Minkus Supreme Global Albums (The Big Red Thread)

Shermae, They are the Minkus Supreme Global reprints sold by Amos. My scanner only manages 81/2 x 11 inch size hence why the Minkus border is missing in the images.

Gbgolf.... I see that you have an empty cubicle in your shelf. Perhaps a nice set of the Minkus world stamps albums would round things out?

Minkus Vol1_Part1 1981 British Commonwealth and Ireland
Minkus Vol1_Part2 1980 Free Asia and Africa
Minkus Vol1_Part3 1980 Latin America
Minkus Vol2_Part1 1976-77 Europe and Colonies (Albania - Hungary)
Minkus Vol2_Part2 1976-77 Europe and Colonies (Iceland - Zara)

My shelf is now free, as I have created PDF files of these Minkus catalogs which I find quite useful... Especially for those of us who are having trouble reading small print these days.

barhata, I have never seen a Minkus catalog, but wondered if they would be helpful. That is wonderful that you have that set and have it scanned. I agree it would be nice to have. I wonder how hard they are to obtain?

This topic has hit one year mark, time to bring it back! I found a neat description of a collector's odyssey on Reddit from a few years ago who is tackling a 20-volume Minkus run. I can't include the Reddit link due to the rules. If you search "Finish Organizing 20-Volume Minkus Global Supreme" you should be able to find it. There's some interesting observations Including the interesting idea that the Minkus Specialty albums were Global albums with separate pages added for souvenir sheets. I don't think this was the case in the early years, the specialized albums are more complete than the Supremes, but makes sense for later supplements. I love the comment: Anyone here insane enough to collect world in an album set that could kill you if they fell on you during an earthquake?

Landoquakes ---- I believe most collectors have bookselves or bookcases with albums , stamp supplies , boxes of loose stamps ,stamp catalogs and philatelic books that if spilled over could kill someone .

Quite true! Typically the most painful thing about a Supreme Global binder is trying to pull it off a bookshelf!

Here's some idea of what the Minkus Catalog looks like. This one is from 1970. I'll admit the biggest problem with using Minkus albums is the Minkus Catalog numbers! At least they tried!

I'm still finding some interesting tips on Reddit posts.. Some people have used wooden cookbook holders to work on their giant binders of stamps, has anyone does this? It's an intriguing idea.

I tend to use book-rests for catalogues - you'd need a muscular one for a Minkus album!

The above discussion is why I gave up on those large binders . My problems where just handling the large album binders . Putting and removing those heavy books from the bookcase . Second none of those binders are made for handling every week for ten years ,they just fall apart even if your the only person moving them around . Third it is a lot of money when you expand your set of albums . Fourth . they don't lay flat as you add stamps and pages .

I went with those cheap notebook binders and try to stay with two inch binders that have the "D" rings not the round rings . Page lay flat and pages don't slide around as much . Since I started with Steiner Pages I would cut doen the Scott pages and repunch the holes .

A well stocked Scott National or Minkus is quite heavy,

One can find new Minkus Binders that hold 150 pages, but they are about $25 apiece and one would need many! I think they are about the size of the old Minkus Comprehensive ones. I've tossed out quite a few of those... Maybe I should have hung onto them!

I had to chance to actually see a Minkus country album. The page layouts were not as attractive as Scott since their goal was to get as many stamps on the page.

I prefer the look and feel of the Scott albums, but admit that Minkus does a better job with respect to content.

Especially with the Indian States section - for pretty much all Scott albums since ~1900, there are just a few blank pages for the Feudatory States. Not so with Minkus, which actually took the time to give issues a proper space.

I recently picked up a pristine (best condition I've ever seen!) Scott International Vol 1 with a few stamps. I've moved on from the Blues to the Browns myself, but someone a couple towns over was selling it on Facebook and I couldn't resist. The previous owner had evidently cared quite a bit about condition, and had also taken the trouble to literally move the whole India section from a Minkus album into the Scott!

A great idea for those who want the 'best of both worlds', perhaps.

Here's a Youtube video of a collector that liked Big Reds. It's not too often that the family takes this much of an interest after a collector passes away.