angore
Member 
Posts: 5,698 
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Sept 26, 2020 13:46:32 GMT
It seems that the approach on DIY pages often depends on whether you use black or clear mounts or hinges.
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,906
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on Sept 26, 2020 21:15:28 GMT
The latest effort as I 'try" and continue to focus on France. Test page for the 1944 Rooster and Marianne of Algeria (Coq et Marianne d'Alger) The next page will be opposite this one so all stamps in the series will show- I will have 13 stamps on the page, probably 3-4-4-2. I am missing one color variant and 3 of the white background issues), but I have enough to populate most of the pages which then allows me to move out the duplicates as usual, if you see a typo, or 'irregularity" please speak up Thanks  |
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cjoprey
Member
Scanning stamps for my website...
Posts: 1,504
What I collect: Belgium (predominantly), British Commonwealth (older ones), WW (whatever comes my way...)
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Post by cjoprey on Sept 27, 2020 11:48:53 GMT
whether all two word colors should be hyphenated or not I have often wondered why some catalogues hyphenate some two word colours but not others - even within the same set of stamps. For instance, picking a page at random, the 1922 Irish definitives are listed in SG with a 4d slate-blue and a 5d deep violet.
I thought that perhaps this apparent arbitrary use of hyphenated colour names is peculiar to Gibbons, but looking up the same set in the Hibernian catalogue, one finds the 4d slate-blue and a 10d Rembrandt brown. Hyphenation of words in English is usually reserved for multi-word adjectives describing a noun and placed before it in the sentence. So for instance you would say "a grey-green stamp" with hyphenation, but you could also use "a stamp that is grey green" WITHOUT hyphenation - both are correct. If it is used as in SG above, "slate-blue" is technically wrong as it doesn't precede a noun. Hope that makes sense!  |
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,906
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on Sept 28, 2020 22:51:53 GMT
2nd page of the Rooster and Marianne series 1944 I added one place not in the catalog 5 F Blue-Green # 645x it is clearly a different shade (and it's my stamp page!) As always if you see a glaring error, please speak up. This is the test printing (on 20# white general use paper). Final will be ivory Vellum cardstock  |
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,906
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on Sept 30, 2020 21:20:35 GMT
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renden
Member
Posts: 9,162
What I collect: Canada-USA-France-Lithuania-Austria--Germany-Mauritius-French Colonies in Africa
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Post by renden on Sept 30, 2020 21:48:49 GMT
Very nice, Stan stainlessb !! I am certain you will fill those holes - I checked the rest of my "dups:....cannot help - René |
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blaamand
Member
Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
Posts: 1,459
What I collect: Worldwide - Stamps and Postmarks - not enough time...
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Post by blaamand on Oct 2, 2020 11:42:29 GMT
Nice work on those France pages stainlessb - keep it up! |
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blaamand
Member
Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
Posts: 1,459
What I collect: Worldwide - Stamps and Postmarks - not enough time...
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Post by blaamand on Oct 2, 2020 11:48:44 GMT
Nothing fancy or elaborate for my specialised Samoa collection, quite minimalist ! I have to have more than a single example of all of my stamps due to identifiable varieties eg, mint and used,small printing differences, perforations, watermarks and of course postmarks. Pre printed pages simply do not exist !I have made my own for many years. Here is page 12 from my 1877-1882 SAMOA EXPRESS . It is work in progress as can be seen from the gaps and many of the earlier pages have even fewer stamps!  WOW Alex!! I've been away for some time so I've missed your specialized Samoa page until now. I really like the minimaistic style, yet it's housing a very specialized collection. I should think it is a challenge to find and identify genuine copies of all plate positions! I am truly impressed, hope you manage to find the missing ones. |
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 802
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 5, 2020 3:44:20 GMT
DIY question to combine style like blaamand using AlbumEasy (so tagging clivel too)
Is there a way to put the country name up in the border like Jon does in his DIY pages? I've been reading the docs all day and it doesn't look possible, but i thought I'd check.
I started making pages for my Norway commemorative issues, post 1963. Picking up where I left off, oh, 6 years ago. I'm using AlbumEasy now and loving it, but with the writeups I'm doing it's really hard to get more than 3 single line sets on a page. Which is why I want to get some of the page header information up in the border area.
I'll add some scans of what I have so far ASAP, but I'm not near the scanner right now.
Thanks, Mark
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 802
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 5, 2020 16:02:34 GMT
As promised, here's the two pages I made yesterday. The first follow my normal style for writing up: For the second page, I removed the issue dates and simply noted them on the top row. That saves some space:  I'm fairly happy with this, but am considering putting 'Norway' up in the border like Jon and others do it, if I can get it working with Album Easy.
And looking at the scans, I wonder about the spacing. I like the stamps to have room to breathe, but would prefer getting one more set on the page, so 12-14 basic stamps per page. I might fiddle with smaller headings, brought closer to the stamps, to get more on a page.
Then again, I'd like room for a slightly more detailed writeup on some stamps. Like putting the painting names under each of the Munch stamps. Hmmm....
What do y'all think? I know this is all personal preference, but I'm fascinated by your personal preferences.  |
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,906
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on Oct 5, 2020 16:29:38 GMT
madbaker as you may be aware, I tend to like a lot of information in hopes it will be self-explanatory (knowing full well, few will probably view the pages outside of posting on the forum  ) I like some background regarding the stamp, designer, engraver, printer, etc.,I like denomination, color issue and "retreat" dates, and catalogue # (with some kind of identifier who's # it is) I have found enough instances from collections on album pages where the wrong stamp for the album "location", but unledss you remove the stamp, it is not readily apparent but that's just me!
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brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110
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Post by brightonpete on Oct 5, 2020 17:21:05 GMT
I too like extra information on the page. I don't want to have to go to the catalogue to figure out what's on the page. I did have the country name inline with the top border, but have since changed that to the year. It's in a binder for the one country, why have the name at the top of every page? If I was a WW collector, the name would make sense. I like more on a page if it warrants. I also use page protectors, so I have widened the border, taking away the space for that dreaded 3-hole punch. None of that for me now.
At the top of the stamp(s) I put the reason for it, then the date of issue. Underneath I place a description of the stamps' subject. The catalogue number(s) and colour if relevant (usually early classics) is placed in medium grey within the frame.
I am transitioning to just black border, frames and text as I am thinking of getting a laser printer to replace the multi-cartridge colour one I have now.
I like how things are evolving here, and will probably continue evolving over time!
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 802
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 5, 2020 17:39:14 GMT
You have triggered a lot of thoughts, stainlessb. Unsafe, radical thoughts. I'm going to start a new topic to unpack them a bit more.
Thanks for commenting!
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clivel
Member
Posts: 386
What I collect: Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Rhodesias, South Africa, Swaziland, Israel to 1980, Ireland predecimal, Palestine Mandate
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Post by clivel on Oct 5, 2020 18:04:24 GMT
Is there a way to put the country name up in the border like Jon does in his DIY pages? I've been reading the docs all day and it doesn't look possible, but i thought I'd check.
The easiest way would be to use a PAGE_TEXT command to place the country name on each page, left, centred, or right aligned, instead of using the ALBUM_PAGES_TITLE command. This can be preceded by a blank PAGE_TEXT command with a negative optional vertical spacing value to move the name up above the border e.g.:ALBUM_PAGES_SIZE (215.9 279.4)
ALBUM_PAGES_MARGINS (15.0 15.0 15.0 15.0 )
ALBUM_PAGES_BORDER (0.5 0.1 0.0 1.0)
ALBUM_PAGES_SPACING (5.0 5.0)
PAGE_START
PAGE_TEXT_CENTRE(TB 1 "" -15.0)
PAGE_TEXT_CENTRE (TB 18 "Title above the border" 15.0) which will generate:
 Although it is also possible to have the title overlay the border similar to some of blaamand 's pages, unfortunately, it is currently not possible to leave a gap in the border:  Clive |
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 802
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 6, 2020 0:50:57 GMT
Thanks clivel - that makes sense. I feel like I'm getting into the swing of AlbumEasy - once you think like the program, it starts making sense. |
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 802
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 7, 2020 4:10:04 GMT
I've pushed the 'information on a page' slider all the way to 11, for a general collection at least.* Here I combined stamp info (designer, printing, etc.) with cultural and subject information. I think it makes for a good read, but I'm a little concerned that I can only fit 3 sets / 6 stamps on a page. But I really enjoy the cultural aspects. I much prefer the stamps on this page as opposed to a page of butterflies or mushrooms**, because they have direct cultural relevance to the country of issue.  As always, I'm interested in your thoughts. Diversity of opinion and taste is a good thing.
PS - If I continue to scan at 300dpi, I better get the stamps hinged straight in the boxes! * I concede that specialized collections / pages might have far more information on the page than I show here. But I'm allegedly a general WW collector. ** I've got no issue with Norwegian flora and fauna of course; I'm speaking more to the spurious topical issues that most all countries issue from time to time (Star Trek stamps in Canada, anyone? ) |
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blaamand
Member
Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
Posts: 1,459
What I collect: Worldwide - Stamps and Postmarks - not enough time...
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Post by blaamand on Oct 7, 2020 4:48:15 GMT
Those are really great pages madbaker! I would say very detailed for someone being "allegedly a general WW collector"  . If you do not mind, I observed a minor typo in the first heading, 'Olso' should read 'Oslo'. Concerning number of stamp on each page - I think it looks amazing with only 3 sets per page like you've done. If you have space/shelves for many albums, why not allow lots of space - it looks grand! Personally I am trying to keep it more compact, but that is more for practical reasons and cost-saving (and marriage-saving ) than the aesthetics. |
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tobben63
Member
Stamp eat sleep repeat
Posts: 1,874
What I collect: I collect to much, world wide!
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Post by tobben63 on Oct 7, 2020 7:40:42 GMT
As blaamand said, really nice pages with good layout madbaker. I also saw some typos if you are going to fix the Olso typo. First stamp Not Eiler but Eiler t (below stamp) Last stamp Not Storting but Stortinge t (below stamp) |
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 802
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 7, 2020 17:26:21 GMT
blaamand, tobben63 thank you for your comments and pointing out the typos. I'll take the blame for Oslo, but am blaming the combination of a very small font in my Facit catalogue and fading eyesight for the other two. Having slept on my 'information heavy' page, I quite like it. Spelling mistakes not withstanding. My rationale is that I collect to learn about other countries. For issues like the Eidsvoll issues, I would've passed it by thinking 'oh, buildings...' if I hadn't read up on the constitutional assembly, the decisions and the impacts. I learned a bit of Scandinavian history, which is the whole point (for me at least!) And I haven't taken a chemistry class for 35 years. I had to read the mass-action law a few times before I understood what it was saying. For me, that's a fun evening.
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blaamand
Member
Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
Posts: 1,459
What I collect: Worldwide - Stamps and Postmarks - not enough time...
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Post by blaamand on Oct 7, 2020 17:32:16 GMT
Great, I like that. The more we learn, the more we understand that we do not yet know understand! The same is true not only for life in general but also for stamps 
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clivel
Member
Posts: 386
What I collect: Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Rhodesias, South Africa, Swaziland, Israel to 1980, Ireland predecimal, Palestine Mandate
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Post by clivel on Oct 7, 2020 21:45:22 GMT
madbaker another positive vote for your page, it looks very good and I really like all the detail, but in the end, only you can decide whether you want to maximise the number of stamps on a page or maximise the amount of information Clive |
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renden
Member
Posts: 9,162
What I collect: Canada-USA-France-Lithuania-Austria--Germany-Mauritius-French Colonies in Africa
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Post by renden on Oct 7, 2020 22:10:33 GMT
I liked the page....different from mine which have minimum Info as all is in my Inventory madbaker Our members should do what they like. If you compare your page and mine with Steiner's.....no comparison !! René |
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 802
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 8, 2020 5:00:04 GMT
OK! I promise I won't bore you with every single page I make, but I wanted to add one more to point something out: (I already see a mistake )
It's the last of the 1964 commems. I left it at 2 sets so the next page can kick off 1965.
What I wanted to comment on is the fun I had deciphering the English translations in my Facit catalogue, then trying to understand what I was reading.
- I had no idea of a network of churches to help Norwegian seamen. That was interesting to me. - I had to do some digging to figure out what an 'Adult High School' was in this context. Which was also lots of fun. - I also had to read up on dry offset printing vs the halftone recess printing of the stamps 'near' them in the catalogue. I sort-of figured that out.
My point is that I spent 15-20 minutes with four stamps and had a blast!
Normally I would glance right over these issues - two bust of men I never heard of before and a somewhat interesting 'church/sailboat' design. Not much to look at.
** By the way, zoom in on that first set if you can. That's a pretty awesome design, in my view. It's dark and moody. When I learned what the mission was about, and how they might be a safe haven for a seaman 1000 miles from home, the design fits very, very well. It was probably a scary situation for some of the sailors. Very cool!
** I want to give clivel another shout out. AlbumEasy is a dream to work with once I got my basic layout system set up. Creating the page took a few seconds, based on the page before. 95% of my time tonight was spent researching the stamps. Which, to me at least, is pretty neat.
I'm not discounting Rene renden at all when he talks about his 'inventory' to track what he has. Although I found that in the past, inventorying my stamps caused me stress. I was too concerned about two columns of catalogue numbers - Have and Need. The past week has been a refreshing week for me, digging into the meaning behind these stylish stamps that I had sorted, oh, 6 years ago at least.
Having now moved fully away from album page design, I'll be quiet, or at least shift to a new topic whilst I rave about stamp designs and topics.
Mark
PS - if you have your catalogue out, you may be asking 'whither Europa?' I make special pages for long running series like the Europa Issues. At least for the early common design types. I'd do the same for the Lunar New Year issues that Canada puts out or the Art Canada stamps. I realize this will make my collection very hard to sell - stuff is everywhere. Luckily, the stamps are all cheap! |
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tobben63
Member
Stamp eat sleep repeat
Posts: 1,874
What I collect: I collect to much, world wide!
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Post by tobben63 on Oct 8, 2020 5:52:04 GMT
Is there a way to put the country name up in the border like Jon does in his DIY pages? I've been reading the docs all day and it doesn't look possible, but i thought I'd check. Hi Mark, The easiest way would be to use a PAGE_TEXT command to place the country name on each page, left, centred, or right aligned, instead of using the ALBUM_PAGES_TITLE command. This can be preceded by a blank PAGE_TEXT command with a negative optional vertical spacing value to move the name up above the border e.g:
ALBUM_PAGES_SIZE (215.9 279.4)
ALBUM_PAGES_MARGINS (15.0 15.0 15.0 15.0 )
ALBUM_PAGES_BORDER (0.5 0.1 0.0 1.0)
ALBUM_PAGES_SPACING (5.0 5.0)
PAGE_START
PAGE_TEXT_CENTRE(TB 1 "" -15.0)
PAGE_TEXT_CENTRE (TB 18 "Title above the border" 15.0) which will generate:
Although it is also possible to have the title overlay the border similar to some of blaamand 's pages, unfortunately, it is currently not possible to leave a gap in the border: Clive Hello clivel Is it posslible to put an image on the border? If you make a image looking like a title and place it on the border?  |
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brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110
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Post by brightonpete on Oct 8, 2020 12:18:50 GMT
I should think it's possible - a white filled frame without a border...
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Post by michael on Oct 9, 2020 8:28:44 GMT
Since falling in love with engraved stamps 8 years ago, my South Atlantic collection (Ascension, St. Helena, Tristan Da Cunha, Falklands & Dependancies and British Antarctic) to 2000 has been neglected and rarely viewed. They are in 7 albums by two different manufacturers using pre-printed pages with mounts. I've decided to combine them in to 1 or 2 'South Atlantic Islands' albums for stamps up until the change to decimalisation in 1970. This represents about 76 pages and will allow me to includes some of the blocks and varieties I have. I'm curently using the Lighthouse EXCELLENT DE 13 ring binder and am more than happy with these using their blank pages (BL 02) which are printed on an HP A3 printer. Here is a current page from a KABE album and the initial design for a new page. Not sure at the moment whether the title should be "South Atlantic Islands", "The South Atlantic Islands" or "Stamps of the South Atlantic Islands"?  |
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blaamand
Member
Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
Posts: 1,459
What I collect: Worldwide - Stamps and Postmarks - not enough time...
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Post by blaamand on Oct 9, 2020 12:17:50 GMT
michael - I like your personal approach on that St Helena page. Sweet! Bravo 👏 for your ambition to consolidate all British possessions in the South Atlantic into one album. It makes more sense to me to keep related countries together in a regional fashion, just like you do, than to keep everything in an alphabetical order. " Not sure at the moment whether the title should be "South Atlantic Islands", "The South Atlantic Islands" or "Stamps of the South Atlantic Islands"? " I was just thinking that hey, British Antarctica is not exactly an island, is it? So if it was me, I would simply refer to the album/ region as "British South Atlantic", in line with "British North America". That would allow Antarctica not being discriminated as an island when it is in fact Britain's largest possession, hahahaha. It's your album and the cool thing is that you can call it whatever you want ☺️ It will surely be a great album regardless, looking forward to see more of your nice work!
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brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110
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Post by brightonpete on Oct 9, 2020 13:39:17 GMT
Personally, I like the " Stamps of the South Atlantic Islands"! Isn't Antarctica just one rather large island? I'd also just have the title at the front of the album. Why put it on all pages? Create a cover page to start off the album. That way, you can shift everything up a bit to be able to display more stamps on the one page. But that is a great project to do to get everything on display in albums. Pre-made albums are great for the basic set, but when you have oddities, errors, interesting pieces that don';t fit in this albums, making your own is the best bet! That's what I do. It keeps me very busy with making up the pages! I have been using colour for the paper and the ink, but am looking at just black ink now as I am thinking of getting a laser printer. But whatever you decide to do, it'll be great having all consolidated in one or a few albums! |
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 802
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 9, 2020 16:14:57 GMT
Hi michael, great to meet you here. I waver back and forth between organizing politically and geographically and lean towards the geography. So I love where you're going with this. I'm not super knowledgeable about that area, but have there been any name changes during the period you are collecting? Personally I like to keep those stamps together rather than spread out alphabetically. That happens more in Africa, for sure. Nice looking page! I love how you're rearranging the set based on issue dates. I personally like that approach. |
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Post by michael on Oct 9, 2020 19:48:27 GMT
Thanks, excellent comments, much appreciated. blaamand You're quite right about adding British, never thought of that. However, the only land part of B.A.T. that is not an island is Graham Land and at one stage that was part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies and also there's only 2 pages of B.A.T. stamps upto 1970 . brightonpete Yes, I've been wondering whether the top line on every page is necessary but I wanted to somehow indicate that it was part of group of stamp issuing entitles (they aren't technically Countries, they are part of the British Overseas Territories). I could add "Stamps of the British South Atlantic Islands" at the bottom in very small print. Oh dear decisions... madbaker Thanks, it's a personnal taste but I don't include S.G. numbers and prefer printing/issue date order, where applicable, to catalogue order. For example, many catalogue number 1s are not the first stamp issued for that Country (like Nova Scotia). Much better to start with the first stamp(s) that were issued. BTW, have enjoyed all the DIY pages on this thread, thanks everyone
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) I like some background regarding the stamp, designer, engraver, printer, etc.,I like denomination, color issue and "retreat" dates, and catalogue # (with some kind of identifier who's # it is) 
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