Big Blue Album - How Far Along Is Everyone?

Couple years ago I gave up the Blue album in favor of the Browns, but still keep track of my 'virtual' Blue collection, thanks to the wonderful checklist out there. By my checklist I'm 14% complete, although I have a lot of stamps sitting around that I haven't catalogued yet, so I'm probably closer to 20% complete.

I recently picked this thing up for $35... pound for pound, probably my best purchase to date. It's a beast: looking at this thing makes me wonder for a second if I didn't make a mistake giving up the Blue album years ago! It's literally half full (maybe even a bit more)... so roughly 17,000 stamps here, give or take? I only collect used, so once I take out what I need I'll put the album (and a very sizable number of mint stamps) up for sale, most likely.

(Crazy part of this is that the guy who sold it to me was the one who put it together in his youth... He didn't want to deal with the hassle of putting it on ebay and just wanted a quick cash sale.)

Made me curious, though - for those who collect the Blue album, how far along are you? (Would love to see who's furthest along!)

Since we all like photos, some pics of my recent purchase below:

I'm up to about 11,000, which is a nice spot and makes it a good time to flip through pages.

Definitely a good $35 worth!

Some very nice looking used stamps in there too! I'm up to 20,902 in the Big Blue...15 years ago I was at 13,650.

What a fantastic purchase. I've only recently started to assess my coverage. Will be a while to complete the count. Hoping for 70%, but I'm probably being too optimistic.

Thanks, all. Great to hear. I have 4,635 in my checklist right now, but probably closer to 6-7k (and not counting whatever isn't duplicative from this latest purchase). Looks like others are making great progress!

I began in 2017 with 2 BB's that I purchased and combined and started me at just over 11,000 with my '47 BB, and as of today, I'm at 32,721 for 93.6% and still going. I don't include the U.S. pages in my BB-- I've kept my U.S. collection separate from my BB and I've never been interested in collecting cut squares or any other postal stationary.

I have a different strategy than most-- I don't have an "extras" pages, because I decided to sell anything that doesn't fit into my BB, and I have over 13,000 listings on HipStamp. This way, I don't make any purchases unless I have the funds in my PayPal account, and I have never heard about how much I'm spending from my wife!! So, my bottom line is that I've only spent just under $9000 since '17 because my sales have subsidized the great majority of my buying.

I'd welcome any contact from any other BB collectors for trades, tips, etc., or just to chat. So if anyone wants to know more about how this has worked, feel free to contact me via this site. Ray

Big Blue is my back up collection. All duplicates are headed for big blue. But my big blue is special. It's subway to 1940 and then scott international the rest of they way, so with the exception of sheets, it's pretty complete for blanks.

ray.mac. That's the smart way to go. Clever doing the HipStamp thing too. I'm using 35,000 for the Big Blue total. Is there a more precise number to use? You are getting close to a short want list!

The number for my '47 is 34964, but it will be different for all of the different years/volumes.

I have the '47 too. Now I'm 36 stamps closer ;)

Ray, as I have been working through my spreadsheet and counting, I am finding that your percentage complete is just amazing. I know there are others with similar numbers. I'm hoping to be around 21000 to 25000 when I finish the count. Just can't get my head around over 34000! I think the 1947 edition might be more difficult than the 1969 edition.

On the Big Blue topic ... specifically 1947 ... does anyone have an image of the Confederate States page they are willing to share? I seem to be missing that page in both copies of Big Blue 1947 that I have. Also, if anyone can confirm the contents of the 1st and last pages of the U.S. section (not including Confederate State), I would be grateful. If the 1st page includes current US #1, then I have that. Just wanting to double check the last page for sure. Not sure if it is the Officials page or the page with Offices in China.

I started with the Black book 5 years ago and am now up to Ecuador. I got a Blue book last year and am just starting to fill the United States. Both books are from 1940. So many stamps to review and add, so little time.

NicholasC You are correct that the first page has US #1 and the last page has Confederate Stamps at the bottom and Hunting Permit (1934-40) stamps on the top half of my edition. The other side is blank... Of course my Frenkenalbum may be shuffled.

@landoquakes, thanks. Can I assume that is 7 Hunting Permit and all 14 of the Confederate States stamps? Is the prior page indeed the Officials? Or is there a page or two for cut squares and perhaps other revenue stamps?