I just like the flexibility.

Yes, you must have a wallet like an elastic band and no defined bottom.

My system is a little different. I collect specific countries in their own albums AND worldwide stamps in a set of Scott International albums. I didn't decide to do this at first, but like most good systems, it just evolved that way.

I have separate Scott Specialty albums for all my favorite countries, the ones I want to collect in more depth. These include popular countries like France, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, and many others. I also collect some less popular countries like Nepal, Malawi, Egypt, Tunisia, and a few others. I started out focusing on just a few of these. BUT I gradually decided to "specialize" in one more country after another. As I got interested in their stamps, I started a Congo collection, then Egypt, then some Latin American countries, and so on. I now have about 25 separate albums for these countries. I'm certainly not rich so I don't buy too many of the more expensive stamps for any of these countries but focus mainly on more common stamps. I admit I might have a small stamp self-control problem!

Doing this, I found myself with many duplicates for these many countries. So what to do with them?

That's what I use my International album for. Since I was a kid, I'd always wanted to have this album, so I use it for the overflow of all these countries. I put all my duplicates into the International album. For a few years, I bought various country collections and a dozen or more Scott International collections to get these stamps. Now, with all these stamps to put into albums, I've mostly stopped buying. For a couple of years I spent a lot of money buying stamp collections, but spread over the years, it averages out to a fairly reasonable expenditure per year -- as I've explained to my wife.

Naturally, the countries with the most stamps in my International volumes are the same countries I specialize in. But, from the various other International volumes I bought, I've been able to take many stamps for other countries, as well.

I figure this is at least a 20 year project, and that's if I'm focused and efficient That means, at my age (73), I'm not likely to finish it. Which is a good thing as I don't want to fill up my albums and then say "Well, I'm done. What do I do now?" So I've kind of accidentally stumbled onto a system where I'll never be finished with my collection but will always be busy.

My system is very similar to Drew's. I have Scott Specialty albums for favorite countries (and Minkus for Mongolia), then a set of Internationals for "fun". I have some favorite countries in Vario pages or stockbooks if I haven't bought a Scott Specialty album yet.

"How do you do it?"

Do you mean, "by what method to you collect worldwide stamps?" Or do you mean, "OMG worldwide is impossible how on God's green earth do any of you even try?"

classic_paper,

I deliberately asked a vague, open-ended question. I am satisfied with the way I collect but I am curious about other collector's attitudes toward collecting WW. Their attitude toward WW collecting is usually reflected in "how do YOU do it."

With the exception of some heavy hitters, it seems that collectors generally either collect to an album or concentrate on certain countries and put stamps from other countries that cross their paths into a WW collection.

The posts have been interesting. I hope there are more.

Dan

Hi Dan!

I hope you are well. Here is my method as a new collector (therefore it could definitely evolve):

I started with a Mystic Heirloom Album for US - any duplicates or post 1970ish are housed in Vario pages. I also have a Scott Specialty Album for Mexico - Duplicates and anything not mounted are also in Vario pages.
I also collect specific countries that I am interested in - Hong Kong, Sweden, Great Britain, France and Germany. These countries I print Steiner pages and mount with clear mounts and I place them in nicer binders that I find for a good price.

I also have other countries (many) that I have in a "World Wide" collection - which for now, is Vario Pages in Binders (the Binders get heavy!). If another country peaks my interest to create pages, I migrate them to their own album/pages which opens space to add more to my WW "collection"

Nora.

Nora,

The posts you have shown us of your collection are very impressive! The history behind the stamps also makes for a good read. I also admire your discipline in handling duplicates and stamps from countries you don't actively collect (yet) .

Some of us didn't do that in the beginning and now find ourselves wading through boxes of glassines and feeder collections we have purchased but never looked at (it seemed like a good idea at the time).

As a new collector, you are putting old timers like me to shame.

Keep up the good work! I look forward to your posts.

Dan

Thank you Dan! I've had a lot of trial, error and fantastic coaching from members here. Nora.