Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I would like to hear from folks who use the new 'back in print' Minkus Supreme Global for their WW collection. Would love to hear general impressions, but most interested in the ability to use mounts. I know the spaces are tighter than say Scott International, but are you still able to use mounts for selected stamps?
Thanks!
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Hi, I have a Minkus Global that I use -- up to early 1980s. Many of the pages accommodate mounts well. Early years are tightest but trimmed mounts still work fine.
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i have purchased Supreme Globals with stamps ...they were loaded with mounts that the collector had cut to size from strips...i have to say that some pages look better than others..if there are 15 stamps on the page it looks fine..if there are 30 it looks a little busy with mounts..but thats an opinion..do what you like..everyone else does 
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Hi Chris
I ordered the Minkus Supreme 1840-1952 from Amos Advantage last week, as I was curious how much better, if any, it would be compared to Big Blue. I received the pages yesterday, so I have not yet had time to really evaluate them.
But if you have questions about anything Supreme, I will do my best to reply.
No doubt, also, I will publish several blog posts about the merits/demerits of the Supreme.
As far as using mounts, I think they would work- but tight, very tight on some pages.
I'm obtaining a hoard of Dennison hinges, and mainly plan to use them in the Supreme.
A quick review of the pages leads me to believe they will probably not be a replacement for my collection that is presently housed in Steiner.
But for duplicate copies- yes, I think that will work.
And, I've been getting more interested in post 1940 stamp issues, so the Supreme might very well work for them. 
Jim
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HI Jim,
Thanks, that's great news to hear. It would be really great if you could post your impressions as you go along. I'm still kind of going back and forth between BigBlue and Steiner and was thinking in the back of my mind that the Minkus could be a good compromise that can fit in 2-3 binders.
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i hope you gents find what you are looking for...i got into the big blues and became frustrated when i found so many sets missing or incomplete..sometimes there would be a bunch of issues for say 1967 and then only 2 or 3 for 1968...Minkus does not do that !
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The Scott International albums that we know today (blue) are not actually the Scott Internationals. They are the International Junior albums. Those are incomplete not only missing souvenir sheets and minisheets that have major catalog numbers, but also many higher valued stamps particularly in the 1840 through 1950 time period. It gets better after 1950, but still much remains missing, including many countries.
To get complete coverage of stamps from 1840 through 1950, you need the Scott International pages (brown). The Scott International (brown) were discontinued by Scott when Scott brought out the Scott Specialized albums, which were the International brown pages separated into various countries and regions. Of course when Scott began discontinuing the Specialty series in the 1970s, that threw Scott albums into disarray. Subway Stamp Company holds the license to sell the International Brown pages. That is why you don't see Scott reissuing the brown Internationals.
This is something that I have wondered about regarding the Minkus Supreme. Phil, are you saying that the Minkus Supreme pages include the souvenir sheets and such as if a "specialty page"? Are all the countries included, or is it abridged like the Internationals?
I was of the thought that when Amos bought Minkus that the Global Supreme would simply be similar pages to the Internationals, just arranged in Minkus order instead of Scott order. The pricing is identical. That's why I never bothered to check it out.
For the countries and issues missing from the International pages, I print Steiner pages.
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Hi Michael, Nope..i can not say the Minkus Global Supreme albums include the souviner sheets..they just have a better representation of total stamps issued. When i started collecting i looked up to the Big Blues as the end all and be of for an album. We live and learn..the Scott specialized single country albums are great..but then i can only collect a few countries at a time and not the world.
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Thanks, Phil.
Back when my collection was expanding, my father started buying me an International Album (they used to come complete with looseleaf pages and two-post binder for just $19.98) for my birthday and Christmas. Later on, after college, I started to replace the Internationals by upgrading to the Specialty albums. Then Scott stopped making the Specialty albums, but I was able (in the pre-eBay days) to find several dealers who had a supply of the Specialty albums and supplements. I got all that I could, but I still needed International pages for countries not in the Specialty albums.
Then, Scott stopped making the supplements for the albums. I waited many years to see if Scott would come back out with the Specialty albums and supplements. They actually did resume production. I got what I could as they came out (late 1970s and early 1980s). Then the prices started to go up. Also, Scott, while putting out Album pages, often they did not produce a supplement. With the pricing, I stopped buying the supplements, and concentrated on the album pages, particularly the 1840 to 1950 period as that is where the blue Internationals are the weakest. Again, this was all before the internet.
In the early 2000s, I made a decision to get the International pages for the years that I did not have pages for, and I keep getting the new supplements each year now. They are still lacking in many countries and missing many other countries. Back in the StampWants days (I won't mention the successor site), someone posted about the Steiner pages. I checked it out, and have subscribed to those for many years now. I print pages when I obtain a mini/souvenir sheet where I have no Scott pages for. I print the entire year's worth of pages to keep the pages in sequence.
I would like to print out all the pages that I would need so that they are in the albums when I get the stamps, but that would mean printing thousands of pages to get caught up, and hundreds of pages each year. Right now I simply don't have the space for any more binders. My going through the stamps that have been stockpiled for the past few decades has me printing pages too. For example, I had many stamps from Guyana with no pages to put them on. That was alot of printing, and it's definitely pushing the capacity limit!
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Yes, the Steiner pages are the way to go if one wants complete stamp space coverage for the Scott major numbers in the catalogue.
A small correction- The Subway Vintage/Browns Internationals end at 1940, not 1950.
Big Blue 1840-1940 did indeed start out as a "Junior" album, and it was called the "International Junior Postage Stamp Album" during the 1940s.
This explains why watermarks and perforations varieties, and higher value stamps were not given a space. It does not explain the many inexpensive stamps that were not given a space either, ;-)
The "Junior" term was dropped, and it became the "International Postage Stamp Album", Part I.
But the legacy lives on, and Scott never substantially improved the coverage- except for the '69 editors that lopped off more than they added. ;-)
Part II covered 1940-49, then Part III 1949-55, and so on.
Part II surprisingly leaves a number of issues/stamps out also, although Part II was never considered a "Junior" album.
The Minkus Supreme Global 1840-1952, the red haired stepchild of Scott now, has never been seriously promoted by them- perhaps because it conflicts with their own blue International line.
Yes, crowded, but objectively a better choice for the WW classical collector. It, of course, still does not compete with the Steiner for complete coverage- but it almost always has better coverage than Big Blue.
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Jim,
I would love to see some scans of your new Minkus SG with a few stamps, especially if you have ones in mounts
When you have time, of course.
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I second Chris' request. I'd like to see the Minkus page layout to see if it has changed any over the years.
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Here is the first page of Aden, all in mounts.
I choose 27,25, & 28 mount size respectively.
The good news is it can be done, and in my view, does look attractive.
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But one has to be careful. 
The space is limited, so one needs to cut close to the perfs on the side. And normally, I would go from a 27 to a 30 size, but that would have caused overlap (shingling) on the stamp below. So I dug out my 28 size. 
Mounts can be used, if they fit, because the paper now used by Amos is card stock in quality.
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Here is a Steiner page for comparison using 30 size mounts.
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"I second Chris' request. I'd like to see the Minkus page layout to see if it has changed any over the years."
Michael- I don't think the Minkus Supreme Global has changed in layout.
It is just that Amos has brought it back (The 1840-1952 pages), and now they can be ordered and then printed "On Demand".
The copyright is 2014 and 2010 for the two sections respectively. But I doubt if Amos has actually changed anything substantially.
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Thanks. I appreciate your posting the pictures.
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Jim,
Thanks so much, they do look very attractive and seems like the mounts are very doable with a little care. I would be mostly using hinges anyway with mounts only for those few high CV or MNH stamps.
Are those Hawid type mounts or split back? Looks like Hawid, but hard to for sure. I use clear Hawid mounts as they can be trimmed down close to the stamp (on three sides).
Thanks again for showing the scans, that help a lot 
-Chris
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"Are those Hawid type mounts or split back?"
Chris- they are "Scott mounts" with a split back. Actually made by Prinz Germany.
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So, I know from my past reading of one of my favorite blogs 'filling spaces' that the coverage of the Minkus SG is significantly better than BigBlue in terms of numbers of spaces in a particular country. But, can't remember how they stack up in terms of actual numbers of countries represented? That is does the Minkus include many of the various countries that Scott completely eliminated from the BigBlue?
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I maintain a list of the countries that Scott no longer supplies in the International Album pages. Sorry, but I don't have it notated when Scott stopped supplying pages, but most of those in the list below were never provided.
Cambodia
Cuba
Grenada Grenadines
Iran
Iraq
Korea - Democratic People's Republic
Libya
Mongolia
Nicaragua
St. Vincent Grenadines
- Bequia
- Canouan
- Mayreau
- Mustique
- Union Island
- Turkish Cyprus
- Sovereign Order of Malta
- Viet Nam
- Somalia
I asked Scott why some countries such as Nicaragua were no longer included in the Internationals. Scott's response was "The Scott International Album was never intended to be an all inclusive album."
My reply was that with the enormous pricing of the yearly supplements (now retails for $270.00 per year, but you can get it cheaper), that there should be no problem adding a few more pieces of paper to the pile.
I keep the list so that I can print Steiner pages each year for those countries when I renew my subscription to his pages.
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Regarding the Minkus pages for Aden, the Dhow set pictured is complete on the page. I am almost 100% positive that the Scott International page for the Dhow set is incomplete.
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Thanks Michael, but I was specifically referring only to the Part 1 (1840-1940) Scott Internationals, not the modern supplements.
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Jim,
Did you say you just purchased your Minkus SG a couple of weeks ago? I just looked on the Amos website and the Minkus SG Part 1 and 2 are not listed anywhere unless I'm missing them. I have an e-mail in to customer service to see what happened to them. I hope they didn’t decide to discontinue them 
!
*Just check again and they are both now listed. Not sure what happened as they were not listed earlier and I even search for them by item number. Maybe a glich in the website and/or my e-mail to CS prompted them to looking into the issue. Anyway, sorry to raise the alarm bells, they are still listed on the Amos website
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"That is does the Minkus include many of the various countries that Scott completely eliminated from the BigBlue?"
Chris- I have the index pages to Minkus Supreme (They are in very small type), but the limitation on kilobyte size for uploads precludes me from uploading a readable whole page copy here. You will just have to wait for my blog post.
But a quick perusal yields....
Benin
Cilicia
Corfu
Dalmatia
Eastern Rumelia
Eastern Silesia
Moheli
Obock
Rio de Oro
South Russia
Tobago
Most (all?) of these countries were eliminated by the '69 BB editors. What I can't tell you at the moment is how adequate the Supreme coverage is, but at least, they include these countries in the index page.
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Chris, the International pages for 1840-1940 come in four parts at a hefty price, I might add. When Scott changed the pages from two parts to four parts (they initially were just one part), I was all giddy thinking that in order to get four parts that they had edited them to be complete. I checked them out, and they were the same as the two part pages and were just as abridged as before. There were no changes other than being broken out into four parts. To me that is a total rip-off.
There are plenty of the part 1 Internationals that show up at dealers and on eBay. You usually won't have to pay anywhere near the price that Scott asks for the four parts. Be careful if you buy other parts to the International. Scott has combined several of the parts into larger year blocks than the old parts, so except for the pricing of Part 1, it makes the pricing of several of the succeeding parts palatable.
Also, you can find a full page advertisement almost weekly in Linns that contains a listing of all the parts of both the International and Global Supreme albums. If you're looking to purchase the pages, it makes a great checklist.
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"Regarding the Minkus pages for Aden, the Dhow set pictured is complete on the page. I am almost 100% positive that the Scott International page for the Dhow set is incomplete."
Michael- Here is Big Blue's page for Aden.
Neither the 1937 "Dhow" issue or the 1939-48 George VI pictorial issue are offered complete coverage.
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Thanks. I wasn't certain about the KGVI definitive set if was complete or not. There even is room to add four more of the set and be just one short of complete.
Back in the late 1970s I was so fed up with the incompleteness of the Internationals that I bought many packs of blank International pages. I then went through the Scott catalogs and country by country created, by hand, complete album pages. I tossed the printed International pages and used the hand-made ones instead. That is what spurred me on to get the Specialty pages to replace the pages that I made. No computers back then.
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"JKBlue Your blog is fantastic !! What knowledge is there for the picking !"
Thanks philb, really appreciate it.
The blog started as a way to publish a checklist of Scott International Part I (Big Blue), but I thought a "Quick History" of the country would be interesting, and then scans of stamps of the country would be interesting, and, well, one thing lead to another, and I created a monster that needs to be fed weekly.
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"Back in the late 1970s I was so fed up with the incompleteness of the Internationals that I bought many packs of blank International pages. I then went through the Scott catalogs and country by country created, by hand, complete album pages. I tossed the printed International pages and used the hand-made ones instead. That is what spurred me on to get the Specialty pages to replace the pages that I made. No computers back then."
Michael- I can imagine the work that this entailed!
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"The blog "
I can't figure out how to quote a previous message and its driving me crazy
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Jim,
Thanks for the partial list of countries that are in Minkus, but eliminated from BigBlue. I think regardless of the relative coverage of each country, it is better to be included than not.
So, are you now planning to include the Minkus SG along with your comparison of BigBlue and Deep Blue?
Of course, that would be great!
Thanks!
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Chris, to create a quote, it is a bit different here than what you might be used to.
1 - click on POST A RESPONSE
2 - block and copy the text that you want to quote (you can scroll into the previous responses and find what you're looking for)
3 - paste the text in your response
4 - block the text that you just pasted
5 - click on QUOTE
That's it.
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"Chris- they are "Scott mounts" with a split back. Actually made by Prinz Germany."
I used Showgard split-back mounts for many years. But I was always dissatisfied, because the tops cannot be trimmed to fit. Last year, I switched to Hawid mounts, which work very well. The tops can be trimmed, just like the sides, with a guillotine cutter. I have had no trouble with the stamps falling out.
Someone posted somewhere that he understood that the tops of Hawid mounts have a lip that keeps stamps in place. I haven't noticed that. But if it is so, I haven't had problems after cutting the tops off.
I would think that the Hawid mounts would work well in the Minkus SG and other albums that cram stamps together. You can trim them as close as you dare.
Ed Foster
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"So, are you now planning to include the Minkus SG along with your comparison of BigBlue and Deep Blue?"
I will certainly do some comparisons, but I'm not sure I am ready to do a full evaluation as I am with BB.
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Michael - For some reason, I can copy the text into the box but then I'm unable to highlight it again?
Ed - I was thinking exactly the same thing regarding Hawid mounts. I currently use the clear Hawid mounts and can trim right up to the stamp on all three sides. I only buy the largest size strips in each price catagory and then trim. That way I only have to keep track of 3 or so different sizes. I've also never noticed a lip of any kind at the top.
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09:13:28pm
Chris
If you are having difficulty using the preselected tabs, you can program a quote using the following code:
It will end up like this:
" To be or not to be "
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Thought I might as well show one of my Aden pages too Sorry, couldn't get it any higher resolution.
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" Chris
If you are having difficulty using the preselected tabs, you can program a quote using the following code: "
Ok, thanks Bobby. Of course, I will never remember which way the slash mark goes the next time I try this
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It is So Comforting to know that there are still "worldwide" collectors out there ! It seems like the world is going "specialized". I love the freedom to pick and chose, with worldwide collecting there is no one stamp that i must have..unless i chose to have it !
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Yes Phil, I agree. I think there are still a large group of us WW collectors out there! It may sound counterintuitive, but WW collecting (even classic-era WW) is less expensive than focusing only on a handful of countries.
I think Lawrence Block once said, "the good thing about WW collecting is that there’s always something I need for my collection…and the bad thing about WW collecting is that there’s always something I need for my collection."
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One thing for sure is we are not into worldwide collecting for the money. I have been in our stamp club 40+ years and have been present when several collections were appraised by dealers..believe it or not many dealers are fair guys...good blues with sets and better singles netted about 200 dollars !!! So i fill the spaces i wish to feel and carry on !!!
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Phil,
Just curious, if I may ask, how to you house your WW collection? Pre-printed album, Steiner pages, other?
Thanks,
Chris
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Chris, no problem...i often ask the same question..My worldwide collection is in 9 Scott international albums which run to 1969. I do collect some countries beyond 1969 on an individual basis. For my Argentina collection i use mainly computer printed pages and for my back of book stuff i use plastic stockpages. Some of the folks here actually collect the world up to the current ...i imagine they have moved on to printing their own pages..where in the past they may have moved stamps around in plastic stock cards !
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I use Scott International pages for roughly 1985 to date. Scott Specialty pages mostly before 1985. Just added Part 49 to my albums. I print Steiner pages for the stamps not included in the International pages.
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Bless you Michael you are taking on the world..what an ambitious project..if i may call it that . Thanks for the tip on the padded envelopes at least now i know i will be paying what $6.10 per ship ?
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if i can help you guys i have SURPLUS to swap..especially since my world wide interests generally end with 1969...plenty of 1970's 80's sitting there. Hope i don't get spanked for saying this !!!
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Thanks for the offer, but I try not to go past 1945 if I can help it
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In case anyone's interested, I convert my Steiner pages to Microsoft Powerpoint and then can easily make any changes I want. Now I mainly just change the font to a more ‘classic’ look and increase the size of the country name, like I did for the Aden page above. But, I have in the past also easily added fancy boarders, watermark images, stamp images, etc.
My main issue with Steiner pages is the need to have 40-50 binders to house just the classic issues, which is why I began thinking about the Minkus Supreme Global in the first place.
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i have purchased Staples Better 2 inch binders 540 sheet capacity when the price is right . They are no Lighthouse binders..but they are not bad looking on my shelves .
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Hi Everyone;
I'm not surprised that Scott has dropped some countries form their albums. After all Amos
is the actual company and they only purchased the rights to use the Scott name. So it isn't
really Scott anymore.
To me Scott died a slow death in the 80s when they were bought by General Mills. They
produced a catalog in four volumes with mustard color in 1980 something that were hor-
rible. After a couple months I threw mine in the trash. They were only slightly better than
Scott's toilet tissue. Gee wiz what a coincidence two companies with the same name, one
makes stamp catalogs of inferior quality and another makes toilet paper. 
If you bought them fresh off the press they were with buff colored pages and within a few
months they had morphed to buster brown pages. I had a missing page in my 1979
catalog in Jersey, so I took one from the mustard book and inserted it into my good one.
A month later my good catalog was starting to turn buff so I removed the page from the
mustard and tossed.
I think that making your own pages is too much work, but it is starting to look better every
day, or perhaps Steiner pages.
So long Scott...and may you rest in peace....
TuskenRaider
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Hi Everyone;
I thought that I might mention something useful about ring style binders used by collectors
for albums. The American cheapie version has rings with a oval cross-section thru the wire
they are made from. I never understood why use an oval cross-section ring to hold pages
that have round holes.
European style binders are a bit different. Firstly they have rings made from round cross
section steel. Secondly they have a pin with a bullet shaped end that projects from the ring
half on the right side. On the left side is a socket or hole that the pin goes into. All parts of
the ring ends are smooth and rounded over so as to make snags on pages impossible.
The cheapie ones made here, have jagged teeth that are designed to interlock but DO NOT,
and nearly always guarantee a snag and eventual destruction of the round holes in your
pages. 
I hope that the engineers that designed those cheapie versions will be forced to use them
for all eternity when the die and go to heaven. Then they will know the maybe they aren't
really in heaven but the other place.
Just thinkin'....
TuskenRaider
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When I print my Steiner pages, I handle them similar to the International pages: I print them front and back. This saves me alot of space. I also like to go to the Scott back-of-the-book pages. Often Scott just has one or two stamps on a page. Steiner pages often are full pages, or at the worst a small number of stamp spaces as well. Either way, I'll print the Steiner pages for the same BOB items and print those front and back. I often can get rid of many pages by printing out just a few Steiner pages. That saves space.
Phil, I've been collecting since 1962, so I have amassed a good-sized collection through all those years. All are currently housed in 82 #5 binders. To ease some congestion I need at least 2 more binders. I estimate that to print out all the Steiner pages that I would need to have complete coverage of all stamps I would need at least 24 more binders, and I would need two or three new binders each year. Pages for some countries number in the hundreds each year.
Now to be fair to the International pages, overall the pages for most countries cover almost all of the stamps, except for a souvenir sheet or two. A blank page quickly handles those, and there is a blank page at the end of the yearly pages for many countries, so no extra page to take up space is needed.
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"My main issue with Steiner pages is the need to have 40-50 binders to house just the classic issues, which is why I began thinking about the Minkus Supreme Global in the first place."
Chris- I printed out only on one side- my printer did not have the option of double-sided. That would cut the space requirement by 40% or more. (I'm still not sure I would print out double-sided, I would have to think about it.)
And the binders I use- 1 1/2" - one could go for a larger binder to cut the number required.
No doubt the best aspect of the Minkus Supreme is the relative compactness. The whole 1840-1952 coverage (1000+ double sided pages) can be easily put into six of my binders.
(Of course, that is without stamps in them, or interleaving.)
But just when they do a good job with one issue, the next issue spaces are for two types of watermarks. It is kind of like having a half Steiner, half Big Blue.
I think I got spoiled with the Steiner pages.
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"When I print my Steiner pages, I handle them similar to the International pages: I print them front and back. This saves me alot of space."
Michael- what paper do you use? Is it the same size as the International pages?
And, just for kicks, what sort of printer do you have, if you don't mind me asking?
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i find covers so much easier !"My worldwide collection is in 9 Scott international albums which run to 1969."
Very nice. Recently, I've been thinking of expanding the cut-off date for collecting. Although I would maintain focus on 1840-1940, the WW II era and aftermath seems too interesting to pass up. But then I think the 1950s would be nice too- that is when I began collecting as a kid. Then I think it would be nice to cover a good portion of the remaining colonial era to independence. That means into the 1960s.
Then I remember the exponential curve of stamp production going higher and higher with each decade, and that is sobering.
What advice would you give?
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Jim- You could do a Scott International Part 2 going up through 1949. I think they are 2 volumes. Wonder how many Steiner pages it would take for the 1940s decade?
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"Chris- I printed out only on one side- my printer did not have the option of double-sided. That would cut the space requirement by 40% or more. (I'm still not sure I would print out double-sided, I would have to think about it.)
"
Most home printers print one side. Print it, flip the page and put it back in the paper tray to print the second side.
My question- note that I haven't bought mounts since the 1970s, but there were mounts in long strips that you cut to length. If these still are in production, why not cut a contiguous strip for those places in your album that have 5 stamps side by side?
And my final question - what printers are acceptable to print album pages? Last ones I made I used a typewriter. Is it acceptable to print on an ink jet or does it need to be a laser printer? Are there concerns with ink jet ink being water soluble?
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Yes, they do still make mounts in strips. That's what I use because they can be cut and trimmed to any size and are cheaper than individual mounts. I don't see any reason why you couldn't just put several stamps lined up in a strip.
As for printers, I've seen people use both for printing pages. I use a inkjet (Epson WF-3540) and it works just find. I think if your page gets wet, you have more to worry about than your ink running
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I use either Boise Fireworx, or Xerox, or Office Max 24 lb. ivory. - Scott International pages are printed on 24 lb. paper and are double sided.
I print the pages double sided, using two-sided printing option in the print function.
My printer is a Dell Photo 924. It doesn't accept paper larger than 8.5" wide.
My understanding is that Hewlitt-Packard does or used to make a printer that accepts larger paper, however, if you want to print pages the same size as International or Specialty pages, you'll have to special order it. I had a friend, he passed away several years ago who was printing the Steiner pages the same size as the Specialty pages.
There are some people authorized to print and sell Steiner pages. They offer the pages in the larger page sizes. You might want to contact them (see the Steiner web site for locate information) and see where they get their paper and what printer they use. Maybe Office Max, Office Depot, Staples, or another printing company can print the larger pages for you using the Steiner files (you'll have to buy the CD from Steiner). I'm not sure of the cost, however.
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There are affordable printers that will print up to 11x17. I've used these for engineering prints.
About double sided printing- would it be prudent to print on one side of the paper and put those back to back in one plastic sleeve? I don't know how modern inkjet / laser jet inks will age, but I have a lot of things I printed in the past that have either bled through paper or faded to nothing.
This week I pulled out my stamp exhibit from the late 1970s. It was typed on 12x12 pages, each inside a clear plastic sleeve. These were put into frames at shows back in the last century. I've stored them flat between heavy cardboard ever since and they've aged well. I bought myself a scrap book binder that came with clear plastic sleeves. I took each two pages of my exhibit, complete with their original plastic sleeves and put them back to back in the scrap book pages. It's so cool, the first time I can leaf through this collection. I will scan it soon and put it in the site collections.
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ChrisW,
I like what you did with that Aden page. The fonts look good and the stamps are very nicely mounted! If I keep reading these forums, I will end up with many more collecting interests, and I'm not sure my wife can handle all that!
Cheers,
Don
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My advice ? The wallpaper really started getting bad in the 1960s with the independant African nations emerging..i call myself a WORLDWIDE collector..but how much China and Japan do i do ? or Eastern Europe ? When you come down to it my collection is strongest in Western Europe and the British,French,Portugese and Italian colonies.
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"ChrisW,
I like what you did with that Aden page. The fonts look good and the stamps are very nicely mounted! "
Thanks Don, appreciate it.
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Personally, I plan to only go thru 1949 or 1952 (depending on the album system I ultimately use) for my general WW collection. I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that I will use either Scott International or the Minkus Supreme Global for my general ‘classic-era’ WW collection. Then, I may or may not in the future expand to using Steiner pages for a handful of countries that I want to go into more depth with (and maybe expand the years a bit).
At least that’s my thinking today
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"My advice ? The wallpaper really started getting bad in the 1960s with the independant African nations emerging.."
"Personally, I plan to only go thru 1949 or 1952 (depending on the album system I ultimately use) for my general WW collection.
"
I'm tending in the same direction.
Up to 1950, with extensions if the already in hand collection or interests go further.
For instance, earlier QE II if I have them.
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" I will use either Scott International or the Minkus Supreme Global for my general ‘classic-era’ WW collection. Then, I may or may not in the future expand to using Steiner pages for a handful of countries that I want to go into more depth"
Good plan!
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I like your thinking.
I did look at the Minkus, and I even purchased the Big Blue back in the early 2000s. When I discovered Steiner, it opened the doors for personalization of my collection. I've settled on this modified Steiner setup. I've been editing the Steiner pages down, taking out some of the ridiculous stamps (Z grills, coil waste)
Here is a modified page where I wished to add some interesting revenue cancellations to a definitive set. I didn't do much - font change and removed border. I look forward to building my collection with some interesting nuances.
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And I just realized I wrongly spelled cancellation!!! sheesh!!! Making your own pages is not an easy route!!!
(errors are always discovered after the stamps are mounted. lol)
I love this hobby!
Don
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Very nice Don..its good to see other collectors ideas..nothing has to be written in stone ! Phil APS member since 1973 (i should know more for all the philatelic literature i read). Aside from the morning paper thats about all i read !
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Very nice page Don! I have also played around with moving things around with Steiner pages to add more stamps to a page, eliminate the more expensive stamps, etc. I quickly found out that, for me, this was not really practical for a WW collection. Definitely doable for a specialized collection or a focus on a handful of countries. Even just changing the font and title size like I did for the Aden page is a daunting task when faced with 6500 pages (which is only up to 1940)!
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Absolutely! I do not think I could sustain the margin, font change and various editing for a full 1840-1940 collection. Although I would love to do that. For whatever reason I like the Copperplate Gothic font, and all designers hate it!! lol
What I'm trying to do is start with one country and work on those pages. Then print, mount what I have then move on to the next. Finland, Denamark, Norway and Sweden are in the Queue. Then British Commonwealth. I have a fairly good representation of Austria both mint and used - they will be next. After that, I will have to see. I will want to make pages for the cancels and covers and integrate them into the regular stamp collection. For budding collections like my Engravers on stamps and misc definitive sets of the world, I will keep them on Varios. The nice thing is that I can use the same binder system for covers, stamps and misc stuff.
I know that at some point, I'm going to have to rest on the page design improvements/mods and look to purchase more stamps. I just have a lot of material to get organized, and it keeps me out of trouble!
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Nice to see a thread on worldwide collecting getting so much activity
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I think there are more world-wide collectors out there than let on.
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World wide collecting is too overwhelming for me. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my US collection. I have an old Scott worldwide album from the 1940's that I trade stamps from for stuff I can use. It would be great to have the time and money to do something with it, but never going to happen.
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Sean,
Be careful what you wish for.... I remember making the comment that I would be happy when I finally reached the ripe old age of 21, then I went to sleep and turned over a couple of times and "BAM" I woke up and was already 70. Maybe I should have included wanting money also, but didn't think about that much.
Mike
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Ain't it the truth...
My grandfather was 88 when he sat there and told me he was still 18 inside and didn't know where the time had gone, it had just flown by! I think about that often.
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"I ordered the Minkus Supreme 1840-1952 from Amos Advantage last week, as I was curious how much better, if any, it would be compared to Big Blue. I received the pages yesterday, so I have not yet had time to really evaluate them.
But if you have questions about anything Supreme, I will do my best to reply."
Jim, or anyone else too,
How challenging are you finding it to identify the right stamp to go in the correct space? A couple of years ago, I purchased a small country lot that was on Minkus specialty pages, and the previous owner had penciled in the Scott numbers, which made it very nice to figure out what was what. But without that, it seems to be a bit challenging figuring out what goes where, especially given that the ‘back of the book’ stamps are spread throughout.
Not impossible, of course, just a bit more work if you are using a Scott cataloge.
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"No doubt, also, I will publish several blog posts about the merits/demerits of the Supreme."
I'm looking forward to it!
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"How challenging are you finding it to identify the right stamp to go in the correct space? "
The Minkus Supreme Global pages do one bad thing- they label the stamps at the top of the page by very wide year sections--such as 1924-1952 or such.
That makes it more difficult to spot the stamp in the Scott catalogue if one is not familiar with the country or the issues.
That is compounded by regular, semipostals, airmail, postage due etc categories possibly being on the same page -nothing wrong with that, but Scott separates out those categories into their own sections, which means even more thumbing is necessary.
Nevertheless, it is not too difficult to find the right Scott number for the stamp.
I think, for the Minkus Supreme, and the possibility that it may be the "goldilocks" album for many WW classic era collectors, it is worth it.
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The other problem with the Minkus Supreme is that not all the page year sets are in print. Someone wanting to put that album together will have to look for used albums to put together a complete set.
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"The other problem with the Minkus Supreme is that not all the page year sets are in print. Someone wanting to put that album together will have to look for used albums to put together a complete set."
True enough.
Although I note that amosadvantage.com now offers today...
Part 1 (1840-1952)
Part 2 (1953-1963)
Part 3 (1964-1967)
Part 4 (1967-1970)
Part 5 (1971-1973)
Part 6 (1974-1976)
I didn't check beyond 1976.
I swear a few days ago there was a hole in their offerings around 1964-1966.
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After 1976, it goes as follows:
1977
1978
1984
1987
1989
1990
1992-2014 (by individual years)
Looks like they are working on filling the gaps as a few months ago, the gaps started with 1965.
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Here is how is used to be from the list I am looking at:
1840-1952
1953-1963
1964
1967-1970
1977
and then follow with the list from my post above.
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Just a little more follow-up. The gaps in the album pages were per the advertisements through the March 23, 2015 Linns.
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"Here is how is used to be from the list I am looking at:
1840-1952
1953-1963
1964
1967-1970"
That was my recollection also, and so my surprise to find 1840-1976 covered.
It does appear they are filling in some of the holes- good news.
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Hello, my name is Mitchell and some of you may know me by AntoniusRa. I have been collecting the U.S. and the world since 1958. When I decided to get serious with the world I bought a used set (with stamps) of Minkus albums with Green cloth covers. After a short time I decided that they were not going to fit my needs. They did not have spaces for better stamps and the Minkus numbering system is pretty much useless. I decided that Scott Specialty albums were the best choice, except for the cost. I found that I could get used Specialty albums with most of the easier stamps for far less than new albums with no stamps. For years I searched for them until I had most all that they had ever printed. For countries that I could not get or to supplement the ones I had, I print Steiner pages on G&K knockoffs of blank Scott Specialty pages. In many cases I have extended end dates using the Steiner formats and 8 1/2 X 11 Cream colored Vellum Bristol card stock. For me this has been the best way to go for my goals, which is coming as close as I can to 99% completion for most countries.
As far as mounts go I do not like split back mounts but prefer top loaders. Unless you use your albums as frisbees you needn't worry about stamps falling out of the mounts. Stamps are more difficult and hazardous to install and remove from from split backs than from top loaders. If you do use split backs, I suggest not gluing the bottom part down as it makes it much more difficult to remove the stamps.
I have found that the most economical way to get mounts is making my own top loaders by buying large size split backs and cutting them in half lengthwise to create two
top loader strips. I go on Ebay and find the most economical large size split back strips that have the most per package. Two of my favorite sizes are 107mm X 265mm and 57mm X 215mm. These when cut in half will yield strips that fit most stamps when cut to size. I do not have to buy many different sizes of strips and the cost is greatly reduced. All you really need is a large shear for cutting the strips in half and a small stamp shear for cutting the halved strips to fit the stamp being mounted. I use a glue stick to secure the mounts to the pages, as the glue supplied on the mounts is usually to aggressive or not enough to firmly secure the mount. Using glue sticks make it easy to remove the mount at a later date without harming the page.
Below is a picture showing the cutting of the original split back mount. Note the piece of card stock between the shear hold down and the mount. This gives a more even pressure to insure the mount doesn't move while cutting and produce a wavy cut.
I have uploaded most of my collection on the web. Many find it a helpful reference.
See here: The Antonius Ra Collection
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06:06:57am
Welcome, Mitchell.
I remember you from the eBay chat group a few years back. In fact, when we created our Links area, your site was one of the first I posted. The Antonius Ra Collection
Bobby
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Michael and Bobby, Thanks much for the welcome and Kudos!
I've spent quite a bit of time reading through many of the threads. I've found many interesting topics and plenty of knowledgeable people sharing their knowledge.
Methinks, I might like hanging out here..........
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Hello Mitch...and a big welcome from beautiful Shrub Oak, New York.
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Bobgggg, Thanks for the welcome. I also want to thank you for the two letters you sent with some stamps to knock off my needlists, I did not have an email address for you, so that I could previously. Is our buddy Mike lurking around here? Don't know if you know it but I use to live in Shrub Oak when I was a kid in the 50's. One of my fondest memories there, was visiting Pat Hearst who greatly inspired my collecting.
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Hi Mitch, yep, I am here, hiding under some pine trees, trying to stay in the shade. I made a deal with Bob, I would send him envelopes of unsorted stamps for him to go thru and gave him a link to your wantlists. In return, he did the searching and found some for you. We are doing OK and hope you & the family are also. Good to see you here.
Mike in NC / meostamps
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Hiya Mike, Good to see you here. Looks like a good place to talk stamps.
I think you were asking me about Israel a while back. Well it turns out I completed it up through 1990 last week by getting Scott #9, the 1000m of the first set. Don't have them all with tabs but as far as I'm concerned I'm done with the country.
A couple minutes ago I won an Austrian NH B110 which is one of 3 semi postal stamps I needed for Austria. Only a few keys left to get there.
Stay cool and keep on Stampin
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Hi All,
I would like to hear from folks who use the new 'back in print' Minkus Supreme Global for their WW collection. Would love to hear general impressions, but most interested in the ability to use mounts. I know the spaces are tighter than say Scott International, but are you still able to use mounts for selected stamps?
Thanks!
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Hi, I have a Minkus Global that I use -- up to early 1980s. Many of the pages accommodate mounts well. Early years are tightest but trimmed mounts still work fine.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
i have purchased Supreme Globals with stamps ...they were loaded with mounts that the collector had cut to size from strips...i have to say that some pages look better than others..if there are 15 stamps on the page it looks fine..if there are 30 it looks a little busy with mounts..but thats an opinion..do what you like..everyone else does
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Hi Chris
I ordered the Minkus Supreme 1840-1952 from Amos Advantage last week, as I was curious how much better, if any, it would be compared to Big Blue. I received the pages yesterday, so I have not yet had time to really evaluate them.
But if you have questions about anything Supreme, I will do my best to reply.
No doubt, also, I will publish several blog posts about the merits/demerits of the Supreme.
As far as using mounts, I think they would work- but tight, very tight on some pages.
I'm obtaining a hoard of Dennison hinges, and mainly plan to use them in the Supreme.
A quick review of the pages leads me to believe they will probably not be a replacement for my collection that is presently housed in Steiner.
But for duplicate copies- yes, I think that will work.
And, I've been getting more interested in post 1940 stamp issues, so the Supreme might very well work for them.
Jim
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
HI Jim,
Thanks, that's great news to hear. It would be really great if you could post your impressions as you go along. I'm still kind of going back and forth between BigBlue and Steiner and was thinking in the back of my mind that the Minkus could be a good compromise that can fit in 2-3 binders.
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i hope you gents find what you are looking for...i got into the big blues and became frustrated when i found so many sets missing or incomplete..sometimes there would be a bunch of issues for say 1967 and then only 2 or 3 for 1968...Minkus does not do that !
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
The Scott International albums that we know today (blue) are not actually the Scott Internationals. They are the International Junior albums. Those are incomplete not only missing souvenir sheets and minisheets that have major catalog numbers, but also many higher valued stamps particularly in the 1840 through 1950 time period. It gets better after 1950, but still much remains missing, including many countries.
To get complete coverage of stamps from 1840 through 1950, you need the Scott International pages (brown). The Scott International (brown) were discontinued by Scott when Scott brought out the Scott Specialized albums, which were the International brown pages separated into various countries and regions. Of course when Scott began discontinuing the Specialty series in the 1970s, that threw Scott albums into disarray. Subway Stamp Company holds the license to sell the International Brown pages. That is why you don't see Scott reissuing the brown Internationals.
This is something that I have wondered about regarding the Minkus Supreme. Phil, are you saying that the Minkus Supreme pages include the souvenir sheets and such as if a "specialty page"? Are all the countries included, or is it abridged like the Internationals?
I was of the thought that when Amos bought Minkus that the Global Supreme would simply be similar pages to the Internationals, just arranged in Minkus order instead of Scott order. The pricing is identical. That's why I never bothered to check it out.
For the countries and issues missing from the International pages, I print Steiner pages.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Hi Michael, Nope..i can not say the Minkus Global Supreme albums include the souviner sheets..they just have a better representation of total stamps issued. When i started collecting i looked up to the Big Blues as the end all and be of for an album. We live and learn..the Scott specialized single country albums are great..but then i can only collect a few countries at a time and not the world.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Thanks, Phil.
Back when my collection was expanding, my father started buying me an International Album (they used to come complete with looseleaf pages and two-post binder for just $19.98) for my birthday and Christmas. Later on, after college, I started to replace the Internationals by upgrading to the Specialty albums. Then Scott stopped making the Specialty albums, but I was able (in the pre-eBay days) to find several dealers who had a supply of the Specialty albums and supplements. I got all that I could, but I still needed International pages for countries not in the Specialty albums.
Then, Scott stopped making the supplements for the albums. I waited many years to see if Scott would come back out with the Specialty albums and supplements. They actually did resume production. I got what I could as they came out (late 1970s and early 1980s). Then the prices started to go up. Also, Scott, while putting out Album pages, often they did not produce a supplement. With the pricing, I stopped buying the supplements, and concentrated on the album pages, particularly the 1840 to 1950 period as that is where the blue Internationals are the weakest. Again, this was all before the internet.
In the early 2000s, I made a decision to get the International pages for the years that I did not have pages for, and I keep getting the new supplements each year now. They are still lacking in many countries and missing many other countries. Back in the StampWants days (I won't mention the successor site), someone posted about the Steiner pages. I checked it out, and have subscribed to those for many years now. I print pages when I obtain a mini/souvenir sheet where I have no Scott pages for. I print the entire year's worth of pages to keep the pages in sequence.
I would like to print out all the pages that I would need so that they are in the albums when I get the stamps, but that would mean printing thousands of pages to get caught up, and hundreds of pages each year. Right now I simply don't have the space for any more binders. My going through the stamps that have been stockpiled for the past few decades has me printing pages too. For example, I had many stamps from Guyana with no pages to put them on. That was alot of printing, and it's definitely pushing the capacity limit!
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Yes, the Steiner pages are the way to go if one wants complete stamp space coverage for the Scott major numbers in the catalogue.
A small correction- The Subway Vintage/Browns Internationals end at 1940, not 1950.
Big Blue 1840-1940 did indeed start out as a "Junior" album, and it was called the "International Junior Postage Stamp Album" during the 1940s.
This explains why watermarks and perforations varieties, and higher value stamps were not given a space. It does not explain the many inexpensive stamps that were not given a space either, ;-)
The "Junior" term was dropped, and it became the "International Postage Stamp Album", Part I.
But the legacy lives on, and Scott never substantially improved the coverage- except for the '69 editors that lopped off more than they added. ;-)
Part II covered 1940-49, then Part III 1949-55, and so on.
Part II surprisingly leaves a number of issues/stamps out also, although Part II was never considered a "Junior" album.
The Minkus Supreme Global 1840-1952, the red haired stepchild of Scott now, has never been seriously promoted by them- perhaps because it conflicts with their own blue International line.
Yes, crowded, but objectively a better choice for the WW classical collector. It, of course, still does not compete with the Steiner for complete coverage- but it almost always has better coverage than Big Blue.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Jim,
I would love to see some scans of your new Minkus SG with a few stamps, especially if you have ones in mounts
When you have time, of course.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
I second Chris' request. I'd like to see the Minkus page layout to see if it has changed any over the years.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Here is the first page of Aden, all in mounts.
I choose 27,25, & 28 mount size respectively.
The good news is it can be done, and in my view, does look attractive.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
But one has to be careful.
The space is limited, so one needs to cut close to the perfs on the side. And normally, I would go from a 27 to a 30 size, but that would have caused overlap (shingling) on the stamp below. So I dug out my 28 size.
Mounts can be used, if they fit, because the paper now used by Amos is card stock in quality.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Here is a Steiner page for comparison using 30 size mounts.
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"I second Chris' request. I'd like to see the Minkus page layout to see if it has changed any over the years."
Michael- I don't think the Minkus Supreme Global has changed in layout.
It is just that Amos has brought it back (The 1840-1952 pages), and now they can be ordered and then printed "On Demand".
The copyright is 2014 and 2010 for the two sections respectively. But I doubt if Amos has actually changed anything substantially.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Thanks. I appreciate your posting the pictures.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Jim,
Thanks so much, they do look very attractive and seems like the mounts are very doable with a little care. I would be mostly using hinges anyway with mounts only for those few high CV or MNH stamps.
Are those Hawid type mounts or split back? Looks like Hawid, but hard to for sure. I use clear Hawid mounts as they can be trimmed down close to the stamp (on three sides).
Thanks again for showing the scans, that help a lot
-Chris
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
"Are those Hawid type mounts or split back?"
Chris- they are "Scott mounts" with a split back. Actually made by Prinz Germany.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
So, I know from my past reading of one of my favorite blogs 'filling spaces' that the coverage of the Minkus SG is significantly better than BigBlue in terms of numbers of spaces in a particular country. But, can't remember how they stack up in terms of actual numbers of countries represented? That is does the Minkus include many of the various countries that Scott completely eliminated from the BigBlue?
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
I maintain a list of the countries that Scott no longer supplies in the International Album pages. Sorry, but I don't have it notated when Scott stopped supplying pages, but most of those in the list below were never provided.
Cambodia
Cuba
Grenada Grenadines
Iran
Iraq
Korea - Democratic People's Republic
Libya
Mongolia
Nicaragua
St. Vincent Grenadines
- Bequia
- Canouan
- Mayreau
- Mustique
- Union Island
- Turkish Cyprus
- Sovereign Order of Malta
- Viet Nam
- Somalia
I asked Scott why some countries such as Nicaragua were no longer included in the Internationals. Scott's response was "The Scott International Album was never intended to be an all inclusive album."
My reply was that with the enormous pricing of the yearly supplements (now retails for $270.00 per year, but you can get it cheaper), that there should be no problem adding a few more pieces of paper to the pile.
I keep the list so that I can print Steiner pages each year for those countries when I renew my subscription to his pages.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Regarding the Minkus pages for Aden, the Dhow set pictured is complete on the page. I am almost 100% positive that the Scott International page for the Dhow set is incomplete.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Thanks Michael, but I was specifically referring only to the Part 1 (1840-1940) Scott Internationals, not the modern supplements.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Jim,
Did you say you just purchased your Minkus SG a couple of weeks ago? I just looked on the Amos website and the Minkus SG Part 1 and 2 are not listed anywhere unless I'm missing them. I have an e-mail in to customer service to see what happened to them. I hope they didn’t decide to discontinue them !
*Just check again and they are both now listed. Not sure what happened as they were not listed earlier and I even search for them by item number. Maybe a glich in the website and/or my e-mail to CS prompted them to looking into the issue. Anyway, sorry to raise the alarm bells, they are still listed on the Amos website
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
"That is does the Minkus include many of the various countries that Scott completely eliminated from the BigBlue?"
Chris- I have the index pages to Minkus Supreme (They are in very small type), but the limitation on kilobyte size for uploads precludes me from uploading a readable whole page copy here. You will just have to wait for my blog post.
But a quick perusal yields....
Benin
Cilicia
Corfu
Dalmatia
Eastern Rumelia
Eastern Silesia
Moheli
Obock
Rio de Oro
South Russia
Tobago
Most (all?) of these countries were eliminated by the '69 BB editors. What I can't tell you at the moment is how adequate the Supreme coverage is, but at least, they include these countries in the index page.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Chris, the International pages for 1840-1940 come in four parts at a hefty price, I might add. When Scott changed the pages from two parts to four parts (they initially were just one part), I was all giddy thinking that in order to get four parts that they had edited them to be complete. I checked them out, and they were the same as the two part pages and were just as abridged as before. There were no changes other than being broken out into four parts. To me that is a total rip-off.
There are plenty of the part 1 Internationals that show up at dealers and on eBay. You usually won't have to pay anywhere near the price that Scott asks for the four parts. Be careful if you buy other parts to the International. Scott has combined several of the parts into larger year blocks than the old parts, so except for the pricing of Part 1, it makes the pricing of several of the succeeding parts palatable.
Also, you can find a full page advertisement almost weekly in Linns that contains a listing of all the parts of both the International and Global Supreme albums. If you're looking to purchase the pages, it makes a great checklist.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
"Regarding the Minkus pages for Aden, the Dhow set pictured is complete on the page. I am almost 100% positive that the Scott International page for the Dhow set is incomplete."
Michael- Here is Big Blue's page for Aden.
Neither the 1937 "Dhow" issue or the 1939-48 George VI pictorial issue are offered complete coverage.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Thanks. I wasn't certain about the KGVI definitive set if was complete or not. There even is room to add four more of the set and be just one short of complete.
Back in the late 1970s I was so fed up with the incompleteness of the Internationals that I bought many packs of blank International pages. I then went through the Scott catalogs and country by country created, by hand, complete album pages. I tossed the printed International pages and used the hand-made ones instead. That is what spurred me on to get the Specialty pages to replace the pages that I made. No computers back then.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
"JKBlue Your blog is fantastic !! What knowledge is there for the picking !"
Thanks philb, really appreciate it.
The blog started as a way to publish a checklist of Scott International Part I (Big Blue), but I thought a "Quick History" of the country would be interesting, and then scans of stamps of the country would be interesting, and, well, one thing lead to another, and I created a monster that needs to be fed weekly.
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"Back in the late 1970s I was so fed up with the incompleteness of the Internationals that I bought many packs of blank International pages. I then went through the Scott catalogs and country by country created, by hand, complete album pages. I tossed the printed International pages and used the hand-made ones instead. That is what spurred me on to get the Specialty pages to replace the pages that I made. No computers back then."
Michael- I can imagine the work that this entailed!
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
"The blog "
I can't figure out how to quote a previous message and its driving me crazy
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Jim,
Thanks for the partial list of countries that are in Minkus, but eliminated from BigBlue. I think regardless of the relative coverage of each country, it is better to be included than not.
So, are you now planning to include the Minkus SG along with your comparison of BigBlue and Deep Blue?
Of course, that would be great!
Thanks!
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Chris, to create a quote, it is a bit different here than what you might be used to.
1 - click on POST A RESPONSE
2 - block and copy the text that you want to quote (you can scroll into the previous responses and find what you're looking for)
3 - paste the text in your response
4 - block the text that you just pasted
5 - click on QUOTE
That's it.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
"Chris- they are "Scott mounts" with a split back. Actually made by Prinz Germany."
I used Showgard split-back mounts for many years. But I was always dissatisfied, because the tops cannot be trimmed to fit. Last year, I switched to Hawid mounts, which work very well. The tops can be trimmed, just like the sides, with a guillotine cutter. I have had no trouble with the stamps falling out.
Someone posted somewhere that he understood that the tops of Hawid mounts have a lip that keeps stamps in place. I haven't noticed that. But if it is so, I haven't had problems after cutting the tops off.
I would think that the Hawid mounts would work well in the Minkus SG and other albums that cram stamps together. You can trim them as close as you dare.
Ed Foster
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
"So, are you now planning to include the Minkus SG along with your comparison of BigBlue and Deep Blue?"
I will certainly do some comparisons, but I'm not sure I am ready to do a full evaluation as I am with BB.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Michael - For some reason, I can copy the text into the box but then I'm unable to highlight it again?
Ed - I was thinking exactly the same thing regarding Hawid mounts. I currently use the clear Hawid mounts and can trim right up to the stamp on all three sides. I only buy the largest size strips in each price catagory and then trim. That way I only have to keep track of 3 or so different sizes. I've also never noticed a lip of any kind at the top.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
10 Mar 2015
09:13:28pm
re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Chris
If you are having difficulty using the preselected tabs, you can program a quote using the following code:
It will end up like this:
" To be or not to be "
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Thought I might as well show one of my Aden pages too Sorry, couldn't get it any higher resolution.
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" Chris
If you are having difficulty using the preselected tabs, you can program a quote using the following code: "
Ok, thanks Bobby. Of course, I will never remember which way the slash mark goes the next time I try this
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It is So Comforting to know that there are still "worldwide" collectors out there ! It seems like the world is going "specialized". I love the freedom to pick and chose, with worldwide collecting there is no one stamp that i must have..unless i chose to have it !
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Yes Phil, I agree. I think there are still a large group of us WW collectors out there! It may sound counterintuitive, but WW collecting (even classic-era WW) is less expensive than focusing only on a handful of countries.
I think Lawrence Block once said, "the good thing about WW collecting is that there’s always something I need for my collection…and the bad thing about WW collecting is that there’s always something I need for my collection."
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One thing for sure is we are not into worldwide collecting for the money. I have been in our stamp club 40+ years and have been present when several collections were appraised by dealers..believe it or not many dealers are fair guys...good blues with sets and better singles netted about 200 dollars !!! So i fill the spaces i wish to feel and carry on !!!
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Phil,
Just curious, if I may ask, how to you house your WW collection? Pre-printed album, Steiner pages, other?
Thanks,
Chris
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Chris, no problem...i often ask the same question..My worldwide collection is in 9 Scott international albums which run to 1969. I do collect some countries beyond 1969 on an individual basis. For my Argentina collection i use mainly computer printed pages and for my back of book stuff i use plastic stockpages. Some of the folks here actually collect the world up to the current ...i imagine they have moved on to printing their own pages..where in the past they may have moved stamps around in plastic stock cards !
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I use Scott International pages for roughly 1985 to date. Scott Specialty pages mostly before 1985. Just added Part 49 to my albums. I print Steiner pages for the stamps not included in the International pages.
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Bless you Michael you are taking on the world..what an ambitious project..if i may call it that . Thanks for the tip on the padded envelopes at least now i know i will be paying what $6.10 per ship ?
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if i can help you guys i have SURPLUS to swap..especially since my world wide interests generally end with 1969...plenty of 1970's 80's sitting there. Hope i don't get spanked for saying this !!!
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Thanks for the offer, but I try not to go past 1945 if I can help it
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In case anyone's interested, I convert my Steiner pages to Microsoft Powerpoint and then can easily make any changes I want. Now I mainly just change the font to a more ‘classic’ look and increase the size of the country name, like I did for the Aden page above. But, I have in the past also easily added fancy boarders, watermark images, stamp images, etc.
My main issue with Steiner pages is the need to have 40-50 binders to house just the classic issues, which is why I began thinking about the Minkus Supreme Global in the first place.
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i have purchased Staples Better 2 inch binders 540 sheet capacity when the price is right . They are no Lighthouse binders..but they are not bad looking on my shelves .
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Hi Everyone;
I'm not surprised that Scott has dropped some countries form their albums. After all Amos
is the actual company and they only purchased the rights to use the Scott name. So it isn't
really Scott anymore.
To me Scott died a slow death in the 80s when they were bought by General Mills. They
produced a catalog in four volumes with mustard color in 1980 something that were hor-
rible. After a couple months I threw mine in the trash. They were only slightly better than
Scott's toilet tissue. Gee wiz what a coincidence two companies with the same name, one
makes stamp catalogs of inferior quality and another makes toilet paper.
If you bought them fresh off the press they were with buff colored pages and within a few
months they had morphed to buster brown pages. I had a missing page in my 1979
catalog in Jersey, so I took one from the mustard book and inserted it into my good one.
A month later my good catalog was starting to turn buff so I removed the page from the
mustard and tossed.
I think that making your own pages is too much work, but it is starting to look better every
day, or perhaps Steiner pages.
So long Scott...and may you rest in peace....
TuskenRaider
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Hi Everyone;
I thought that I might mention something useful about ring style binders used by collectors
for albums. The American cheapie version has rings with a oval cross-section thru the wire
they are made from. I never understood why use an oval cross-section ring to hold pages
that have round holes.
European style binders are a bit different. Firstly they have rings made from round cross
section steel. Secondly they have a pin with a bullet shaped end that projects from the ring
half on the right side. On the left side is a socket or hole that the pin goes into. All parts of
the ring ends are smooth and rounded over so as to make snags on pages impossible.
The cheapie ones made here, have jagged teeth that are designed to interlock but DO NOT,
and nearly always guarantee a snag and eventual destruction of the round holes in your
pages.
I hope that the engineers that designed those cheapie versions will be forced to use them
for all eternity when the die and go to heaven. Then they will know the maybe they aren't
really in heaven but the other place.
Just thinkin'....
TuskenRaider
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
When I print my Steiner pages, I handle them similar to the International pages: I print them front and back. This saves me alot of space. I also like to go to the Scott back-of-the-book pages. Often Scott just has one or two stamps on a page. Steiner pages often are full pages, or at the worst a small number of stamp spaces as well. Either way, I'll print the Steiner pages for the same BOB items and print those front and back. I often can get rid of many pages by printing out just a few Steiner pages. That saves space.
Phil, I've been collecting since 1962, so I have amassed a good-sized collection through all those years. All are currently housed in 82 #5 binders. To ease some congestion I need at least 2 more binders. I estimate that to print out all the Steiner pages that I would need to have complete coverage of all stamps I would need at least 24 more binders, and I would need two or three new binders each year. Pages for some countries number in the hundreds each year.
Now to be fair to the International pages, overall the pages for most countries cover almost all of the stamps, except for a souvenir sheet or two. A blank page quickly handles those, and there is a blank page at the end of the yearly pages for many countries, so no extra page to take up space is needed.
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"My main issue with Steiner pages is the need to have 40-50 binders to house just the classic issues, which is why I began thinking about the Minkus Supreme Global in the first place."
Chris- I printed out only on one side- my printer did not have the option of double-sided. That would cut the space requirement by 40% or more. (I'm still not sure I would print out double-sided, I would have to think about it.)
And the binders I use- 1 1/2" - one could go for a larger binder to cut the number required.
No doubt the best aspect of the Minkus Supreme is the relative compactness. The whole 1840-1952 coverage (1000+ double sided pages) can be easily put into six of my binders.
(Of course, that is without stamps in them, or interleaving.)
But just when they do a good job with one issue, the next issue spaces are for two types of watermarks. It is kind of like having a half Steiner, half Big Blue.
I think I got spoiled with the Steiner pages.
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"When I print my Steiner pages, I handle them similar to the International pages: I print them front and back. This saves me alot of space."
Michael- what paper do you use? Is it the same size as the International pages?
And, just for kicks, what sort of printer do you have, if you don't mind me asking?
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"My worldwide collection is in 9 Scott international albums which run to 1969."
Very nice. Recently, I've been thinking of expanding the cut-off date for collecting. Although I would maintain focus on 1840-1940, the WW II era and aftermath seems too interesting to pass up. But then I think the 1950s would be nice too- that is when I began collecting as a kid. Then I think it would be nice to cover a good portion of the remaining colonial era to independence. That means into the 1960s.
Then I remember the exponential curve of stamp production going higher and higher with each decade, and that is sobering.
What advice would you give?
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Jim- You could do a Scott International Part 2 going up through 1949. I think they are 2 volumes. Wonder how many Steiner pages it would take for the 1940s decade?
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"Chris- I printed out only on one side- my printer did not have the option of double-sided. That would cut the space requirement by 40% or more. (I'm still not sure I would print out double-sided, I would have to think about it.)
"
Most home printers print one side. Print it, flip the page and put it back in the paper tray to print the second side.
My question- note that I haven't bought mounts since the 1970s, but there were mounts in long strips that you cut to length. If these still are in production, why not cut a contiguous strip for those places in your album that have 5 stamps side by side?
And my final question - what printers are acceptable to print album pages? Last ones I made I used a typewriter. Is it acceptable to print on an ink jet or does it need to be a laser printer? Are there concerns with ink jet ink being water soluble?
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Yes, they do still make mounts in strips. That's what I use because they can be cut and trimmed to any size and are cheaper than individual mounts. I don't see any reason why you couldn't just put several stamps lined up in a strip.
As for printers, I've seen people use both for printing pages. I use a inkjet (Epson WF-3540) and it works just find. I think if your page gets wet, you have more to worry about than your ink running
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
I use either Boise Fireworx, or Xerox, or Office Max 24 lb. ivory. - Scott International pages are printed on 24 lb. paper and are double sided.
I print the pages double sided, using two-sided printing option in the print function.
My printer is a Dell Photo 924. It doesn't accept paper larger than 8.5" wide.
My understanding is that Hewlitt-Packard does or used to make a printer that accepts larger paper, however, if you want to print pages the same size as International or Specialty pages, you'll have to special order it. I had a friend, he passed away several years ago who was printing the Steiner pages the same size as the Specialty pages.
There are some people authorized to print and sell Steiner pages. They offer the pages in the larger page sizes. You might want to contact them (see the Steiner web site for locate information) and see where they get their paper and what printer they use. Maybe Office Max, Office Depot, Staples, or another printing company can print the larger pages for you using the Steiner files (you'll have to buy the CD from Steiner). I'm not sure of the cost, however.
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There are affordable printers that will print up to 11x17. I've used these for engineering prints.
About double sided printing- would it be prudent to print on one side of the paper and put those back to back in one plastic sleeve? I don't know how modern inkjet / laser jet inks will age, but I have a lot of things I printed in the past that have either bled through paper or faded to nothing.
This week I pulled out my stamp exhibit from the late 1970s. It was typed on 12x12 pages, each inside a clear plastic sleeve. These were put into frames at shows back in the last century. I've stored them flat between heavy cardboard ever since and they've aged well. I bought myself a scrap book binder that came with clear plastic sleeves. I took each two pages of my exhibit, complete with their original plastic sleeves and put them back to back in the scrap book pages. It's so cool, the first time I can leaf through this collection. I will scan it soon and put it in the site collections.
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ChrisW,
I like what you did with that Aden page. The fonts look good and the stamps are very nicely mounted! If I keep reading these forums, I will end up with many more collecting interests, and I'm not sure my wife can handle all that!
Cheers,
Don
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My advice ? The wallpaper really started getting bad in the 1960s with the independant African nations emerging..i call myself a WORLDWIDE collector..but how much China and Japan do i do ? or Eastern Europe ? When you come down to it my collection is strongest in Western Europe and the British,French,Portugese and Italian colonies.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
"ChrisW,
I like what you did with that Aden page. The fonts look good and the stamps are very nicely mounted! "
Thanks Don, appreciate it.
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re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Personally, I plan to only go thru 1949 or 1952 (depending on the album system I ultimately use) for my general WW collection. I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that I will use either Scott International or the Minkus Supreme Global for my general ‘classic-era’ WW collection. Then, I may or may not in the future expand to using Steiner pages for a handful of countries that I want to go into more depth with (and maybe expand the years a bit).
At least that’s my thinking today
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"My advice ? The wallpaper really started getting bad in the 1960s with the independant African nations emerging.."
"Personally, I plan to only go thru 1949 or 1952 (depending on the album system I ultimately use) for my general WW collection.
"
I'm tending in the same direction.
Up to 1950, with extensions if the already in hand collection or interests go further.
For instance, earlier QE II if I have them.
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" I will use either Scott International or the Minkus Supreme Global for my general ‘classic-era’ WW collection. Then, I may or may not in the future expand to using Steiner pages for a handful of countries that I want to go into more depth"
Good plan!
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I like your thinking.
I did look at the Minkus, and I even purchased the Big Blue back in the early 2000s. When I discovered Steiner, it opened the doors for personalization of my collection. I've settled on this modified Steiner setup. I've been editing the Steiner pages down, taking out some of the ridiculous stamps (Z grills, coil waste)
Here is a modified page where I wished to add some interesting revenue cancellations to a definitive set. I didn't do much - font change and removed border. I look forward to building my collection with some interesting nuances.
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And I just realized I wrongly spelled cancellation!!! sheesh!!! Making your own pages is not an easy route!!!
(errors are always discovered after the stamps are mounted. lol)
I love this hobby!
Don
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Very nice Don..its good to see other collectors ideas..nothing has to be written in stone ! Phil APS member since 1973 (i should know more for all the philatelic literature i read). Aside from the morning paper thats about all i read !
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Very nice page Don! I have also played around with moving things around with Steiner pages to add more stamps to a page, eliminate the more expensive stamps, etc. I quickly found out that, for me, this was not really practical for a WW collection. Definitely doable for a specialized collection or a focus on a handful of countries. Even just changing the font and title size like I did for the Aden page is a daunting task when faced with 6500 pages (which is only up to 1940)!
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Absolutely! I do not think I could sustain the margin, font change and various editing for a full 1840-1940 collection. Although I would love to do that. For whatever reason I like the Copperplate Gothic font, and all designers hate it!! lol
What I'm trying to do is start with one country and work on those pages. Then print, mount what I have then move on to the next. Finland, Denamark, Norway and Sweden are in the Queue. Then British Commonwealth. I have a fairly good representation of Austria both mint and used - they will be next. After that, I will have to see. I will want to make pages for the cancels and covers and integrate them into the regular stamp collection. For budding collections like my Engravers on stamps and misc definitive sets of the world, I will keep them on Varios. The nice thing is that I can use the same binder system for covers, stamps and misc stuff.
I know that at some point, I'm going to have to rest on the page design improvements/mods and look to purchase more stamps. I just have a lot of material to get organized, and it keeps me out of trouble!
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Nice to see a thread on worldwide collecting getting so much activity
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I think there are more world-wide collectors out there than let on.
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World wide collecting is too overwhelming for me. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my US collection. I have an old Scott worldwide album from the 1940's that I trade stamps from for stuff I can use. It would be great to have the time and money to do something with it, but never going to happen.
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Sean,
Be careful what you wish for.... I remember making the comment that I would be happy when I finally reached the ripe old age of 21, then I went to sleep and turned over a couple of times and "BAM" I woke up and was already 70. Maybe I should have included wanting money also, but didn't think about that much.
Mike
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Ain't it the truth...
My grandfather was 88 when he sat there and told me he was still 18 inside and didn't know where the time had gone, it had just flown by! I think about that often.
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"I ordered the Minkus Supreme 1840-1952 from Amos Advantage last week, as I was curious how much better, if any, it would be compared to Big Blue. I received the pages yesterday, so I have not yet had time to really evaluate them.
But if you have questions about anything Supreme, I will do my best to reply."
Jim, or anyone else too,
How challenging are you finding it to identify the right stamp to go in the correct space? A couple of years ago, I purchased a small country lot that was on Minkus specialty pages, and the previous owner had penciled in the Scott numbers, which made it very nice to figure out what was what. But without that, it seems to be a bit challenging figuring out what goes where, especially given that the ‘back of the book’ stamps are spread throughout.
Not impossible, of course, just a bit more work if you are using a Scott cataloge.
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"No doubt, also, I will publish several blog posts about the merits/demerits of the Supreme."
I'm looking forward to it!
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"How challenging are you finding it to identify the right stamp to go in the correct space? "
The Minkus Supreme Global pages do one bad thing- they label the stamps at the top of the page by very wide year sections--such as 1924-1952 or such.
That makes it more difficult to spot the stamp in the Scott catalogue if one is not familiar with the country or the issues.
That is compounded by regular, semipostals, airmail, postage due etc categories possibly being on the same page -nothing wrong with that, but Scott separates out those categories into their own sections, which means even more thumbing is necessary.
Nevertheless, it is not too difficult to find the right Scott number for the stamp.
I think, for the Minkus Supreme, and the possibility that it may be the "goldilocks" album for many WW classic era collectors, it is worth it.
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The other problem with the Minkus Supreme is that not all the page year sets are in print. Someone wanting to put that album together will have to look for used albums to put together a complete set.
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"The other problem with the Minkus Supreme is that not all the page year sets are in print. Someone wanting to put that album together will have to look for used albums to put together a complete set."
True enough.
Although I note that amosadvantage.com now offers today...
Part 1 (1840-1952)
Part 2 (1953-1963)
Part 3 (1964-1967)
Part 4 (1967-1970)
Part 5 (1971-1973)
Part 6 (1974-1976)
I didn't check beyond 1976.
I swear a few days ago there was a hole in their offerings around 1964-1966.
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After 1976, it goes as follows:
1977
1978
1984
1987
1989
1990
1992-2014 (by individual years)
Looks like they are working on filling the gaps as a few months ago, the gaps started with 1965.
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Here is how is used to be from the list I am looking at:
1840-1952
1953-1963
1964
1967-1970
1977
and then follow with the list from my post above.
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Just a little more follow-up. The gaps in the album pages were per the advertisements through the March 23, 2015 Linns.
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"Here is how is used to be from the list I am looking at:
1840-1952
1953-1963
1964
1967-1970"
That was my recollection also, and so my surprise to find 1840-1976 covered.
It does appear they are filling in some of the holes- good news.
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Hello, my name is Mitchell and some of you may know me by AntoniusRa. I have been collecting the U.S. and the world since 1958. When I decided to get serious with the world I bought a used set (with stamps) of Minkus albums with Green cloth covers. After a short time I decided that they were not going to fit my needs. They did not have spaces for better stamps and the Minkus numbering system is pretty much useless. I decided that Scott Specialty albums were the best choice, except for the cost. I found that I could get used Specialty albums with most of the easier stamps for far less than new albums with no stamps. For years I searched for them until I had most all that they had ever printed. For countries that I could not get or to supplement the ones I had, I print Steiner pages on G&K knockoffs of blank Scott Specialty pages. In many cases I have extended end dates using the Steiner formats and 8 1/2 X 11 Cream colored Vellum Bristol card stock. For me this has been the best way to go for my goals, which is coming as close as I can to 99% completion for most countries.
As far as mounts go I do not like split back mounts but prefer top loaders. Unless you use your albums as frisbees you needn't worry about stamps falling out of the mounts. Stamps are more difficult and hazardous to install and remove from from split backs than from top loaders. If you do use split backs, I suggest not gluing the bottom part down as it makes it much more difficult to remove the stamps.
I have found that the most economical way to get mounts is making my own top loaders by buying large size split backs and cutting them in half lengthwise to create two
top loader strips. I go on Ebay and find the most economical large size split back strips that have the most per package. Two of my favorite sizes are 107mm X 265mm and 57mm X 215mm. These when cut in half will yield strips that fit most stamps when cut to size. I do not have to buy many different sizes of strips and the cost is greatly reduced. All you really need is a large shear for cutting the strips in half and a small stamp shear for cutting the halved strips to fit the stamp being mounted. I use a glue stick to secure the mounts to the pages, as the glue supplied on the mounts is usually to aggressive or not enough to firmly secure the mount. Using glue sticks make it easy to remove the mount at a later date without harming the page.
Below is a picture showing the cutting of the original split back mount. Note the piece of card stock between the shear hold down and the mount. This gives a more even pressure to insure the mount doesn't move while cutting and produce a wavy cut.
I have uploaded most of my collection on the web. Many find it a helpful reference.
See here: The Antonius Ra Collection
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13 Aug 2015
06:06:57am
re: Minkus Supreme Global and Mounts
Welcome, Mitchell.
I remember you from the eBay chat group a few years back. In fact, when we created our Links area, your site was one of the first I posted. The Antonius Ra Collection
Bobby
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Michael and Bobby, Thanks much for the welcome and Kudos!
I've spent quite a bit of time reading through many of the threads. I've found many interesting topics and plenty of knowledgeable people sharing their knowledge.
Methinks, I might like hanging out here..........
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01:42:47pm
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Hello Mitch...and a big welcome from beautiful Shrub Oak, New York.
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Bobgggg, Thanks for the welcome. I also want to thank you for the two letters you sent with some stamps to knock off my needlists, I did not have an email address for you, so that I could previously. Is our buddy Mike lurking around here? Don't know if you know it but I use to live in Shrub Oak when I was a kid in the 50's. One of my fondest memories there, was visiting Pat Hearst who greatly inspired my collecting.
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Hi Mitch, yep, I am here, hiding under some pine trees, trying to stay in the shade. I made a deal with Bob, I would send him envelopes of unsorted stamps for him to go thru and gave him a link to your wantlists. In return, he did the searching and found some for you. We are doing OK and hope you & the family are also. Good to see you here.
Mike in NC / meostamps
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Hiya Mike, Good to see you here. Looks like a good place to talk stamps.
I think you were asking me about Israel a while back. Well it turns out I completed it up through 1990 last week by getting Scott #9, the 1000m of the first set. Don't have them all with tabs but as far as I'm concerned I'm done with the country.
A couple minutes ago I won an Austrian NH B110 which is one of 3 semi postal stamps I needed for Austria. Only a few keys left to get there.
Stay cool and keep on Stampin
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