Pushing 330,000 All Different Worldwide Stamps In One Collection .

GeoffHa - You are right about the depth. Dr. Chen is using Scott Specialty series for the most part. And with many countries out of print, it is tough to do that way. Good old Steiner fixes that of course. I am going further into depth than Dr. Chen for some countries.

Every large collection is different than others . Each collector has their own idea how to build and develop their collection .

I can tell you what I like and think is important for a worldwide collection and other collectors will have their own take of what is important .

Wondering if it's possible to get to a number like 330K without collecting some varieties such as perf changes, shades, etc? Paul- sorry this has probably been asked a dozen times, but is there a rough year where you pretty much cut off (aside from those modern complete sets you like)?

Well I can give you all my2cents.
WW - Set a goal that you CAN in caps achieve. ie set a reasonable goal. For example, given your resources and time, if you were to collect a country in depth, what % coverage could you get.
If you are collecting all different stamps, maybe start with a 10,000 to 20,000. If you are going to collect the world - Maybe a stamp for every country etc, or collect just current countries to start or just collect dead countries or complete 75% of an album like big blue etc The point is try to set some reasonable goal that you can achieve. Then once you reach it, decide if you are done or set new goals for yourself. In the end it is impossible to collect everything in the World. So set a goal. Remember you can always change your goals as your circumstances and tastes change. The point of a goal is it gives you a sense of accomplishment in the end and you set some boundaries for yourself, so you don't go to the poor house :)

Shermae ---- I collect the world up to 1970 . I once wrote on this board that my feeling was all the stamp catalog's needed a cut off date . There is very little interest from buyers to continue buying modern issues .

A breakdown of 1840 -1940 with the Classics is well accepted by the stamp community .

Would like to see a stamp catalog for 1941 - 1970's called the Golden Age for stamp collecting . There is a lot that the average collector can work on and develope .

A three volume set of Classic's and two for the Golden Age would be something the publishers and collectors would accept and drop this crazy 6 or 8 or 15 volume of printed volumes ,it is out of control .

Floortrader that is a great idea. You should be the one running Scott/Amos. Bet they would double their profits. Classic, Golden, and maybe a Silver Age.
The best must have catalog is the classic era 1840-1940 from Scott. It's just one book vs a hot mess of catalogs. .

Thumbs up to Floor Trader's idea.

Too bad catalogs aren't like the old World Book Encyclopedia system - a base set plus an annual update book. But suggest that to Scott Publishing and I suspect you'd be escorted out the door. No money in that idea. It's in their best financial interest to publish a new set each year.

If you go on Scott's /Amos publishing website they clearly tell you they DO print on demand .

So they have their pages on the computer , It is YOU CAN'T HAVE OUR INFORMATION TO PRINT THE PAGES YOURSELF ......now that ticks me off . If Steiner does it and has successfully selling thousands at $40.00 worldwide pages program on a CD , BUT Scott would not let me buy the software to update my Scott Speciality Series . Please sell me just one country for $10.00 and I would buy 15 different countries and just put it all on one disk ------WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH THAT ?

They need to move up to the 21st century . Put the Scott numbers in each square and put some catalog info at the bottom of each page ,they would see more active sales .

I think if someone collects up to the present day, one could get to at least 200K with a lot of patience and not breaking the bank. Through 2010 there's about 620K stamps (anyone have a more current statistic?) , A very large portion would be fairly low catalog. Probably a lot of searching and shopping around. There's always that space issue too. 1840-1959 fits into 2 Supreme Global albums, Scott International is 4, of course the reality is each album would probably need to be split 2 or 3 times at least as they fill up. A catalog though 1970 would be rather nice.

floortrader - "If you go on Scott's /Amos publishing website they clearly tell you they DO print on demand . " It's worse than that. Not all countries qualify here for the specialty Series. They discontinued a lot of countries. The rest of your post makes too much sense. I have no idea myself what they are doing over there. They are leaving so much money on the table with the current offerings. On top of that even their binders go on back order forever.

Also putting Scott numbers on all the boxes would be great as well. Unsure why Scott/Amos still refuses to update their products.

When stamp collectors count stamps do they count fakes and forgeries and what about Cinderella stamps that are written up and mounted on album pages .

As posted earlier ----Each collection is different ------,if know the right questions to ask . then you can understand what a person is doing .

Has Steiner mixed Multiple Crown CA and Multiple Script CA there, Floortrader? The 3d, 1/-, 2/6 and 5/- were issued with both.

Those with the Crown and CA are 1922 issues and Steiner has them on a seperate page , I only have the 3p violet stamp

Well, I have a lot more gaps than you!