Worldwide collections - How do you organize them?

Beryllium Guy,

I had to do a little bit of research for the answers , learning process for me too.

Regarding your question about sources for Hagner Stock sheets- Inform Plastics based in the UK are the manufacturer's of them (Link)

Also, If they are genuine Hagner sheets it will have the embossed stamp on it.  Previously, Hagner's were made in England, Sweden and also Australia!!
Hagner's do last for years since they constantly are upgrading and researching for improvements to cater to the ever changing climatic conditions (this is what I read somewhere).

Anyways, you can research on Google and find numerous posts regarding disadvantages and advantages of Hagner.
Hope you find something useful above.

Nikhil

Chris,

My Hagner pages are sheets of stiff black card stock with plastic strips attached to mimic a manila stock page so you can see the contents in the row. Most were purchased at the same time. These were all purchased in the 2003 to 2006 range and stored in a climate controlled environment.

The plastic strips that creates the pocket became detached due to a failure of the adhesive attaching the plastic to the paper. I would have to look at all of them but at least 25% had at least one plastic overlay become detached. The second issue was the durability of the punched holes and have used page hole reinforcements or just packaging tape to beef them up. I do not think I have been rough with them. In fact, they were left alone after 2008 or so for almost 10 years without being handled. I had used them for staging sheets for mounting.

Bad lot?

I purchased more 2 years ago and have seen not any issues with detachment but noticed that the spring force of the overlay is not a tight to paper as the first batch so stamps can move around more. This is when I gave up on then so now use Vario.

I am also curious about others' experiences.

Hi Chris! 

I have been using Hagnar sheets for over 30 years. A few people have mentioned some quality problems with loose rows. About 15 years ago they had some quality problems with the sheets manufactured in England. There were batches too deeply die cut which would cause the pages to split or to be miscut vertically. There were also glue problems which resulted in loose rows. They appear to have corrected the problems and the last batch I purchased were OK. Loose rows are not the norm. I have pages from Sweden that are at least 30 years old that are not showing any signs of loosening despite 20 years in a dry northern climate and now 10 years in the climate controlled tropics. 

I use double sided sizes 5, 6, 7 and 8. I use Vario sheets for larger items, either clear or black depending on the need. 

Watch for sales! Google Hagnar to find dealers running sales. You can also find some deals on eBay occasionally. Also I’ve purchased stamp lots on EBay just to get the stock pages and have gotten some real deals that way! 

My labelling is nothing fancy, just my handwritten notes on colored slips of paper. My collection is constantly in a state of flux adding varieties, better copies or interesting cancels etc, so stock sheets give me the flexibility to collect this way. 

Cheers! 

Thanks for your latest post, Jon (blaamand).

I don't know if this qualifies as an issue with Vario pages or not, but I am not overly fond of them because I find that the stamps can easily shift around inside the pockets.  When I am transporting stamps in Vario pages, on occasion, they have been damaged because they partially stuck out of the pocket, and then got bent in shifting around of the sheets.

The sheets are also not very stiff, so they need to be handled more carefully, both when loose or in a binder.  I have preferred the Hagner pages in general because I think that they protect the stamps better:  once placed behind the clear plastic strip, the stamps rarely shift around.  They remain secure as they have been positioned.  You can even turn a page upside down, and the stamps will usually stay in place.  Turning a Vario page upside down will at the very least move many of the stamps around, but I imagine some might even fall out.  That is just speculation though, as I have not tried that.

Thanks for bringing it up Chris Beryllium Guy, absolutely a valid point. This was my main concern as well when I considered to go for Vario or not, as I had seen Vario pages (from bulk lots) where some stamps were loose. This particular concern was raised (in another forum) and the feedback from other Vario users is that this problem was more the case with an older version of the Vario sheets. Apparently some changes have been made (don't know exactly what - maybe to the plastic material itself?) and now the stamps are sitting much better than before, or so the experienced told me anyway. Many addicted and satisfied Vario users convinced me this is more an issue of the past. (Same goes with older Vario sheets tendency to become grey/dull). I do hope they are right 

That said, I have experienced myself some stamps 'shifting' or tilting slightly even on my new Vario sheets  If so I believe it was due to the stamps not being properly inserted to the bottom of the pockets. When making sure to get the stamp properly stuck down they do sit put, believe me - I have tested and verified it  

I have seen this kind of shifting happening in any stockbook, Hagners or Varios, even in mounts - so I guess the only really safe option is to go for those terribly awkward split-mounts  . 

Funny how we all have different experiences: I actually considered Hagners versus Vario myself some years back. However I had received so many lots sent to me on Hagners, or in bulk lots at a local auction - and the stamps were often all over the place and/or the pockets had come partially or completely off...so I opted opposite from you Chris. I have no experience to say what is better in the long run, personal preference again  

Another - but related experience: I had planned to tag each variety with a small piece of paper/tag behind each stamp, protruding up behind the stamp. I experienced however that when having a stamp with a tag behind it, the combined thickness was not ideal - that made them shift much more easily. Annoying! So this was part of my motivation to make custom pages for the classics instead  of using Vario. The custom pages makes it easy to include all the needed write-ups for all the varieties, dramatically reducing the need for such tags. 

I would be honored by that Chris   Not too many countries done yet I am afraid....still only at the letter 'B' !! I can send you a few samples so you can try it out. I know you're stamping Germany at present, unfortunately I can't help you on that quite yet...guess another 15 years until I get to letter 'G'  !!
So any particular subject you would like for testing this at letter A - B? 

Thanks for your kind offer, Jon (blaamand )!

At the moment, I only have Germany and China accumulations with me, but of course, I will be back in California in October for a few days.  I know that you sent me some pages back at the beginning of your work, but I don't remember which ones you sent.  If you want to send me a couple of representative countries for testing, that would work.

You should have my email address, but if not, I can re-send it to you by PM.  Many thanks, Jon!

Thanks - That's a relief Londonbus1 

Yepp, print and play ☺️ Will send tomorrow my friend

This has been a great thread to read through as I find myself with stamps from all over the world (British Empire & Commonwealth tends to cause this!)... Right now it's all in stock books in a random order while I'm cataloging, while I'm still trying to decide how to store them. I'm also leaning towards grouping historical countries together, but it leads to interesting problems when the historical country splits into multiple current countries - like the Austro-Hungarian Empire for instance. What does everyone else do in these cases?

Leaning towards Vario pages at the moment to allow for easy re-organization... But I do love the look of the good quality stock book spines... So much to think about...

I am now also trying to group by region/shared history. So my French colonial collection, for example, has different albums for French North Africa, French West Africa, Madagascar/Indian Ocean, etc. And within those albums, try to keep it roughly historical. So again, the individual islands such as Nossi Be, Diego Suarez and Ste Marie de Mad come right before the main Madagascar pages. Can get a little complicated with something like French West Africa where the colonial administration combined, renamed and split up the areas but it makes more sense (to my anyways) to do it this way.

But it's a huge job to eventually move everything out of my old Scott Intls into my own pages - I've given myself 10+ years and think I'll need it...

Reasonable for Jon blaamand......but not for me - too much work at my young age 

For any organizing method at some point something is different enough that forces compromise.

Madbaker - I have Vario G's and Vario F's, both 3 ring binders for the U.S. market (I think the Grandes are different).

Yes, they (G & F) are the same height, about 12" and 3/4" tall, including slipcase. The Vario G's are a little deeper, about an inch. (11" deeper overall). But they both fit on my two lower rows of my bookshelf that are 14" high (lowest shelf) and 13" high (next lowest shelf). The shelves are 10" deep.

I agree that they require a bookshelf that is of sufficient height.