Scott Or Harris & Clear Or Black Choice ?

The Harris also skips many early issues but the paper is brighter . Both came from meticulous collectors .

The Harris also crowds different series onto a single page at times .

For US, the Harris Liberty used to include space for se-tenant blocks and the corresponding singles. I don't know if they still do. I switched to the Mystic line of US albums because they were printed on heavier paper and were less expensive than the Harris or Scott. And the 3 ring binder format is easier to me than the 2 post.

Thanks sqlxprt, good points ....I also kinda like the short read listed under the Harris images .

I forgot to answer your question on black or clear. I use black and I originally didn't give much thought to it. I wish I had started with clear because you can still see the picture behind the stamp in the event you remove the stamp in the future. But given I started with black I have decided to stay with black. The black mounts do make a nice background for the stamp.

One other thing I would say is that I would recommend sticking with one manufacturer of the mounts. My recommendation is Scott / Prinz. They have more sizes, their prices are less expensive than the competition and the quality seems better. Showgard recently changed hands and the quality in my opinion has decreased. The amount of adhesive on the back isn't enough and sometimes the mounts don't stick. Also the heights between Showgard and Scott are slightly different. I have Showgard 25's that are taller than Scott 26's. And I have 2 different heights for Showgard 25's. I don't know if some are older than others and the height was changed? It only matters when filling in gaps in the album as you want a consistent height when same sized stamps are mounted adjacent to each other.

Thanks again sqlxprt, I checked and did see I had 3 Mystic Heritage binders with unused pages through about 1930. Just received a large group of black mounts last month.

Hawid top loading clear mounts. Black shows the misaligning to readily.

I like the black border. If you are trying to preserve the album though, clear is better.

I promise this will make you insane if you have a single OCD gene anywhere in your body.

I absolutely don't care how careful you are, it is impossible to hand place mounts exactly level horizontally, and it will stand out if you use black mounts.

Perhaps someone can come up with some kind of mounting jig, but I use clear Hawid toploaders for this exact reason.

Future you thanks you for going clear.

USA Album & Mounts:

First the mounts:

Clear has advantages as noted (see the page info under, doesn't show the cutting mistakes, doesn't make the page look too black, not a distraction if stamp removed, blends well with a mostly hinged page. For CLEAR I am convinced that DAVO mounts are my preference.

Black when done correctly has more visual appeal (subjective), and black done without precision looks sloppy, distracting and ruins the pages (my view). Mount placement level has not been a concern as my perception is that I've done it close enough (and fixed any that caught my attention...Davo mounts have been removable). For black my preference is torn.

Split back
* The closed ends of split back mounts frame the top and bottom of stamp well....but that requires correct fit. If the mount is too high the black framing looks off.
* Best to place the mount before putting stamp inside in case there is moisture
* Do you always use sizes where the closed ends are top & bottom?

Top Loaders:
* Top loaders ideally are pre-cut strips to correct height thus eliminating the need to cut and size the top otherwise it can look sloppy (even with rotary tool the perfect cut is a challenge)
* Top Loaders don't have the closed top so the frame is slightly different top & bottom--especially if top is not sized & cut perfect and clear cover doesn't stay flat
* Slight movement inside the top load mount motivates me to fix the placement every time I open to a page. The "lock" base can help
* easier to add and remove stamps (nice for checking backs)

I like DAVO for top loaders:
* self adhesive (I can remove them if I make a mistake) and just at bottom so minimal impact to other side of page
* seem thicker than Hawid
* package is reusable with easy removal aid

I want to stick with DAVO but keep coming back to split back due to the look of the top & bottom.


USA Albums:
* I am interested in a new album (have Liberty from youth with Steiner pages to bring current in more Harris binders, empty National found used, and 1980's mint in White Ace). I am interested in the Heirloom because of the info on left back page. Not sure about the rest of th album. I am not a high dollar collector.
* I think the White Ace (and Liberty) info under stamps and thick pages. The Letter size is only OK. The eagle and graphics on every page is a distraction.

Knowing what I know today, I would probably leave the album pages untouched and add vario (or other brand) stock sheets. I've seen other collectors do this with very nice results. Not sure how that compares to the cost of mounts. I estimate mounts are about 10 cents per stamp for regular sized stamps say up to 63 mm tall. One other advantage is it's easy to add stamps that Scotts has excluded. But it would certainly add to the expense and require extra binders to house all of those pages. I would put the stock sheet after every page.

One other note - I had purchased a collection years ago where the original owner took Scott Specialty pages and turned them into an International Album to extend his set of Browns. If money were no object, I might go that route.

But getting back to the subject of mounts, I agree with the comments about the clear. Like I said, I had started with black, like the look but wish I had gone clear. I do only use the top load Hawid mounts for stamps requiring mounts less than 20mm tall, like some of the Italy parcel post
stamps.

Mounts

Although I've never used clear mounts, I've always had an affinity for black split-back mounts. I like the way that they look on the page and frame the stamp...my OCD forces me to get the mounts aligned as closely to the page frame as possible. While the alignment isn't always perfect, I'm happy when the page looks good. As some here have pointed out in past posts/threads, once I'm dead and gone nobody will care about the pages or album and will probably trash them after removing all the stamps. At that point I won't care...I'll be dead. :-)

Album

I chose to design my own pages as neither Scott or Harris provide all the spaces for what I want to collect. I made that decision back in 2009 and have never looked back. Being in complete control of what appears on each page and how it is arranged satisfies my "control freak" urge. I am sometimes a little too meticulous in which issues, varieties, errors, etc. that I add to my collection, but I know what I want to collect so I just do it. I also like to use colored card stock for my pages to quickly identify different categories of pages (definitives, commemoratives, plate number coils, airmail, postage due, etc.) and producing the pages myself gives me the latitude to again do as I choose. Binders are Lighthouse Grande 3-ring (35 so far and still adding more as needed).

Black Scott mounts out sell Scott clear mounts by about 10 to 1
What does that tell you?