Quote from eyestrane on January 22, 2024, 11:46 am

I started collecting late after being given my fathers (and grandfathers) collection. Unfortunately, due to cost, they had used scotch tape to adhere the stamps to the page. All were severely stained. I ended up tossing them (something I now regret) having read in numerous Facebook groups how most collections are junk, not worth anything and my stamps were garbage. I understand that but wish I had kept them for personal reasons... they were my fathers, damaged or not.

It sparked an interest in my and I began exploring albums to start a collection. I read a lot online and decided on Steiner Pages. While I believe they are an excellent choice I soon found out to print them ended up costing a lot in toner and paper. The printer I had only prints on one side of the paper so I started accumulating binders and they used a ton of shelf space. Mind you, at this point I was printing countries pages but had not acquired stamps yet.

I started with Romania and Poland and soon found they filled a binder each. Some pages had only one stamp on them.

So I thought, before I get into this any further I should decide if this is sustainable and what my focus and goals were. I knew I could not narrow my focus down until I explored more. How could I know what to collect until I found out more about each country? How could I limit my end date?

After filling up another binder with a huge span of stamps, one on a page, I decided I needed to change. So what album should I use.

Ultimately, I decided on Scott Internationals. I knew I liked to work with early issues so I got a used Scott International Volume 1. No stamps. The pages were in rougher condition than I liked with hinge remnants and pencil markings. I cleaned it up the best I could. I then got a Scott International Volume II in good shape.

So, as I acquired stamps I started filling the books. I quickly found that there are a lot of stamps missing spaces. So what to do? Some add blank or quadrille pages and add missing stamps to the albums. I decided to use Vario Pages and store them separately. While not ideal to have them apart from the main collection it does allow me to keep stamps that are missing from the albums as well as other duplicates that I may want to keep. Things like variations or cancels I like.

Curious what others do?