On A Mission For A Specific Stamp Album/Collection

Good day to you all!

I'm back on another stamp project with my friend/co-worker. Some time ago, he purchased a collection of the Harris Masterworks Worldwide four volume set containing Americas/Oceania (volume 1), Europe (volume 2), Asia (volume 3), and Africa (volume 4). I can't answer why he didn't check this sooner, but when we started to go through the archive we found out that the 3rd volume was a duplicate of volume 2 but with a few Asian countries thrown in. Needless to say, he was very upset and highly disappointed.

I have searched and searched all over the internet, only finding closed auctions for the whole set. Where might one find this needle in a haystack?! This is part of another project he has me working on with him (which I unfortunately can't fully disclose the details without his consent), but I hope to soon!

KAM ---Welcome to the chat room . There are two places you need to watch for those albums to show up at . Both places are stamp auction firms ,these firms go thru hundreds of albums each year .

It is possible both firms will offer a set in the coming year . Look into Rasdale Stamp Auctions in Chicago or Dutch Country Auctions in Wilmington Delware .

If you're not going to ask for a refund, maybe you can ask the seller. He might feel responsible enough to use his connections to help you out.

I've been on those kinds of missions. The four volume Masterworks set is a hard one to find. It was fairly expensive back in the day (maybe $200 +). It was the most complete worldwide album set put together for Harris. It was basically, what I recall was an expansion of the two-volume Standard album that was made larger by a number of annual supplements. One would be better off getting an existing set of Harris albums that a collector already filled with stamps. Therese show up a the auctions floortrader mentioned. Sometimes you will see a run of a dozen albums. Let us know what you find otu!

Could be nice to see a glimpse of these albums.

I'll divulge a little bit of info on this project. I'm actually working closely with an associate of HE Harris. Most of what he has he has saved from being thrown away, so we have masterworks albums full of master supplements dating back to 1979. I believe its been some time since he purchased the masterwork set without questioning the volumes being in-tact. For example, I had to inform him that he was missing the master supplement for 1981 when the album was labeled 1979-1984.

I have gone through each supplement and masterwork album to get an approximate page count for a future project he would like to put together. This project has resulted in me creating an access database containing tables for each book I've reviewed and counted. Many of the pages I have reviewed will have to be recreated as a result of signs of the times and pages being created by hand instead of the digital age. He wants to create a comprehensive multi-volume set, much like that of the masterwork series. He and I like the idea of putting everything together within its continent, like the masterwork collection, but some of higher-ups think it would be too confusing. He also wants to create a volume specifically for the dead/non-issuing countries.

I suppose this is a prime opportunity to obtain a public opinion! How would the lot of you view such a project? Would you see it as too much? Would it be worth the trouble to compile all of these pages? Please share your thoughts and opinions! I would love to hear them!

I'm honestly not totally sure I understand what the project is, exactly. Can you restate the desired outcome or objective concisely in 2-3 sentences? Don't talk about the how; just assume you'd have all the resources you needed, and explain what would come of the effort and why you believe it is or may be worthwhile.

The plan is to create a full-comprehensive album set, much like the Masterworks Worldwide Albums from long ago. The speculated plan is to be an 8 volume set.

Kamielion --------- Here is the 8 volume set your talking about ,it is on the lower selve . As LANDOQUAKES said it is the H.E.Harris 2 volume Standard Album expanded to your 4 volumes and then I expanded it to eight volumes .It is in the lower center of the picture .8 grey volumes

The last time stamps were added to it was 1968 , so yes a long time ago .

floortrader -- That definitely puts things into a new perspective on this project. His collection of worldwide Masterworks has stamps from many years, some dating to 1899 or before and went on to about 1986-87. Some of those pages have are laid out identical to the master supplements but instead of being the front and back of a page they are on separate pages.

With that being said, an 8 volume set doesn't sound too out of the ordinary for collectors. How do you fellow collectors feel about grouping the different countries by continent? Some of the higher-ups feel that it would be too confusing.

Collectors around the world organise their stamps in different ways. Collectors here, for example, have traditionally separated the Empire/Commonwealth from the rest of the world. The key is ensuring that, if the collector wishes, s/he can reconfigure the pages to a personal style. That means not having one country on the back of, or on the same oage as, another, for example.

Agreed, this is a big one... each country/issuing authority needs to be on a separate page from any other. And a corollary: keep the pages single-sided.

If I were one of the primary album manufacturers;
- I would invest in real archival paper
- I would invest in developing a binder and slipcase which does not use acidic cardboard
- I would invest in actual accelerated ageing testing
- I would promote my company as the only one in the hobby who has a true archival album and pages
But I would probably go broke since hobbyists have never demanded actual archival products and have demonstrated decades of willingness to buy their albums and pages without any data or evidence behind them.
Don

This is wonderful feedback! I printed these statements and presented them to my fellow associate and he said he welcomed the input. Something he always disliked about the Citation album, I think it was, is that the pages for some countries started on the back of another. He plans to continue doing the pages as we have been doing the master supplements, ending a country with a blank page on the reverse. Unfortunately, due to material costs and other limitations we are unable to print them all "single-sided."

I went through master supplements dating back to 1979 and the worldwide masterwork albums (with the exception of the Asia album). We still have file cabinets full of negative images and such that I will have to go through, but we have counted at least 14000 pages across the albums I reviewed! The proposed plan is to create a 10 album set, moving the vanished lands/dead countries to their own album, which would allow for at least an additional five years worth of supplements to be added. How does this idea sound to the stamp collecting community?

51studebaker--Due to costs limitations, we

Kamie -----Each collector has their own way of setting up their stamp collection .There is no "right way "

That is certainly true of any collector. I have various collections myself! I really do appreciate the input you have all provided! If you have any suggestions, recommendations, etc., please don't hesitate to reach out and let me know!