Starting A Worldwide or International Stamp Collection

Customers are always coming to us and saying “I want to collect stamps from around the world, so what album should I buy?” Here at New Orleans Stamp & Philatelic Supply Shop (online at www.nolastampshop.com) we offer several albums that can be used by both beginners and experienced collectors. The answer to the questions “what album should I buy or which album is right for me?” is not as easy as one might think. If two people walk in and ask us to help them pick out the album that is right for them, more times than not, each will purchase a different album.

The answer to the above questions is tied to your collecting interests, how comprehensive a collection you wish to build, and how much money you would like to spend. You can purchase a nice, H. E. Harris Statesman album from us for roughly$100.00 plus shipping. The H. E. Harris Statesman Album is current to 2010, although it is supplemented yearly. The yearly supplements cost approximately $18.00 or so. The Statesman Album consists of two volumes. Each volume contains more than 16,000 illustrations, is printed on both sides of the page, and each volume contains space for more than 18,000 stamps. Collectively, Volumes I & II have a combined capacity that exceeds 37,000 stamps. The album contains extensive geographical, historical and demographic data for each country, as well as a Vanished Lands section. There are a lot of pluses to buying such an album. Honestly, if you are 50 years old and started collecting today, went to stamp shows and purchased stamps, or bought stamps from stores like ours or bought collections off of eBay or some of the other auction sites, you would be hard pressed to fill up the album before you died – 37,000 stamps is a big investment in time and probably money. The album comes in two volumes, the pages are similar in thickness to copy paper, and it comes with two attractive, sturdy vinyl covered binders. Your first response may be that this is the album for me and you may be right. Let’s dig a little deeper into the album and when we finish our discussions you may be right, or you may wish to select another alternative.

The H.E. Harris Statesman Album is a fine album. With over 37,000 spaces for stamps, the album provides a lot of room for your worldwide stamp collection. It is not, however, a comprehensive album, that is there will not be a space for every stamp issued by every country contained with the album. In addition, a number of countries, like the United States and others, issue stamps in sets, which contain multiple stamps. For a set that contains six, eight or ten stamps, the Harris album may only have spaces for four of five of the stamps from that set. So how do you deal with the issue of not every stamp issued by a country or even contained within a set of stamps is contained within the album. The answer is simple Harris makes blank and speed-rille pages (blank pages with a faint grid drawn across the page to help guide the placement of your stamps) that you can add to the album to accommodate those stamps missing from the album. If that solution is acceptable to you and you would like a good quality, general album, then the H.E. Harris Statesman album would be an excellent choice for both a beginner and experienced collector alike.

Some of you are still reading and going, yeah that sounds nice but I want a more comprehensive album, what are my choices. There are several options that we offer. The most comprehensive album we sell and possibly the most complete album on the market is the Scott International album. This album set includes Scott International Parts 1A1 thru 845P212, 800BOH (Bosnia), 800PC72 (People's Republic of China), 47 Jumbo International binders, slipcases, binder labels and over 19,000 double-sided album pages on which to mount your worldwide collection. Collectively, this album weighs approximately 400 pounds and is shipped in 21 or so boxes. Simply put, it will fill up a bookcase, maybe two. The album retails for $14,999.00, we sell it for $9999.00. It looks impressive in a bookcase but sticker shock probably has you thinking that this isn’t the album for me. Before you stop reading, hear us out. Because somewhere below, there may be the album that is right for you, and you may not have to spend anywhere close to $10,000.00 to purchase it. So what are my options then? Scott publishes the comprehensive album mentioned above, and with 19,000 double-sided pages it contains spaces for virtually every stamp issued by a country, even those countries that are now dead. The binders and slipcases are made from a nice leatherette material and the pages are made from a heavy cream-colored paper.

The advantage to the Scott International Album is it comes in parts. Let’s say you are only interested in collecting stamps issued during the early years, i.e., up to 1940. While those years certainly are covered when you buy the complete $10,000.00 album, Scott gives you the option to purchase its International album in parts. So if your collecting interests are for the period 1840 to 1940 you might want to buy the first part of the album, Parts 1A1 and 1A2. Collectively, these two parts contain stamps from the following countries: United States; Confederate States of America; Aden, Afghanistan; Aguera; Aitutaki; Alaouites; Albania; Alexandretta; Algeria; Allenstein; Andorra; Angola; Angra; Antigua; Argentina; Armenia; Ascension; Australia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Azores; Bahamas; Bahrain; Barbados; Barbuda; Basutoland; Batum; Bavaria; Bechuanaland Protectorate; Belgium; Benin; Bermuda; Bolivia; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Brazil; British Central Africa; British East Africa; British Guiana; British Honduras; British Solomon Islands; Brunei; Bulgaria; Burma; Cameroun; Canada; Canal Zone; Cape Juby; Cape of Good Hope; Cape Verde; Caroline Islands; Castellorizo; Cayman Islands; Central Lithuania; Ceylon; Chad; Chile; China; Cochin China; Colombia; Congo; Cook Islands; Corfu; Costa Rica; Crete; Cuba; Cyrenaica; Czechoslovakia; Dahomey; Danish West Indies; Danzig; Denmark; Diego Saurez; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Dutch Indies; East Africa & Uganda; Ecuador; Egypt; Elobey, Annobom & Corisco; Epirus; Eritrea; Estonia; Ethiopia, Falkland Islands; Far Eastern Republic; Fernando Po; Fiji; Finland; Fiume; Funchal; France; French Colonies; French Congo; French Equatorial Africa; French Guiana; French Guinea; French India; French Polynesia; French Sudan; Gabon; Gambia; Georgia; German East Africa; German New Guinea; German South West Africa; Germany; Gibraltar; Gilbert and Ellice Islands; Gold Cost; Grand Comoro; Great Britain; Greece; Greenland; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guam; Guatemala; Haiti; Hatay; Hawaii; Hejaz; Horta; Honduras; Hong Kong; Hungary; Iceland; India; Indo-China; Inhambane; Inini; Iraq; Ireland; Italian Colonies; Italian East Africa; Italy; Ivory Coast; Jamaica; Japan; Jordan; Jugoslavia; Karelia; Kenya and Uganda; Kenya-Uganda-Tanganyika; Kiauchau; Kionga; Korea; Kuwait; Labuan; Lagos; Latakia; and, Katvia.

Scott International Album Parts 1A1 and 1A2 retail for $150.00 each, we sell them for $127.00. Part 1A1 contains 584 pages and Part 1A2 contains 544 pages. The prices quoted, however, are just for the pages, binders are extra and slipcases and binder labels also are available. Collectively, with both parts, two binders, two slipcases and two binder labels this album will cost your approximately $400.00, substantially less than $10,000.00 required for the complete album. So what you get is a high quality, comprehensive album for the period 1840 to 1940 for a reasonable price. With over 1100 pages of spaces for stamps, it still represents a lifetime of collecting.

There is a third option, one that I personally recommend. One year my wife gave me two parts of the Scott International Album as a Christmas present. By buying specific parts of the Scott International album you are able to narrow your focus to a particular year or series of years, depending on the Scott International Album part(s) you choose. My wife gave me Parts 4a and 4b of the International album, which includes the years 1956 – 1959. The pages/parts coincide with my birth year - 1957. Simply, I am now able to collect all the stamps issued by those countries in existence for the year I was born. Thus, this album is both comprehensive in nature and has additional meaning because it means something to me – the collector. You just as easily could select the year you were married, the year you graduated from high school or college, or perhaps the year(s) your child/children were born.

If you take this last album as an idea for building your international collection, you would buy parts 4A and 4B of the Scott International album (994 pages), two Scott International album binders, slipcases and labels. In all you are looking at a roughly $400.00 stamp album that covers the years 1956 – 1959. Some years of the Scott International album are covered by one set of pages, thus reducing the cost of the album by $127.00 pages or so.

In addition, Minkus worldwide album pages are available for a number of years. These are similar in format to the Scott International pages, however, the paper is more like copy paper, rather than the heavy weight paper used to print the Scott International album.

In the paragraphs above I have tried to give you some ideas for buying an album to house your international stamp collection. I discussed the H. E. Harris Statesman Album, which is a fine album, has spaces for 37,000 or so stamps, can be supplemented yearly and costs approximately $100.00. I noted that the album was not comprehensive in nature, but provided spaces for large numbers of stamps, and Harris offers both blank and speed-rille pages that allow you to add pages to complete sets or hold those stamps that are not pictured in the album. In the interest of full disclosure, I too have a Statesman album that I use for more my more general collection.

The discussion then turned to the Scott International Album, an excellent, comprehensive worldwide album, but for $10,000.00 you shouldn’t expect anything less. It too is supplemented yearly. I also noted that you can purchase specific parts of the larger Scott International Album. Perhaps your interests lean to the earlier years of stamp production, i.e., from 1840 – 1940, as a collector you could purchase Parts 1A and 1B, the required binders, slipcases, and album labels.

Drawing from the examples above, you could just as easily pick a specific year or series of years and collect the stamps issued across the globe for that period of time. Perhaps album parts that coincide with the year you were born, the year you graduated from high school or the year you were married or the years your children were born. Regardless of the album you choose, each will provide you with a home for tens of thousands of stamps and each will provide you with hundreds if not thousands of hours of enjoyment.