Ask and discuss about stamp albums, stock books and other storage related issues.
Support the blog - become a premium member for 12.40€!
By joining Stamp Collecting Blog Premium membership programme, You can support this blog and quarantee that articles like this (and 300+ others already available) remain freely accessible to every stamp collector. Additionally, you get a 28 page PFD-book "Selected stories about US stamps", and You can opt out of ads (like this) for period of one year. Read more and sign up now!
Subscribe to free bi-weekly newsletter
Sign-up to biweekly newsletter and get notified when new articles like the above are published at Stamp Collecting Blog. The email-newsletter is sent to You biweekly (usually on Friday or Saturday) and it contains a summary of latest new entries and discussions.
Hello Keijo,
I am an Spanish collector and I like also the worldwide collection, but my basic problem is organisation. I have got a big accumulation of stamps and covers but I don’t know what I have neither where place . Can you help me a little? How is your organisation of stamps?
My best wishes
Hi Jesus,
I don’t have any magic method or approach. I just simply sit down and sort what I have stamp by stamp.
But these are some posts where I show how my collection is stored/built:
1) A matter of storage
2) Storage for worldwide stamp collection: stock books
3) Keeping a stamp collection safe from dangers of natural surroundings
Above all, give yourself time to work your way with the stmaps. If you have reached the “state of complete chaos”, then it will very likely take weeks, possibly months to get everything sorted out and stored properly.
Hi
I just found your web site. I am trying to find your free stamp inventory tool in this site.
I have collected for over 35 years and only put all foreign in stack books and envelopes. I am looking for albums, but, the prices were ridiculous. Can you refer me to someone that may sell used albums? Your help will be appreciated. Thanks
Ken
Hi Ken,
re “free inventory tool”… It’s just an simple Excel spreadsheet with few pre-defined columns (with few dummy rows of sample data included, otherwise it’s empty). There is no separate download link/button for it, but I’ll email to anyone on request.
As for prices of albums… I know they are ridiculous. You might want to check this small “price comparison” I did last year. If you want cheap storage, then I’d recommend usage of traditional stock books and forget everything else.
As for sources of second hand albums… Try to locate a local source. Finding proper deals online is possible, but the postage costs usually eat out any savings You might get. Additionally, I would be extremely cautious when acquiring any kind of used albums from an unknown source. God knows where they have been and how well they have been kept…It is well acknowledged fact that used albums can transmit all kinds of problems (such as mold/mildew/fungus spores, high acidic enviroment etc. that all affect your collection).
Hi Keijo,
I just had a browse through some of your articles and posts as I have a bit of quiet time to fill before sleep sitting in an empty house far from home in the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah.
I have a question: since you mentioned perfins (in connection with a stamp exchange), I have been giving them a bit of consideration. I would be interested to know what approach you take to 1) displaying them and 2) organising them?
They certainly appear visually most striking when the stamp is placed faced down on a black background. I know you use white pages, but would this combo be your preferred option?
In terms of organisation, it might be more interesting to put all perfins together so they could be easily compared. Are you also interested in trying to get all issue/perfin combinations? They seem an interesting area but slightly awkward in terms of my main collection organisation principals (i.e. region/issuing entity/chronology).
Seth.
Hi Seth,
on part of perfins my collection is still ‘under construction’, but likely I’ll end up using a system very similar to what you described:
1) using black background stock books
2) placing stamps by country
3) face down
4) ordered by perfin initials (starting from A, ending to Z, followed by numbers, shapes etc)
For stages 1&3 I have also considered about scanning the stamps, and placing a print out of perfin next to actual stamp. This method would allow display of both sides of stamp (and use of white background stock books). It would be very satisfying, but I fear it would be also extremely lengthy process.
As for collecting every issue/perfin combination…For a while I did collect perfins like that, but when I had pages of similar perfins on different Machin values I gave up and focused on having just a single sample of each perfin (position). I do occasionally make exceptions – like when same perfin has been used on different era stamps.
-keijo-
Interesting…which one trumps then: a new stamp for your collection or a new perfin?
Also once you have got your perfins, how do you identify them?
Seth.
@Seth
Usually I’ll place new stamps in first place, and perfins on second place.
As for identification, most of the time I have to rely on Googling various stamp related resources for information. I do know there are some (country specific) books/catalogues about perfins too.
Keijo, I have recently come across some old stamp albums. 2 are from Regent and there are 4 others. Is there any source to learn if there might be a collector’s value in the albums themselves? I have no interest in parting with the stamps. Thanks and Happy Holidays.
Hi Charlie,
I’m not aware of any website dedicated to old stamp albums, but usually empty albums do come up occasionally in auctions. So possibly checking some (online & offline) auction result lists might be worth a shot.
Hi Keijo, I just stumbled on your website and I must say well done. I have a question.
I have been collecting stamps since 1979 and inherited my mums collection from the 1950s. Both collections suffered mishaps over time. Mine got stolen and dumped (thankfully I found it in a ditch after not too long) and my mums got forgotten in my grandfathers garage for 35 odd years till it got cleared after his death. The problem I have is some of the stamps have mould on them from their ordeal. I have tried soaking and wiping to various degrees of success (some just disintegrate and others may lose their pattern. I am wondering if you have any advise on how to rescue or get rid of mould on stamps.
Thankfully I still have a collection that I am happy with (but many more stamps to rescue)
Hi ekoforshow,
If they are not extremely valuable stamps, I would simply destroy them ASAP. Dealing with moldy stamps can be problematic, and the issues (for both personal health and other stamps) are not simply worth it. IMO the fact that stamps disintegrate is somewhat alarming: either You are soaking them too long, or then the paper/fiber is severely damaged (due to poor storage or mold).
If you want to try to salvage the stamps, your first step would be to make sure that the mold (including the spores) is / will become dead.
Possibly the fastest and safest method for this would be to expose the entire album and stamps (page by page) to heavy germicidal UV Light (also known as Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation / UVGI). AFAIK there are some companies both in US and UK that provide this kind of service (but I have no knowledge of price levels). Germicidal UV Lights can be bought from specialized stores too, but if practicing a DIY solution, You MUST use proper protection (as this form of UV will cause blindness, cell damages etc if handled unproperly). This method does not remove mold marks though.
Ozone treatment also kills molds, but it will also increase deterioration of stamp/paper itself. Thus I would not use it for stamps or anything made of paper. Use of ozone does not remove mold marks either.
Bleech treatment is often recommended to kill mold and removes / weakens mold marks. Unfortunately it is not a stamp friendly method, as it will affect both the colors and fibers. If using bleeching agents, then a very mild mixture and short time exposure should be used. Personally I would not recommend bleeching as stamps will easily become “unnatural” (whiter than white, especially under UV-light), and bleaching will easily cause severe fiber damages to stamp paper.
There are plenty of other agents (like Vinegar, Tea Tree oil) that can be used to handle moldy stamps, but AFAIK none of them doesn’t provide anything better than the above methods. The bottom line is that there is no real way to salvage the stamps. The best you can do is to masquerade some of the most visible damages, but even this will be a short term solution on it’s best.
Keijo,
Thanks for your quick response. I am not aware of any that are valuable however some have sentimental value and I am happy to be in the situation to replace.
I guess I was living in hope. I have been replacing a few at a time and am also in the good situation of having quite a few spares to swap when the situation arises.
I guess moral support is what I was needing to destroy the worst cases. What I resolved to do in the mean time is to quarantine the mouldy ones until they can be replaced one or more at a time.
Once again thanks for the timely response.
I can tell you how to purchase online ready made album pages at a VERY economical price, if you are interested. This way you can mount them if you prefer that to stock pages, but only print the pages that you want. You will need an ink jet or laser printer and will have to purchase slightly heavier stock paper (I use what we call “cover stock” in the US). You can purchase a binder, or do what I am doing, which is putting the pages in folder organizers so they can still stand up on my bookshelves.
@Rick… You are likely talking about Stamp Albums Web (also known as Steiner pages). Here’s a link to review I wrote way back in Nov 2009.
If printing Your own pages, I’d be very careful what type of ink and printer to use. Both of these printing methods have ups and downs. For example several inkjet inks will bleed (both when wet, and when exposed to wet/moisture afterwards); especially any kind of “DIY” refill inks should be avoided IMHO… Laser prints on the other can cause transfers/reliefs to stamps under specific storage conditions (though in general they are much more safer to use than inkjet output).
Here’s a chart about the costs of different storage methods… As uncanny as it is, DIY stamp album pages are actually one of the most expensive methods for storing stamps.
best,
-keijo-
Hello again Keijo
I read your summary about storage of worldwide stamps on stock pages and since I am basically starting fresh here. They sound like a good idea and would like to try them. I will be taking the stamps out of my old WW Albums and remounting them anyway. However I am fairly illiterate when it comes to the wheres and whats of stamp collecting supplies. If you could give me a clue as to where and what to buy that would be great.
Thanks for your time and information I will relay the info on the double sided tape to my Dad. He did find an article on removing the self stick stamps from their backing. I was very disappointed when they made them self stick. I will try to scan the article and send it to you. It seems like a lot of trouble and may not work on all stamps
Patty Allison
@Patty… I’d recommend that You shop around a bit when looking for stamp supplies. There are plenty of online stores that sell stamp supplies, but also the prices (and delivery costs) vary a lot. It is worth noting that the prices of stock books are way lower in Europe than in US.
When buying stock books, I usually focus on well known quality brands (such as Lighthouse or Lindner). Bottom line is that sparing a few bucks doesn’t get You anything good… Feature wise I prefer plain, 32 page stock books with white cardboard pages; the thicker ones has a tendency to break apart during years. If You live in area with high humitidy or lots of dust (like desert), then an additional protective slipcase is a must have… Here’s a link to Lighthouse online store with proper stock book selected.
Re, self stick stamp… I’ve got a separate blog entry about unsoakables; with lots of alternative solutions discussed.
Yes, Keijo, I was referring to “Steiner pages” — why am I not surprised you aware of my source!
Anyway, I use a high-end HP inkjet printer with 67 lb. (148 gm/mtr^2 cover stock per recommendations I found online from other collectors. I started this about a 3 years ago. I find that while it is a much bulkier way to store stamps than stock pages, etc., I love having the descriptions right next to where I am mounting the stamps, such as at what point in history inflation and deflation occurred in various countries, and the events that lead them to issue special commemoratives, etc.
BTW, you have inspired me to do a detailed inventory, starting with my US collection. Lots of fun.
Trying to get my US/UN collection back in shape … it’s been years so I’ve been out of the loop – I had a couple of questions:
Best way to store stamps – used Crystal Mounts before now see a lot of the precut mounts but they seem so expensive and rarely see an assortment packet … any suggestions/thoughts.
Once I have the mounts any suggestions to applying them to the album page – licking the back gets messy.
Instead of perforated stamps we now have self adhesive stamps – seems much harder to get just one stamp for mounting – are there any cutting tools to help me get one stamp off a sheet for mounting (scissors seem to be too rough for stamps)
Hi Edward,
Re, mounts… It depends very much on what continent You are on. In Europe Leuchtturm/Lighthouse, Hawid and Showguard mounts are popular as they have full back, deep black background and are otherwise of good quality. Very few use or want split-back mounts these days (for good reasons). But yes, they are expensive way to store stamps which is why a lot of people have moved to stock books or stock pages. If buying a bargain, please be aware that manufacturers make/push out several grades of their products. Mounts, stock books, stock pages etc. are available as “first class” items (usually sold with full list price), and as “second class” (slight defects allowed) items (usually with notable discount prices).
About licking… That’s the way they are supposed to be used: lick & stick. But don’t wet them too much; especially with split-back mounts that has caused lots of damaged stamps as too much moisture will invade inside the mount.
As for cutting… Get a good quality paper cutter / trimmer; personally I’d recommend Fiskars. With it you’ll always get straight edges on anything you’ll cut.
As long as we are talking about mounts, I received an odd-sounding response from a stamp retailer in Columbus. I notice that looking online for stamp hinges I did not find any peelable products. I used to use them (as I have mentioned I stopped collecting around 1970 and picked the hobby up again a few years ago). When I asked the dealer, he said the company that made truly peelable stamp hinges was bought out, but the acquiring company could not get the technology right, so one can no longer get peelable stamp hinges. Sounded CRAZY to me!!!
@Rick… Those are the legendary “original Dennison hinges” (there’s a later version of Dennison hinges too that is nowhere close to peelable). As far as I know, the originals sell at insane prices eBay and alike.
Not sure what’s the real cause for not producing such peelable hinges. One of the most spread out rumors is that some of the chemicals used in the original Dennison hinges are considered harmful to health nowadays. And yet so many collectors desire to lick them
It is common practice with split-back mounts to slightly moisten just one edge, not the entire back.
I was wondering about storing a ’specialisation’ as part of a larger collection.
I intend to collect worldwide but with a particular focus on Germany I go to Germany a lot). I like the idea of your storage for the WW collection, (AF1,2 Eur 1,2,3 etc) and I intend to implement that myself, but cant decide about the Germany collection.
a) Keep it separate
b) just keep it as part of the Europe section
c) maybe store it digitally (tho I have no idea how to go about this hehe)
I know that it comes down to personal choice, but what are your thoughts?
Also as an aside, I was wondering if you had entertained the idea of hosting a forum on this site to facilitate more discussion etc ?
@Kev… Personally I would still include the German collection as part of Europe, but place it in totally separate stock books / albums.
I can always subclass / number the stockbooks/albums to match my needs. For example:
EU4 – German areas
- EU4.1 States
- EU4.1.1 Bavaria
- EU4.1.2 Other states
- EU4.2 Reich
- EU4.2.2 Occupation issues of WW1
- EU4.2.2 Occupation issues of WW2
- EU4.3 BRD
- EU4.3.1 Berlin
- EU4.4 DDR
- EU4.5 Re-united Germany
etc.
But like you wrote… In the end, it’s Your collection & Your choice. Just give it some proper thought before rushing into things.
Re, the question about establishing a forum in addition of blog… It’s a tempting idea (that would definitely help in keeping the discussion better organized). But I fear the (moderation) workload and (increased bandwidth & hardware) costs it might create. In the end, they might be much higher than I would be willing to put in just because of a hobby.
Ahh, good thinking re the Germany collection, makes perfect sense
Re a possible forum, hardware/bandwith shouldnt be a problem as these things are usually hosted online anyway, all you would need to do is create a link from this blog to the forum.
Moderation can sometimes be a pain, though 99% of the problems are usually solved by forcing people to register and be approved before they post..this eliminates most of the spammers.
Anyway, it’s your site, it was just an idea
@Kev… Actually I was thinking about creating the forum on the same server / space as the blog; thus I was worried about hitting some boundaries… But I’ll let this one “stew up” on back of my head at least few months before making any decisions.
All, I have a Statesman album that I put together around 40 years ago. I would like to keep the pages intact if possible. Not surprisingly to me now, many of the CTO’s I hinged are now sticking to the album pages because I did not soak off the gum. Any suggestion on how I might remove these stamps doing minimal damage. Unfortunately just pulling gently has not worked and I am tired of ruining them! Thanks!
@Rick.. I fear there’s no easy way out of Your situation. At least I haven’t come up with anything truly useful.
Personally I would simply place the entire pages (with stuck stamps) to soak in large bowl of hot water (stamp side down). Once the stamps have come off, pull the page up quickly, give it few minutes to dry on top of newspaper/towel, and then place it to press. Somewhat simple, fast and clean.
Some alternatives…
You can try to moisture only the stamps; a large sized brush is good for this. Gently peel off the stamps once the glue starts to give off (usually after at least 3-5 minutes). This method is slow and messy, and can create occasional thins if you are too hasty.
Or, if you have no objections to use of chemicals… There’s a product called SuperSafe Stamp Lift Fluid. I’m not sure what it contains, but it works in pretty similar fashion to Bestine (and other solvents) that some collectors use with modern self-adhesives. It simply makes the gum “liquid”… Personally I would not use these (but it’s your collection).
I suppose I should have mentioned this in the original posting, but I tried the SuperSafe Stamp Lift Fluid and did not like the results. I actually made a mess of the page and it didn’t work all that well. So I am going to try your suggestion of soaking the entire page. Thanks, Keijo!
Keijo:
I used your suggestion for removing the stamps stuck to my album pages — worked like a charm!
Hi Keijo,
I have couple of Question.. These are for sorting and ctaloging purpose. The Stamp is single Item.. within..Issuing Authority’s That Particular Issue..if it defers from original Issue differences could be in one area or multiple areas
1. Should I makes note all of the differences on separate note and keep with Stamp.. IF in the Catalog mentioned then i could have Number otherwise.. ?
2. separate single Stamp with Single Difference. again if no cat no.
3. Should I keep these On the Same Section of Original Issue e.g. without Error or Flaws.
Should Error,Flaws be considered Errors..? e.g. Reverse over print,Missing Over print, missing color etc. How would you Categorize this Varieties..?
Thanks
@Tikithindi… I think there’s no right or wrong way to do this. Everybody should use a method and classification they feel comfortable.
Personally I try to keep the original as well as all the possible varieties as closely together as possible. Usually I have the original (major) version of the stamp first; followed by subtypes and varieties listed in catalogs; and finally I have the unlisted items. It might look a bit funny occasionally (especially with color varieties, but it makes the maintenance much easier). Separate notes (which I insert next to stamp in question)I make/ only if the item contains something special.
@Fred… I definitely can’t imagine what any person could do with so much money. Maybe give most of it away for some good cause
One of my earliest frustrations when I started collecting as a kid was that I could not find a spot in my album for many of the stamps in my collection. It was impossible to create a pretty, complete or accurate page under such conditions. I concluded early on that albums did not serve me well. I would have been much happier approaching collecting as you describe. Thanks Keijo.
this is a very basic question. i am a teacher and as a project for the young students they are attaching stamps to small maps of the world. they frame these under glass as a hopefully long term keep0sake. i have noticed that last year’s stamps (under glass) have fallen off the paper. what kind of glue will last for a much longer time. the stamps themselves are obviously not valuable and will never need to be removed once attached. the maps are non-acid. thanks for any help/advice you can give me.
@h w cratsley … I’d say that stamp hinges would work the best. As your aim is to fix stamps somewhat permanently, give the hinge a proper lick / moistening before attaching. This way they’ll be pretty guaranteed to stick throughout decades.
Hinges are of very low cost (about 2$ per pouch of 1,000 hinges). Pretty much every stamp store should have them easily available, and likely even some bookstores / general hobby shops have them too.
@h w cratsley… I am from the USA where there are almost no stamp supply departments in stores, and philatelic shops are almost nonexistent. I tried googling “philatelic supplies [insert your country here].” I don’t know why, but my personal mail-order favorite, Subway Stamp Shop in Pennsylvania, was buried 20 links down. Sometimes dealers will sell a few supplies at stamp shows, but there are only a couple of local shows in my town a year. This is yet another indication of how elite/irrelevant this hobby is becoming.
Carol…I agree 100%
@Carol & Fred… Similar shift towards the online world has occurred in pretty much all specialized goods / merchandise (take for example bicycle parts, or photographic equipment). I’m not saying that it’s all for good, but it’s just a sign of times. Maintaining a traditional brick and mortar storefront can be bloody expensive; moving the business fully online can reduce fixed costs to large degree and attract a much wider audience… I don’t think/believe that none of the dealers love abandoning physical stores, but they’ve got to eat and pay the bills too
So, there we are…slaves of the modern technology, like it or not, good reasons as they are, the world of megabytes…but on the other hand…the melancholy realm of the frustrated, the uncertain, the uncanny…at the end, Keijo, Carol and me…good night!
Just found your blog and am enjoying it. recently inherited a family collection in scott albums which i will be integrating with my own schaubek and yvert tellier albums. i have been looking tonight for a country index to the international postage stamp album vol 1 (blue) and have not been able to find one, suggestions?
keith
@Keith… I confess that I can’t help on this, but a couple of “serious” Big Blue collectors follow this blog, and I’m sure they will chime in with proper advice sooner or later
Question: I recently purchased the Minkus Supreme Global Stamp album for the years 1850 to 1954. The Minkus albums are now published by Scott. However, the Global albums are organized using the old Minkus catalog system which is no longer in print. Do you know which current catalog system (Michel, SG, etc.) most resembles the order of stamps appearing in the Minkus Global album?
@Dennis … I confess I’ve never seen Minkus catalogs except on photos, so I fear I can’t help on this one.
As a rough guideline I can say that Michel follows chronological listing style somewhat further than the alternatives; for example long definitive sets don’t usually have consecutive number ranges, but they are split all across the catalog pages (after date/year of issue).
@Dennis – I have a smallish Minkus “New Global World Wide” album. I’m not sure about the numbering system of the individual stamps but the countries are mostly grouped by what European empire (Great Britain, France, etc) each country used to be part of. This is a always an interesting challenge to my history/geography knowledge and I’ve spent a lot of time searching for small countries in the album. I’m a little over halfway through compiling an alphabetical list of countries and which section they are in. Assuming the Suprem Global is the same, if you want a copy, I can email it or post it on Google Docs in a couple days.
@mrprgrmr
Thanks for the offer regarding the Minkus country list — it will be interesting to compare it with the Supreme Global pages. There are some older Minkus world wide catalogs available from various used book sites. They range in price from $15 to $100 plus!! The Minkus WW catalogs from the 1950s and 60s were apparently published in two volumes. They might serve as a useful reference for the 1840-1954 Supreme Global pages.
I would be interested in knowing if other collectors are familiar with the Minkus world catalogs and what they think of them.
Dennis
The world according to the Minkus “New World Wide Stamp Album”:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Akz-84Pl34fBdEdRZ1J0QzZPVm5vYmxJMmFXQTM4SEE&hl=en_US
There may be some redundancy where there are multiple names for a country. That is somewhat intentional – I plan to keep a copy as a partially completed stamp finder and high level inventory. The page #’s are only relative as they are the page #’s from the original index and I have added more. My goal, of course, is to have at least one stamp from as many locations as possible.
I started the list when I was trying to find if there was a section for some old Azerbaijan stamps and realized I was spending a lot of time trying to figure out what country every location was filed under. It turns out, there is no section for Azerbaijan, though there probably is in the larger Minkus albums.
Hi there!
How do you set out to organize your WW stamps? I collect worldwide and am running into the problem of storing them in their final destination. I don’t know whether to dedicate one stock book per country (which would get expensive) or divide a book up with several small countries. Then I run into the issue if I run out of room for the one country of having to move it all. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
@Cathleen… As long as you use stock books (with fixed pages), your options are pretty much there: dedicate a stock book to each country (which will get expensive), or split it with multiple countries (which will require moving around every once and awhile). Personally I follow the latter practise; more details on this page: http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/keeping-a-stamp-collection-in-order.php
Very few know, but (at least) DAVO provides so called loose-leaf stockbook pages. These are essentially regular stockbook pages with binder wholes; so You can build a custom stock book (with any number of pages, and add /remove pages when required etc)… The downside? For some bizarre reason, the cost per page is same / more as with quality stock pages (making it thus much more expensive option as regular stockbooks).
Hi Keijo,
I have been following your blog (almost daily) for the past four months and I finally get the “courage” to write my first blog comment ever. Some congratulations are in order.
I would like to start by telling you a little bit about me and my stamp collection. I am 42 year-old professional originally from Romania but leaving now in USA. I have been “collecting” stamps as a kid for about ten years and I stopped (without completely destroying my collection) when I was about 20. About six months ago, considering what interesting activities I should do with my 20-month son when he grows up, I thought about stamp collecting, as it enhances some qualities lacking in today’s youth: patience, organization and knowledge. Initially, I thought about collecting 10-20 stamps from each country in the world but then something amazing happen: I came across “The writings of Keijo Kortelainen”. (By the way, I love your blog because of the useful information, noncommercial presentation, and your enthusiasm about stamp collecting.) That encounter, and the timing of it, changed the original small-collection plan I had.
After some deliberation and some soul searching I decided to go big and create a collection of 100 000 worldwide (mint and/or used) stamps within the next three to five years. That is easy to set as a goal but a little harder and more expensive to actually put in practice. So, to make it happen I start making some purchases. A collection of 100 thousands stamps needs a lot of stockbooks, which is the storage option I choose, so I order about one hundred 32-page, black-page stockbooks from Lighthouse. This purchase hurt for a few days but the pain is over now. In addition I bought, from various sources, about 140 thousands (mostly unorganized) stamps with a price tag of about $2500.
Now comes the interesting and painful part of sorting and organizing the stamps. So far, I organized the African country collection in 14 stockbooks and the Sweden collection in 2 stockbooks. Inspired by your post on Hermes and Iris definitive series, I am working now on Greece.
Being out of stamp collecting for over two decades, there are many questions I have, which I will post them in time on various pages of your blog, but for now I will start with questions about duplicates.
You may have posted something about it before but I did not get to see it yet. As you can imagine, sorting through the big purchases I made, I will get lots of duplicates so I want to be able to organize them somehow. How many duplicates do you have and how do you keep them organized? What do you usually do with them? Sell them? Exchange them?
Thanks very much.
@Titus,
Welcome aboard. You made an excellent introduction with your first blog comment.
I must confess that I’m (more than a) bit jealous for you. You had the courage to put up some big $$$ on the table, and make the initial payments for both storage and stamps in one go. Most collectors (yours truly included) just dream of that. From now on Your collecting experience should be somewhat cost free (unless you start looking for completion and filling up spaces/sets); kudos to You
I’ve had some issues with black-paged stockbooks, which is why I’m using white-page only for my collection. I so much hope that you will not face similar issues (just keep good care for your receipt, so if something turns up in later years, You could file for refund or similar).
True, I’ve covered the topic already in earlier post / comments I’ve made. The essential tidbits (with images) of my approach can be found on these posts:
Confessions of a hoarder and A matter of storage. Some other posts / comments may have some odd tidbits as well.
There hasn’t been much change with my approach on this part. The good news is that I’ve definitely managed to get rid some of the duplicates- I think I’m around 50-60,000 duplicates any more. These should still give me more than enough resources for exchanges/trades etc.
-keijo-
Hi Keijo,
I did not want to go in too many details in my first post but I always wanted to clarify the situation. Including stockbooks and stamps, my stamp investment (or better say expense) totals about $5,500 so far. That is a LOT of money for many people including myself. Actually the only other more expensive purchase I made in my life is buying the house we are leaving in right now. Somewhat close came a purchase of 2 round-trip airline tickets to Australia few years back. Even my two used cars I bought cost less than that. $5,500 is a high number if you look at it this way. What would you do with that kind of money? (Just a rhetorical question, no answers needed.)
That being said, here is the other side. Every since I can remember I was a money saver. I always spend less money then I have, including as a child or student. That served me very well throughout my life. About ten years ago, when I started a real, decent-paying job, both my wife (who is herself working and has similar spending habits) and I got to start saving some “real” money. (That term is also relative.) It got to the point of needing to invest them somewhere. We started investing in the stock market in 2005-2008 time period. If you lived on earth the past few years, you probably know how that turned out for us. Essentially, when you lose a tone of money with nothing to show for, buying real objects (i.e., stamps) that one can touch, sort, look at and enjoy doesn’t look that bad. After this original big-money investment, I am trying to settle to a budget of $100/month, probably enough to get my collection growing at a desired rate of 10,000 stamps per year. Also, in 20 years of stamp collecting, I bet you spend more money than $5500. Am I right?
As far as black versus white pages, I was aware of your posting when I made my decision. I second-guess myself a couple of time but stick to the original choice. I hope that I will not have the problem you encountered or that at least it will be on a small scale. I don’t have anything against white pages, and stockbooks are actually less expensive, but I really dislike glassine strips. So I went black which were the only Lighthouse stockbooks that had clear strips. The 32-page choice was, in part, based on your posting.
As far as duplicates questions and response, I read your previous posting. I can see that you are not that organized in that respect but that you are not satisfied with the current situation either. Allow yourself to daydream for a little and tell me how would you want your duplicates to be organized, if at all possible? I am really trying to get a sense of how often you get to look for a particular stamp or series in your duplicates, either for exchange/trade or selling. I did not have that experience yet, and I would like to get a sense of need for organization in duplicates. My current approach is to have duplicates from each country in an envelope (or more) but I am considering, for countries that I envisioned many duplicates like Romania or USA or Canada, breaking down in envelopes per year or few years or decades. Would that be at all useful or just a waste of time? Remember that I just start organizing my collection so organizing the duplicates in the same time doesn’t seem to be that time consuming. As far as the number goes, 50-60,000 seems like the number I was prepared to deal with.
Thanks again.
@Titus Great story! It brings back memories — I gave up golf when my son was born 16 years ago and rediscovered my stamp collection. I’ve never had the courage to “go big” like you did but it’s a great hobby to spend a few hours here and there.
@Titus… Thanks for clarification.
This one is pretty easy to answer (as I do it every single month anyway): I’d shorten up our apartment mortgage.
Not sexy, but practical.
For $100/month you might get up to 30-50,000 new additions per year if buying wisely. Seriously. Of course, the closer to completion you reach, the harder it will get. I have a hunch that one should need to reach about 75-80% completion before hitting “serious issues” with finding enough new stamps from bulk lots / collections.
My current stamp budget is roughly 300€/year, so if I keep my mileage steady, in 20 years I’ve spent about 6000€ on stamps & accessories (likely more on stockbooks and catalogs, than on stamps themself
)
Too bad you didn’t check for Lindner or SAFE – both provide excellent stockbooks with white pages + crystal clear strips.
Seriously speaking, I see no point in keeping duplicates in order. They are excess “waste”… Yes, I do have some stuff that has been stuffed in envelopes/glassines (mostly of the same stamp/series in hundreds or thousands of copies), and those I will hopefully clear out some way in (near) future. But otherwise it’s all floating around happily the duplicates boxes, keeping my exchange/trade stock versatile and strong.
If I was about to sell the good parts of my duplicates, then I’d definitely need to get them organized some way. Likely stock cards or similar would be the best option… But I would have it much easier by selling it all in one gigantic bulk lot, or splitting it down to smaller bulk lots (like 500-1,000 stamps).
@Titus
Like yourself, I sort dups in envelopes by country. For countries such as the U.S., where I have many more duplicates, I sort by decade. I am considering switching to catalog based, with certain catalog # ranges per envelope to make it easier to find specific stamps. If stock cards were free, I would put individual stamps in stock cards by country and catalog number dealer style.
All this sorting serves only a single practical purpose, so far. As I am mounting stamps, I keep going back to certain series of definitives that I initially did not sort the subtypes (e.g. coils, watermarks) and looking for variations. I might repeat the process someday if I buy a U.V. lamp.
If I have more than 25 of a stamp, I stack them into a little “brick” of stamps which I wrap with a strip of paper and glue (with water based glue, in case overdo it a little and need to soak it apart). I write the catalog number and quantity on the paper strip. This serves little practical purpose; however, I do find it satisfying to turn an envelope full of stamps into a couple neat little cubes. There are some dealers who sell these as “bundleware” but I doubt they go for more than the same stamps in envelopes.
I can see that sorting by country may someday also help when recouping a bit of my purchase costs if I were to sell/auction some country specific assortments. So far, this is just a theoretical advantage. Unless I was retired or unemployed, it might be hard to justify the time it requires to do this.
Selling in larger quantity, as Keijo suggests, takes much less time and would not require extensive sorting. If you enjoy sorting stamps, as I do, don’t let anyone stop you. If you don’t enjoy it, the most rational thing is probably just to dump them in a bin and sell/trade them in bulk. There’s an idea – kiloware trading… I send you 1kg and you send me 1kg of random trash
Other than postage costs, it could be fun.
Hi Keijo,
Thanks for your response, you are a good man. You are probably right about being able to add 30-50,000 new stamps per year but I set out low expectations so I will be happy when I meet and probably exceed them. Also, maybe I will be able to add some quality not just quantity. Sometime later I will want you to give me some good techniques of “buying wisely” (especially when I am more interested in adding to the collection of a particular country) as I often feel that I really don’t do. Right now, I am still learning the hows and whens and whats and the rest. After gaining more experience I hope to be able to estimate what things are worth a little better. (Currently, all my purchases average 1.80 cents/stamp, which is probably higher than what an expert would do.) Also, after I get few more good and cheap buys under my belt, I will be able to reduce drastically the more expensive ones. I am very aware that I will do stupid things while I am building my collection but I hope that I don’t do very many (more) and that they will not be that costly. For the most part, I am pretty happy with the way collecting progressed so far, which is really the only thing that matters. Isn’t it?
@mrprgrmr
I do bricks too
Not so often as I’d like to, but occasionally. Instead of envelope, I have a “wooden box” that I put bricks into: row after row; brick after brick. Once full, I’d expect it to have around 200,000 stamps for someone’s pleasure 
Don’t tempt me…
@Titus
I agree. Quality is definitely much more important than quantity. And trust me as I say that it is an neverending task – you can always improve/work up with the quality of items.
Spot on
Really guys…the idea of mrprgrmr about kiloware is burning in my head!…go on Keijo!
@Fred… Actually I was thinking off-paper stamps, not kiloware
1kg off-paper = 10,000 stamps or so.
Hmm…if so, it will be difficult for me to gather such amount off paper…but would be nice for those who can…sigh!
It is exciting to read about how far stamp collecting has come since my brother and I used to ride our bikes down to the local Post Office and dive into the trash bins around the P.O. Boxes in the hall to look for stamps on junk mail. I learned a new word today: bundleware. Also, I upgraded my personal glossary to include “kiloware on paper” as well as “kiloware off paper.” VERY important distinction!!
@Fred:
I think the problem with bulk exchanges is not the amount of material (that is plenty, and very easy to get more if required)… The problem is that it would be very short lived operation, as sorting / going through such big lots takes a lot of time. I purchase 1 or 2 such large offpaper lots a year, and they keep me more than busy for the entire year. If I had more, then I would have no time for anything else.
For the same reason, I very much doubt that anyone doing regular 9-17 dayjob could add their collection more than say 10-20,000 new items per year. There’s simply not enough time…
@Carol:
Hmm… This brings back good childhood memories. On my case it was a recycling of an very large car business next to our house. Found lots and lots of parcel pieces and mail around the globe
These days you’d get lots of talk about health risks, fine for trespassing and god knows what if diving into recycling bin 
It’s saddening how complex and insane the world has become
@ Keijo, Fred, mrprgrmr
I am still few months away from sorting through enough stamps to get 10,000 duplicates (as the current rate of maybe 500/week will probably not get faster unless I start sorting USA, Hungary, Romania, Israel or Poland) but I will definitely be interested in exchanging heavy numbers. The 10,000 might be a bit too much (as I purchased similar items for $100 or more) but a number like 5,000 seems much more reasonable to me.
@Titus… Count me out for the time being (I simply don’t have the time to pick such large lot right now). That said, I think the largest lot sent to my exchange last year was 3,000+ stamps. That one took me more than one night to sort out
Though there has not been upper limit on my open-for-all exchange scheme, I think I’ll add something this year (like 500 or 1.000 stamps per sending max) simply because smaller packages are easier to handle, the risks of having issues with international customs are smaller, and the risk of financial loss is also smaller if things go haywire.
The beauty of small exchanges (anything between 100-500 stamps) is that you can quite easily rough sort everything of interest in single night (or as I did, up to 2-3 exchanges every night of the week
). and wrap it up. With big lots, you just end up with stamps all around You for days/weeks/months (no matter how organized and skilled You are). ..
Keijo,
I am not talking about the “regular” stamp exchange that you describe on your blog. I think that is perfect and I am looking forward to sending you the duplicates I got while sorting through African countries just as soon as you open up the exchange again. (You will probability find some useful stuff there.) I am thinking more about “kiloware off paper” stuff with some (multiple) duplicates, mostly the excess “waste” or the “bricks” you were talking before. Also, once the exchange is made, the lot is yours to keep so you don’t have to sort thought it under the rush of time. Just an idea anyway, maybe nothing will come out of it.
@Titus… I’ll let it brew, and let’s see what it comes out. Start of the year is usually busiest time at my work/profession, so I won’t have that much time for stamps. But the summer is pretty dead water (despite all the gardening me & my misses attempt to do)
@Titus… Re, your latest comment… I’ve sent you email on this. Please check your inbox (or junkmail folder in case the message gets wiped).
Hello Keijo!
I am looking for an archival book for a friend who collects stamps and was wondering if you knew of a good place for me to start. I just came across your blog and I thought with all of your expertise you may be a good resource! I live in Los Angeles but would be willing to buy something online that will preserve the stamps and look nice too. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
Regards,
Jennifer
@Jennifer… You might want to browse Lighthouse homepages for some time to pick something of Your interest. They are the leading manufacturer of various types of stamp albums; and their products can be found worldwide on book stores, stamp shops etc. places where you can buy stamp related accessories.
Besides Lighthouse, there are other manufacturers (like Davo, Lindner) that also provide very extensive product ranges from simple stockbooks to fully illustrated albums (with/without mounts). Their products are bit harder to come by if shopping at non-collector stores; but they are equally good.
In the end there’s very little difference between products by different makers; it’s more of a question of picking between apples and oranges. Some like one more than the other.
i am planning of buying a world album to change my old one that is almost fill with half of blank page i am an intermediate collector. i was thinking of buying the olympian world album that come in a 4 volume set or the world 21 century that come in a 6 volume set but this one is a 3 post ring and i like better 2 post cause i have still a lot of blank page still. anyway what do you think about this 2 album are they good for old stamps or more on the recent syamps? thanks
@Claude… Can’t really comment on specific (Olympian) album brand as I don’t have any experience of it. However, as a generalization I’d say that the more rings a binder has, the better it will stand against the challenges of time.
Hi Keijo!
Firstly, thanks for your amazing webpage, articles and posts! I collect WW everything and I find your website an invaluable reference for getting everything in order. I have read your postings about getting the collection organized and now, after several starts and stops, I have abandoned albums and hinges, and am reorganizing into stockbooks so that I can move the stamps around as I find more variations.
1) The best (used) stockbook I have for this is one with a “globe” on the front – latitude and longitude lines with 4 arrows out the sides — do know who’s brand this is?
2) Even with stockbooks, I often run out of room in a section and have to shift all the stamps pages forward (I collect LOTs of variations including paper/printing differences sorted with UV, so I can have sometimes a dozen or more variations per stamp.) Rearranging stockbooks is still difficult, so … are there any “stockbook-like” pages available for 3-ring binders that have glassine retainers, instead of acetate retainers? (You can’t fluoresce through the acetate.)
rick (Canada)
@Canadian Rick…
It’s possibly a Schaubek (they’ve used globe in their products)… Very heavy (extremely thick pages), but also solid as a rock ? I think I have one of those as well…
If I recall properly, at least Davo should provide a product as such. But it’s not very price friendly (at least the last time I checked) – cost was somewhat the same as with regular stock pages.
Keijo,
I know that you favor stockbooks, and so may not have much experience or opinion on the matter, but I was wondering if you could discuss the relative merits of various stamp mounting and hinge products with regards to their archival quality. I’d like to choose a mounting system that minimizes stamp damage over the long term (30+ years!).
Thanks in advance.
@Jeremy…
IMHO both hinges and mounts CAN be archival friendly solution IF used properly. However, based on misc collections and accumulations I’ve seen, I’d say that many collectors fail on this.
The first thing is how much moisture should be applied. What I’ve read, the proper way is to moist just a VERY SMALL area like this:
The more moisture you apply, the greater the risk of (long term) damages will be. This applies especially to mounts; I’ve seen way too many mint stamps that have been simply ruined by this.
The other issue is what you use to moist… I know a lot of collectors simply lick hinges/mounts. About 99% saliva is water, but the rest is traces of organic matter (tea, coffee, food etc) as well as a huge mixture of bacteria. You don’t really have to be much of archivist specialist to figure out that it’s not going to be good for the paper on the long run.
As well as mounts go, I think most modern stamp mounts are claimed to be archival safe. However, it does not appear to be as black and white. You might want to read http://www.stampsrart.com/plasticinsun/plastic1.html and http://stamps.org/userfiles/file/pcpm/StampsPlastics.pdf – they are pretty scary stuff.
All in all, the most important thing for everything is controlling the environment where stamps and albums are stored. Even the best of products are not of assistance, if you can’t keep the factors (moisture, heat, amount of light) within safety limits.
This is going back a bit in blog history but I have been delving and #52 in Ask Anything Part 6 got me thinking!
Peter’s question is interesting – whether to file foreign occupation issues with the country being occupied or with the country doing the occupying. This is also something I grapple with. A few years ago I took the decision to follow a geographical rather than historical/political system of organisation. This means for example that I see no reason in filing stamps from Ceylon and Sri Lanka in a different place, even though this is how they appear in my catalogue. That is a simple example though.
In cases where smaller countries merge to form a larger entity, I again file them together. Where a country splits apart into separate entities, I then separate them. So for Yugoslavia, for example, I have put 19th and early 20th century issues of Serbia and Montenegro under Yugoslavia, while the separate countries formed since the early 1990s go off under their own alphabetically organised heading.
For me this all has a certain logic, yet I can see it diverges somewhat from the convention of catalogues and guess the system that is more widely followed. Where I have started to seriously question whether what I am doing is ‘right’ is relation to my collection from Germany. Because of everything that went on there through the mid-19th to mid-20th century, I find Germany stamps particularly historically charged and interesting. By filing all of the German occupation stamps together, rather than within the geographic area they belong to, this helps to present the history and politics of what occurred.
For the time being I have made a one-off exception for Germany, but perhaps in the end this will force me re-organise everything!!! Perhaps the answer to Peter’s question is, it depends what information we want to present with our collection. For some people that might be the colour red, images of cats, etc. If it is the history of the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then keeping all those overprints together might be a good idea!
I guess this is all obvious, but it is nice to share some of the conundrums I ponder as I sort through my collection and to see that other people maybe get hung up about similar things…
@Seth… I agree, it depends. As uncanny as it may sound, this is one of those topics that me and my misses chat quite often when viewing the stockbooks. You would not believe how many times I’ve heard ‘why’s that there?’
I can say that I’ve got accustomed to having a bit of mixed order. Though I usually follow the geographical order, I do make exceptions. For example the German occupations (during World War I+II) I usually keep in separate stock books, though if following pure geographical+chronological continuity Bohemia & Moravia should be placed with in Czechoslovakia, General Governement should be placed with Poland etc. On the other hand, the Nazi puppet state of Croatia (NDH), I’ve placed along a set of stock books covering Balkan region…. What matters to me is that it ‘feels right’, not whether it conforms some set of rules (or follows the catalog order). In the end it’s a bit like the world- imperfect, but functional.
Hey Keijo,
What brand stock books do you primarily use? And do you buy with glassine or crystal clear strips? And lastly, where do buy them (online/offline)?
Thanks,
Ben
@Ben…
A majority of my collection is housed in either Leuchtturm (known as Lighthouse in English speaking World), Lindner and Davo stock books.
Out of these, I would say that Lindner stock books are of the highest quality. However, most of my stock books are by Leuchtturm / Lighthouse (because they are usually the cheapest).
These days I go ALWAYS with white background pages+ glassine strips.
I know this is against what majority of collectors are doing, but each black pages + transparent strips stockbook I’ve had, has failed over the years. The strips simply peel off leaving stamps in danger of falling out of pages. There is some discussion about this on various stamp related chats.
Where ever I get the best deal… Usually it’s a local re-tailer of NordFrim Ab (one of the largest stamp dealers in Northern Europe; they do deliver internationally too, see http://www.nordfrim.dk/en/accessories ).
Thanks so much for your response! I’ve appreciated all the help you have given me so far and love reading articles on this site!
One last question related to the link your provided for me:
What brand stock books are they selling because they don’t seem to go into detail with that? I want to make sure that that they are from the companies you had mentioned as being better quality (Lighthouse, Lindner, and Davo).
Thanks!
Ben
@Ben… They sell (almost exclusively) Leuchtturm/Lighthouse products…. Once you are on the page, select Stock books category (from the top of left side pane), then further down on the page is an option “materials: white pages or black pages”. Check the white pages option, and voila. That said, there are several options within these.
The ones with serial starting H4 or K4 are the “budget model”, likely made in China. Their cover looks and feels pretty plain, and they (usually) lack the logo of Leuchtturm/Lighthouse on spine. But these are still ok to use.
Those with serial starting L4 look and feel a bit more classy. They (usually) have padded covers & they feature Leuchtturn/Lighthouse logo (as well as Made in Germany on the back). These are part of “Basic” brand.
And finally there’s the “Comfort” brand of stock books. Again, these go one step further in quality ladder.
I have ordered a set of 1981 USPS commemorative stamps off ebay. They came with the black back mounts, are these archival safe? When did mounts become archival safe?
@Jen… That’s pretty hard to say, as I’ve got no idea what brand they are. However, I’d be somewhat cautious with any mounts made pre 1990s.