Organizing Worldwide - Curious What Preferences Similar Collectors Have

I keep it simple. Countries in mostly alphabetical order based on the catalogue I use (SG SotW set).

Dale

I do not dedicate a country to a binder for worldwide since I want to stay compact as much as possible. I do not print Steiner pages until I get enough to mount. Some countries are on a few Vario pages. I have some countries on Minkus and Scott so I just cut down to fit 3 ring binders.


Oops! The risk of copy and paste.

Angore - "I do not dedicate a country to a binder for worldwide since I want to stay compact as much as possible. I do not print Steiner pages until I get enough to mount."

Obviously, there is a huge range of approaches to worldwide collecting, but I think Angore and I are on opposite poles.

My goal is to have as nearly complete a set of album pages as is feasible. So I have a huge set of albums (a little over 70 volumes), on a combination of Scott International and Steiner pages. The downsides are lots and lots of blank and almost blank pages and, of course, the space needed. I do have a lot of shelf space, which makes this approach possible.

I don't always print out pages for countries with abusive numbers of CTO issues (e.g., Cuba and Mongolia), and I don't always print out pages for souvenir sheets until I need them.

As far as the organization by country, I am roughly alphabetical, except that I try to keep the same geographic territory together. So I put the Belgian Congo, Zaire, and Democratic Republic of the Congo together. My approach is similar to what DrewM describes.

I do group together some territories that later were united (e.g., Australian states, Italian states), but I admit I am not always consistent about this. I keep a checklist with cross-references so I can quickly determine where a country is located. For example, the checklist has this cross-reference: "Aland Islands: see Finland: Aland Islands."

My approach is more than a little obsessive, I guess. But I enjoy it. It's also useful as a tool to combat insomnia, going over in your mind different organizational options for your stamp pages.

For what it's worth, I use an entirely different approach to organizing my coin collection.

I collect ancient, medieval, and modern coins and for those, I use a combination of geography and time period. For example, for the ancient world, I start with the territory encompassed by modern Italy and work clockwise around the Mediterranean world. Then I switch to ancient central Asia, then to the Indian subcontinent, then to China, and then to southeast Asia. Once that's over, I switch to medieval coin-issuing entities.

This approach is absurdly complicated and poses lots of mind game challenges, especially for medieval central Asia. I have been working for over 25 years on a checklist of every political entity that has issued coins, which I was surprised to find no one else seems to have done. I don't think that checklist will ever be 100% complete, but again I do it because it's fun for me personally.

SNOPES---- I also do as ANGORE does ,cut album pages down to fit three ring binders . I also print STEINER pages as needed . I purchase a box of 1/2 inch or 1 inch binders every few months . I do have 2 inch binders for bigger countries and some sets of binders for the countries like Spain ,with a separate binder for civil war locals .

I try to stay away from mind games with divisions and stay true to the Scott Catalog system of country order for binders for each country ,to save space and not have a lot of very thin binders ,I have been using those 39 cents binders from Walmart for any country of 1 to 20 pages ,those are the binders without rings but have the three metal clips inside the folder ,then add a label to the front .

floortrader - And your collection is obviously fantastic. It's the basis for the most interesting thread on this whole discussion forum (" Pushing 330,000 All Different Worldwide Stamps In One Collection"). I really appreciate all the information you've shared on so many different topics, from auctions to hinges.

Our approaches are very different, but as long as they suit each of us, we're both happy.

I only do Albums, mostly because I'm not interested in constantly re-arranging stamps in stock books or generic slots as I add stamps. It also lets me just use whatever Scott used in determining which stamps to include. I will put extra stamps in the margins, but I won't actively buy stamps without slots in my Albums. Well, mostly. My White Ace doesn't have room for all the Ireland I want to collect so I have blank pages.

I organize my stamps differently depending on my interest in an area. Does lumping or splitting of countries bring out more interesting historical narratives?

I split off French colonies and subdivide them according to period and then by region. As for the rest, I look at history. British Central African countries go in one binder. East Africa goes in another, combining the intertwined German and British histories. Ex-Austro-Hungarian and Yugoslav areas get a shelf of their own.

I don't actively collect India and China, so they share a stock book, while Asian countries such as Bhutan for which I am always adding stamps and covers get Vario sheets in binders.

A Levant binder combines former Ottoman states, including Israel and Iraq.

"Shared culture? Why do you think Africa and the Middle East have seen conflict since independence?" - I have found on avg countries that have some of the same culture also have very similar stamps and themes. Organizing alphabetically, you generally get awkward and disjointed combinations.

I still use albums but only for France and the US, the collections I built in my childhood. But even for the US, I moved the nineteenth century stamps to Vario sheets because I only collect them face-different, and have no interest in the minor varieties that Scott allocated gave full numbers. Also, I like to juxtapose the Union and Confederate stamps on one page.

I used to let my French Ceres album define the scope of my collection, but it includes non-issued stamps that only recently started to interest me, and does not include some interesting varieties such as in the 1929 sites and monuments set.

I use albums (Scott, Minkus and Harris!) , 3 ring binders, Vario sheets, and just about anything under the sun.

I have gone with Palo, Lighthouse, Scott Blue, Scott international and Steiner - But the collection is organized by Region so there is more consistency than one thinks.

I am always tested by former German colonies. On the one hand, it's great to have them all together,
since they present a compact narrative of Germany's short colonial history. On the other hand, I like
to keep the forerunners of modern countries together. Today I wrestled with the issues of Togo, with
German colonial stamps, then British and French overprints from 1914 onward. Of course the British
segment of Togo was incorporated into the Gold Coast colony and is now part of Ghana. There are
issues. First is, what order do you present them in. Then, several catalogs do a better job with their own
particular area of responsibility. So I use Michel for the colonial stamps, Gibbons for the British group,
then Yvert & Tellier for the French. I'm okay with my current organization, but I'm glad they are on Vario
pages if I change my mind!

Varios are an investment since one can repurpose many times.

On the subject of binders ,first most commercial made binders made by or sold by Philatelic Supply firms are expensive or your put on a list for future purchase . Shipping cost also raises your purchase price .

Handling is a big issue ,they fail over time . Sure looks great if you buy them on Monday and sell your albums on Tuesday . But I need binders that last 30 to 50 years . Yes do I have 50 year old . The binders in your collection are going to be handles 300 or 500 times in your life time .I have "working binders" not sit on the bookcase useage .