How Many Go From Scott International Blue To Brown?

If the pages are serviceable, I think that's a great option. I know some people have kept the pages as-is and put them in sheet protectors, but I'm personally quite wary of plastics being in contact with the album pages/stamps.

Alternatively, it might be interesting to see if the pages could be perfect bound by a bookbinder!

Ray, first of all congrats on getting to 3/4 of the way to a blue completion. There's one dealer that comes to the shows that cuts up old Internationals to county lots to sell and it is amazing at the wide range of paper used. If one looks at the very old advertisements for Scott there was a pretty wide range of quality for a price. Binding too all he way to "Morocco leather" etc I'm not sure if the Browns would be the same but reusing pages is a great idea. I found a old bound junior for fun and I really like the good quality paper inside. On the flip side, there is very poor paper from he WW2 era one sees sometimes.

I collect WW to 1940 ... Love the VR pages... Had complete series years ago, sold and have regretted since... Starting again, but have only been able to find vols 1+2...Have been using Scott specialty pages for a few favored countries.. doing two things..1) cutting all pages down to uniform size, making nice match; 2) keeping pages in 3 ring, D-ring binders...2 inch max..Like the way pages lay flat, and 2 inch is maximum for both weight handling, and page flipping. (Do not want any of the older brown paper- I
like the better VR and Scott Specialty paper.)
So here's the problem-...can't readily find VR pages now... so am keeping un-mounted, but desired 1920-1940 issues in Vario plastic till VR pages may be found...
Any unused, or lightly VR 1920-1940 out there?

I love this thread!

I don't think I'll ever go either route, but it is so interesting to learn about and see the collecting diligence of others.

Those are beautiful collections docgfd and Jbodo.

In my first philatelic life I went from blues to browns before selling my collection in 2003 to fund a business venture.

When I returned to collecting a few years later after inheriting my fathers collections, I decided to switch to Vario pages because even the browns leave out too many varieties listed in the other big 4 catalogues and national specialized catalogues, and on a cost basis Various pages work out cheaper, I feel , to printed pages and stamp mounts. So I guess my collecting interests outgrew Scott and its albums.

I picked up a set of the 4 bound brown albums somewhere years ago. But the ends of the pages were
painted or stained black. I sold them, if I remember right, on ebay for about $90. I wish I had them back and wonder where they are now. Most of my WW are in Blues and I did buy the Subway Vintage that came in blue
binders. Rather than moving the stamps, I have two WW collections. Yep, lots of empty spaces in the Vintages.
I picked up a couple browns (bound) and even though only a few stamps in them, they seem to add a rich or classic feeling to my overall collection. To me at least. And I guess that's what counts.

Amen, Brother (or Sister)!
As a junior in high school, I invested in a set of Scott blue Internationals Parts I-VII, which were to-date-current at the time (dating myself LOL). I used them for years and loaded them up, but they always seemed too Spartan to me somehow. Once I bought the Vintage Reproductions set, and topped it off with a 1930 bound, brown Scott album (for use for SON and fancy cancels only), my Blues went onto a top shelf where I haven't looked at them in decades. The successors to my Blues are an absolute joy to use for exactly the same feelings that you shared in the above quote !

I have tried most options: Davo hingeless, Palo pages (Steiner based), Scott Blue, Specialty and Subway Repro, Harris, Steiner and AlbumEasy free user posted PDFs.

Hingelss B&W Palo pages are probably my favorite but too expensive so I mostly use Steiner on Specialty size & color pages inside green Specialty binders. I also have some Specialty albums and see pros and cons between Steiner and Specialty.

* I like how Steiner maps to Scott catalog (although some colors are SG)
* Specialty gives some B&W pics and more density making the pages with few to no stamps more interesting.
* Specialty gives minimal extra room for mounting making it important to cut and place black mounts precisely. Clear mounts don't show cutting errors and allow view of the space.
* Steiner has more spaces adding some of the more popular variations.
* I am attracted to the Blue's value of collecting to an album that enables a better chance at completion but much more prefer seeing my pages mapped to the Scott Catalog. Do I have the complete set? How many others are there? The holes are interesting although too many becomes a problem.

My WW collection is more a series of country specialty albums leaving Asia and Middle East to International albums with just pages for Asia and another album for just Middle East. These regions don't get as much attention and when I do pick a country for more focus I add Steiner pages (or Vintage Repo International sized pages sold by country on ebay) for the early issues and then use regular International for later years. Around 1950 the International pages start to have good coverage, better spacing, pictures and double sided supports a wide range of years in less space.

I like the organization of Scott Specialty albums vs WW A-Z for a period of time.
* British Africa, French Colonies, Spain & Colonies, Central Europe, etc.
* I pick different cut-off dates based on page count and interest in the stamps (i.e. former Warsaw Pact countries stop at 1940, countries with a lot of postally used stamps go to around 1976 and some beyond if space in album permits.
* I print title pages with maps, flags, history, etc.

I have four shelves of Specialy albums.

Having said all that I am tempted to dramatically downsize and have more density of more classic stamps