How do you sort stamps?

I used to sort ala Unitrade (Scott's) catalogues. But now I am apt to sort by date of issue. Unless they are definitives. The 5 year plan definitives of East Germany (DDR) was going to be done that way, but I have decided to lump the entire series in one grouping in 1953, which is when it was first issued. Or maybe... I have yet to decide exactly how those will be sorted. But everything else by date, no matter what type.

It all depends how much work you want to do - The FRANCE stamps (Maury cat) goes by date.....but at the end....what a mess so I opted for the Scott method...the others like Yvert&Tellier do the same by date........One has to be managing time with a big collection unless "custom special" like my friend Stan does stainlessb 

I organize by dates. Pre-1979 is my red Lighthouse Canada album, 1979-99 is my first binder of Canada, and 2000- present is my second Canada binder. In order to aid me in finding the year for each stamp I sort by face value. I use Unitrade to help me find year of issue.

Once inside the binder, stamps are sorted by year, but not necessarily date of issue. I could reorganize the different sets by date of issue. I tend to mount all the single commemoratives for one year on one or two pages. I keep my definitives together. One type, like all the tree issues or lighthouse issues together. I note the year of issue above them.

When it comes to my topicals, I sort by country and then by Scott catalogue number.

Great question with so many possible answers! Over the years, I have played with various sorting schemes. Because I use mainly stockbooks, switching things around is a pleasure I indulge in from time to time. Overall, my stamps are almost all sorted by continent and country of issue. My favourite and most common sorting technique is to go by shape/orientation/size. So large rectangular vertical stamps together, then smaller vertical rectangles. Then squares, then horizontal rectangles. Triangles, diamonds, and circles by themselves. Souvenir sheets on their own, but usually with the single stamps associated to the same set next to them. Often I separate each size/orientation/shape class in two sets, one for series of stamps that all belong together, and one for commemorative singles. Definitive series are usually kept together and separate as well. For series that mix up different orientations and/or sizes, I devote another section. The order of the sections is variable. The advantage is that I can then move one section forwards or backwards easily without disturbing the rest. Within one section, especially for single stamps, I will often (but not always) sort the stamps by denomination (either increasing or decreasing, depending on my mood at the time). If the stamps issued by this country can be easily separated in periods, because of a change in currency (say from Markka to Euros in Finland), or by country's official name (like French Andorra), then I separate according to that first. In some cases where I have very complete collections, I have gone in catalog number order, but this can lead to a lot of moving around when you finally get a pesky early-issue missing stamp! I have also tried just ordering by denomination first, and within that by size and orientation, but it's not something I would recommend because it mixes stuff up too much. Lastly, another choice I sometimes make is to sort by theme first, and within themes by orientation/size/shape/price. I must say that aesthetically, I find the sort by size and orientation on the stockbooks pages to give the best effect. But from a philatelic standpoint, if one is looking for a particular stamp, ordering by issue number definitely has its appeal. But to each his own!

Hi

See the following link.   thestampforum.boards.net/post/114941/thread

Jerry B