Storage for worldwide stamp collection (pt7) – Summary
Reason I did write this series was personal need to find out detailed information about the cost structure (and other benefits/downsides) of each storage alternative for my personal stamp collection. I admit, the results of this comparison did bring up some interesting surprises.
As I personally collect on a somewhat limited budget (few hundred Euro’s per year), I prefer to spend my money wisely when it comes to accessories and stamps.
The calculations I have done are based on single question- how much would storage of “complete worldwide stamp collection” (of approx. 530,000 stamps) cost? It must be noted that my figures are not absolute. Each collector will have their own preferences on how tight/loose stamps should be placed, what kind of quality paper to use etc; these all will affect on costs… But IMHO the numbers I have do give a good and valid comparison point if using “average” archival quality products/solutions for storage.
- Stock books: from 5,400€ upwards
- Blank stamp album pages: from 6,300€ upwards
- Stock pages: from €7,400 upwards
- Commercial stamp albums / album pages: from 10,000€ upwards
- DIY stamp album pages: from 12,800€ upwards
- Stock cards (approval cards): from €23,700 upwards
Or same data in visual format:
Comparison of costs involved to stamp collection storage methods
Another criterion I put weight on my “research” was ease of use and archivability… Stock books, cards and pages do shine in all metrics: you just need to put stamps inside the strips found on page/card and focus on collecting. It couldn’t be any simpler… Stamp hinges and mounts used in stamp album pages are IMO good for small scale use, but half million items is IMO simply too much “challenge” for them.
Based on these results, I’m pretty sure my collection will be housed in traditional (white-page) stockbooks even in upcoming years. If I didn’t have to worry about the budget, then I would very likely convert to stock pages (and binders). But almost threefold cost difference compared to stock pages is IMO simply too much for minor enhancements in usability.
You mention 530.000 stamps in a WW collection up to date. Do you know aproximately how many new stamps are issued per year currently? That would complete this great series of post and make it easier to keep it up to date.
My first estimate is 250 “countries” issuing stamps with an average of 50 stamps per year, giving about 12.000 new stamps, but I’m not sure that 50 is a good average…
Hi Pablo,
What I have in my personal records is the number of sets issued each year (as well as the total number of main types for each country). For the last 10 years this number has been pretty constantly approx. 3500 sets/year with exceptions of “millenium years” with nearly 4,000 sets/year issue rate.
But…I know Michel Rundschau and Linns Stamp Magazine publish annually number of new stamps for previous year… The latest comparison I found quickly from my archives contained number of new stamps in 1999: 16,107 stamps (14,745 singles and 1,362 sheets/blocks).
I’d say that the number of new stamps per year is currently around 14-15,000 stamps/year.
-keijo-
Very interesting and informative series of articles. Thanks.
Thank you, a little short but not bad, my estimation then.
I find your premise a catch 22. You state that you want to house a complete world wide collection in a budgeted storage system. Very, very, few people in the world over a hundred years period time have had the resources to develop a complete, worlwide stamp collection. And if you had that kind of financial resources to complete that kind of collection, the cost of housing the collection would be moot.
Joel
Hi Joel,
I agree that 100% complete is out of my (and most likely everyone’s) reach; some stamps are simply too scarce and/or valuable for common low budget collector like me. But for example a 99% (or even some tenths higher) complete collection is IMO within most collectors reach as the number of truly pricey stamps is very limited.
One thing I have on my side is time. I (and my wife) have been collecting for over 20 years. And if nothing suprising happens, I’ll be collecting hopefully for the next 50 upcoming years. It’s only about a question of getting approx. 10,000 new additions each year, or 30 stamps a day . And since most of this will be very low budget stuff, it won’t cost too much… I admit, I expect that the longer one will get with achieving the goal, the harder it will change.
As for housing the collection… 562 stock books required for storege will take some serious space (like a separate wall or possibly even a room). But same can be said about any hobby – be it bodybuilding or tuning up old cars
And above all, I’m not taking any pressures on achieving the goal.
best,
-keijo-
Keijo-
Interesting premise…but, acquiring 10,000 stamps per year puts a person 5,000 behind every year, based on new issues of 15,000 per year…or was there a point I missed about limiting it to postally-used or classic-era issues? I took from the up-to-date reference that it would keep going with newer issues.
Here is an idea I’ve started moving toward. I’m sure it will need continual tweaking. Use high-quality stock pages. Load them up by country, scan them at a good resolution, and pull them back out and put them into something for long-term, cheap storage (glassines, perhaps?). Keep a stock page per country in binders with your favorites, or the more valuable issues, or whatever criteria you select. When you fill Bulgaria’s page, it is easy enough to add a new stock page behind it and keep going.
There are an awful lot of issues that I am happy to have, but I don’t need to see them very often.
Thanks for your site.
CJ
Hi CJ,
you’re right… With pace of 10,000 stamps/year I will fall behind constantly. That said… I’m also a firm believer of “what goes up comes down too” statement. Postal services (as well as collecting) are in a rapid change and the next decades will bring up winds of change.
And spot on… I do have a “kind-of” limitations on what I collect. I try to narrow down to years 1840-2008 (or even more precisely to pre 2000AD era stamps), but it’s not a strict guideline.
-keijo-
Here’s something I think many will love seeing – a video clip (by Australian Broadcasting Company) on what a complete worldwide stamp collection looks like:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/collectors/video/download.htm
Bottom of the page: Episode 29 – Eclectic Stamps
Just a note, that this entry has been updated (on part of stock page costs) due to error in original calculations.
Hello Keijo,
Regarding World collections:
I use plain paper pages (Pale Blue) which I print myself and fix the stamps in “Hawid” mounts.
Two issues not yet addressed here:
1/ You must add the expense of updating world Catalogues. I find this difficult.
2/ What to do with all the duplicates that will arrive with that “treasure” you have been seeking.
Cheers
Steve.
Hi Steve,
the topic of article series was storage of stamp collection, so I did exclude the cost of catalogues as well as other non-storage related accessories intentionally.
But if going into topic, the cost of catalogs is a tricky thing to estimate as it’s very personal. Some collectors feel the need to update catalogues every 1-2 years whilst others (like me) get a new edition only when the previous one physically falls apart. And the decision between new vs. used volumes can make a huge difference.
As for duplicates, either selling, exchanging or donating them is the way forwards. And the faster the better… One of the lessons I’ve learned is that if you let duplicates accumulate, then you are out of space and control in no time.
Very interesting the content of your opinions and blah,blah,blah…but when it comes to: ‘IMO’…’IMHO’…what the hell is that??? I really get annoy with the term…
Please Keijo, would you explain the meaning of such? for the benefit of all us (like me) enough is enough suffering the jargon of the computers!!! pfiuuu!!!
@Fred… Wiktionary is Your friend: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/IMHO
IMHO = In my humble opinion, In my honest opinion
IMO = In My Opinion
IMNSHO = In My Not So Humble Opinion
But in the end, it’s just me be too lazy to type couple of additional words…:oops:
Yeah Keijo…hmmm…I’m gonna use my own fredtionary and make everybody nuts!
There we go: CYPGAOTS = ‘Can you please give advise on this’
stamp?
or this one: ITIABEOTO = ‘I think is a big err on this one.’
and this one: NOCBM = ‘No one can beat me’
Actually, you save a lot of time …L O L = loony of
London…
Now seriously, I’ve been this morning on the stamp market,
and I found a stock book full of Finland stamps…really beautiful and delicate…even the postmark are very nice…I love it!
Cheers.
@Fred… I hope You got a good bargain with the stock book. If you need to know anything of Finnish stamps, just ask
Well…I didn’t buy the stock book itself, but rather pick one by one cause were duplicates in almost everything, so I choose the ones with the best postmark (Posti?)and also I found one that you must be familiarised (?) Tarja Halonen among a lot of flowers, christmas, cinema, musicians,artists and pets…now that I have this lot of finnish stamps, I feel eager to get more…the design is superb!…I would say they are better that most of GB stamps, sincerely IMHO! and for the 65 stamps, paid only £ 2.00 LOL!
@Fred… Pricewise you had a very good deal. If I had bought similar lot in Finland, I would have ended up paying £6.50 (or more)… Based on your description I suspect You found lots of 1990s (and some early 2000s stamps). That’s the era when Finnish stamp production / design started going downhill in my humble opinion.
OK…I would agree, but all in all finnish stamps (globally)seems to me, of superior quality than British in every sense…with a few exceptions, considering the economic crisis of the last years…I don’t like photographs on stamps! I love engraved ones and/or with an original art work, the problem is that there is a lot of good artist, but few people willing to pay for what they deserve… alas! I’m not talking what method for printing, that’s a different matter and my knowledge of it is nearly zilt! zero! nada!…LOL!
The discussion about the number of postage stamps to have a complete worldwide collection is quite interesting. 650,000 face/color different stamps might be very conservative as soon as one becomes familiar with varieties that are easily visible to the eye but often listed as one stamp in catalogs.For instance, I have a detailed collection of British Machin stamps (That is the long series showing only the Queen’s head and a value) Most lists tabulate around 450 or so varieties.
Yet it is easy to see enough small differences between some color/value stamps and with a sharp eye that number easily doubles to almost 1,000. My personal specialty collection has well over 2,000 varieties of these very common stamps as I have been drawn into the phosphor differences and other minor variations. I have had a similar experience with the Norwegian Posthorn series years ago. Actually virtually any issue that is in production for ten or twenty years will develop multiple variations that could be collected in a comprehensive world wide collection.
Getting back to the subject of storage in stock books I found your number of 652 to be worth thinking about. Let’s say that each binder is about 2½ to 3 inches wide, or for the sake of the discussion 75mm each.
That means you would need some 50 meters of shelf space (Over 160 feet here in the US) I have some shelves in my stamp room that are 2½ feet wide and are stacked five high. So without stuffing everything excessively tight I am guesstimating I’d need space for almost twenty such shelf units.
Whew !!!
@Charlie… I agree that with all the color variations etc. included, the number exceeds 2-3 million stamps. If I remember correctly, Michel states that they catalog over 1.6 million items; and this figure includes just the main variations.
About storage needs… IMHO this is something every stamp collector should give some serious thought; the earlier the better. I know some collectors who live in homes that look like taken from TV-show Hoarders; and it’s a scary sight…But it honestly doesn’t have to be like that.
My comment about storage is more concerned with security and maintaining stamp quality. A few years ago I thought I should invest in a safe in case of fire or break-in. I don’t have a large collection but it is a large personal investment,not just financial. Life got busy and I didn’t actively collect for a few years. The next time I pulled it from the safe, moisture had gotten in and damaged the gum of most of the mint condition stamps. Isn’t it ironic that a measure taken to protect my collection ended up damaging it; Live and Learn.
I have remounted everything but should I leave the damaged gum as is, or remove? I often see stamps listed as mint – no gum. I enjoy your blog posts…
Hi Gary,
you’re not the first collector to encounter the perils of safes. I’ve heard of couple of other similar incidents (including even collections stored in bank vaults). These things are (supposedly) air tight, and once you lock the door, the moisture (in the air, in the stamps etc) has no way out. So basically it can only condensate and ruin the contents. The only way to prevent this is to include some sort of dehumidifier (such as silica beans) inside the safe as well.
What to do with stamps…. Personally I’d wash the gum off, but others might disagree.
1. Does anyone have suggestions for stock book brands available in the US?
2. Does anyone know where to get them in the US (I am in central Ohio)? Is online my only solution?
Thanks!
2)Hey Rick…go outside and head for Columbus, my cousin lives there and he got everything in a small shop in town!
Je suis désolé…
Fred, can you give me more details? The only shop I know of is Crown and Eagle on High Street in North Columbus. Can you give me any details about where your cousin goes.
Fred M.:
you mentioned previously that your brother/cousin (?) lived in Columbus and so you knew of places I might go for stamp supplies. I don’t know if you saw that post (number 25 on this topic) but I am looking for a place to get stockbooks and other supplies. Is Melissa Muguruzu of Columbus a relative as well?
Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Yes Rick… Melissa Muguruza is my cousin’s daughter but he isn’t a stamp collector!… what I meant is they live in Columbus and therefore close to you probably…but, (I’m sorry)he doesn’t know about our hobby… I was peering on the internet, there is quite a lot of stamp shops and dealers in the area…sorry again Rick for the inconvenience, I would like to be more helpful next time…
Hey, no problem, Fred. I actually did some more searching and found two more shops in columbus besides the one I knew about. BTW, I find your posts extremely entertaining. Are you in Europe? Oh, and I only found two in Columbus:
Arlington Stamp Shoppe
Columbus, OH 43085
614-406-7668
Link Stamp Co
3461 East Livingston Avenue, Columbus, OH 43227-2220 (614) 237-4125
The first one I once tried to found but it looked like a residential neighborhood! The second I have heard some negative things about but that may have been from people who thought their little pieces of paper were worth a fortune. A fellow I know who deals in stamps knows that owner and said “he doesn’t tolerate fools easily.”
Anyway did you find other in C-bus? Thanks!!!
Wow, looking at what I just posted, I wish I knew some English!
as I read through your blog I see that you’ve done a very nice job of comparing the costs of the different methods of displaying and storing our stamps. And I see that for the long haul, designing and printing your own pages MAY end up being the most expensive both in terms of money spent and certainly in time invested …
there’s nothing to say that we can’t use a combination of methods … and I think that’s the way I’m going.
I’ll use an inexpensive US album to house my (mostly) used collection of US stamps, which I can (mostly) mount with hinges without feeling like I’m irreparably damaging the value of the stamps.
I’ll use stock-books with labels similar to yours for my growing sets of stamps from different countries … Paraguay, Afghanistan & the KUT for right now …
And I’ll design my own pages for my topical sets … mainly right now working on the US se-tenants and booklet panes, along with a growing science-related set of stamps.
so thanks again for all the work you do on this site!