Minkus Supreme Global Albums (The Big Red Thread)

PM stamp ----Amos Media is the exclusive publisher of the Minkus Brand .

So what Amos does with Scott ,then MINKUS is in the same boat . So as I wrote earlier they need to change direction Now or they will hit a brick wall .

This print on demand tells me they don't want to carry a inventory and don't want to have wholesalers handling their customers .

Thank you all for chiming in... The bottom line is that there really isn't a current catalog that I know of for Trucial States, Minkus did have one long ago and I think Michel last published one in 2013? I'm just happy that Amos is keeping Minkus alive. Jim's Big Blue page talks about the Minkus pages for part IV of the album, which has lots of "Sand Dunes and others" in it https://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.c...ar-1967.html

I really like the new uploader for this site :)

Nice page ,beautiful stamp set .

The whole Black Blot attempt at censoring stamps you "should" collect and should not collect and how catalogues list or don't list stamps are both central to worldwide stamp collecting. That means that whenever you discuss worldwide stamp collecting and its albums, these topics are bound to come up. Limiting discussions narrowly is not only not much fun -- this is a hobby, right? -- it also skips nuances and issues related to other topics. In this case, the topic is what albums work best, how many stamps that album has room for, and so on -- and if that album contains a huge number of unnecessary stamp issues sold as a kind of "tax" on collectors but which served little to no postal use, that's relevant to the discussion of this Minkus album. Ever looked at the issues of Upper Volta or Paraguay or some other countries and wondered if they had completely lost their minds? I have.

I admire Minkus for managing to shove as many spaces for stamps as they possibly could into their albums. But, like visiting your Aunt Agnes, the one who became a "hoarder," the impact can be very uncomfortable. Pages crammed with stamps do not appeal to me any more than walls covered with paintings do. Hang one or two (or three) paintings, and I'll look at them. Hang a dozen on that same wall, and it just becomes wallpaper. The same with Minkus which I keep trying to like, but never manage to.

One interesting point in Minkus' favor, though, to give credit, is how over the years they gradually become more "Scott-like" in their page layouts. If you look at the normal Minkus pages for the early years, they are overwhelming in their number of stamp boxes. These are clearly just like the pages used in beginner albums, the pages we all began collecting with, with every space on a page absolutely covered in stamp boxes. But as time went on, as you can see on this Ascension page, they backed off a lot and made their pages much less cluttered and far more appealing. This page could just as easily be from a Scott International album. Good for you, Minkus, coming to your senses. Finally.

(But, in reality, it was Scott/Amos page designers who were likely the creators of these pages. After all, Minkus went out of business decades ago and now Scott/Amos publishes these Minkus albums. Always good to have a reality check!)

I kind of think I mentioned this before in this same thread, but I'm much too lazy to read through all 9 pages to find out if I did -- but to me one major obstacle to using these absolutely ENORMOUS albums is their binders.

They are much much too thick to be handled well. I'd be half scared to try to lift one off the shelf, thinking I'd drop it and damage my toes. What Amos Media "ought to do" is create a Minkus binder that is about half the thickness of the current ones. Or maybe someone knows of another suitable two-post binder for Minkus pages, but I doubt it. Not being that much of a fan of Minkus albums, it might sound odd but I might even be willing to try them if the binder weren't so god-awful large.

911 Call: "Help, I've dropped my Minkus Global binder on my foot and now I can't get up!"

I know Scott International album binders are pretty large, especially that really silly LARGE one that's almost 5" thick, about the same size as the Minkus Global binders, but I don't use them. For my International album, I managed to score 30 (wow!) Subway Stamp Shop copies of their matching version of the blue International binder which are 2.5" wide. It's amazing how being able to pick up an album with one hand can make using them so much nicer.

Subway no longer sells these -- of course they don't because anything wonderful and good must be discontinued. One of the rules of life, I imagine. For awhile Subway made some good alternative stamp products, but not anymore. They seem to have stopped that. Too bad. And I don't think they ever made a smaller version of the Minkus Global binders. Life isn't fair, is it?

DREW ----- You can always try cutting down your Minkus pages and repunch them ,then they can be put in a three ring binder .
A side note ---You can still leave a extra 1/2 inch on the side where you punch the holes ,because they will still fit a binder .. That leave a bigger gutter to punch in .

DrewM - agree on everything you wrote. Very true. I have no idea why these album makers made such monstrous binders. Scott Blue small is a good size.

You can bring a binder that you like to an independent print shop and see if they have a connection that can replicate them. There are a bunch of companies that can build binders to a certain specification. They can probably get very close to what you want.

If the first response is, "no" look at the next one.

Did someone say Upper Volta? Here's Minkus and Scott for issues we have all seen. I agree that the Minkus Supreme binders are a tad oversized. There was a small general Minkus binder. They are hard to find now as you can imagine. However, since all Minkus pages are the standard size, any Minkus binder can fit them. The All American binders are much easier to find and could make a good alternative. As for being a hoarder, I think many collectors are on that spectrum somewhere ;)

I have trimmed Scott and Minkus pages to fit in binders.

Me too and it can be a pain. Of course Minkus, Scott (International AND specialty) and Harris all have different page sizes and the holes are in different places too. I do have some Frankenbinders. One kudos to Minkus, they made the pages for their Specialty albums the same as the Supremes, so you can interleave them in any Minkus Binder. Pity that Scott didn't do that, but eventually they switched to three hole punched pages too.

I keep two separate hole punchers ,one for three ring binders and one set for the Scott International Big Blue binders . Have 3 sheets of clear plastic guides that I overlay any album page to guide me what to cut off to fit my binders so I have uniform pages year to year .

Drew M, I too scored some of those Subway Scott blue binders (slipcases too) I just checked and it looks like the Scott items are still available, while Minkus binders are on back order. I try to buy used binders when I can, some folks still treat those like trash... As for crowded pages, Here's a bit of France, all on one page and My Scott albums has these stamps scattered all over the place. I kinda think this is more elegant.

Not only that, but any Harris worldwide binder can be used for Minkus pages as well... Same thing with interleaves...

Not wanting to commit an offense in a Minkus thread, just thought I would point it out

John