daveg28
Member 
Posts: 1,062 
What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on May 16, 2021 0:31:45 GMT
Many of you know from other posts I’ve made, I’ve come into a lot of mint/unused stamps recently. I need to store them better than just stuffing them in a big glassine envelope so I can somewhat catalog them. Can I get some recommendations for stock books that will hold quite a bit and not break the bank? I’ve started with searching Amazon but I haven’t found anything yet. Thanks.
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cjd
Member
Posts: 1,107
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Post by cjd on May 16, 2021 2:07:14 GMT
I don't know your needs or wants, but I feel when it's worth pulling stamps out of glassines, it's worth touching them once and putting them into Vario pages, so they can be organized and (more importantly, for me) scanned as is.
Personally, if I was embarking on a new sorting project, I'd much prefer to arrange and rearrange 50 Vario pages than deal with one or two bound stockbooks. (And I really want nothing to do with manila stock pages ever again.)
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Ryan
Moderator 
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on May 16, 2021 3:40:49 GMT
If you're looking for these stockbooks to be for storage and organizing things rather than displaying a collection, then I'd recommend that you buy white page stockbooks with the semi-translucent glassine strips. The black page stockbooks with perfectly clear mylar strips look much nicer when you're using the book to display your stamps one at a time, but the bonding of the mylar strip on to the black page is usually fairly fragile and they often break the "weld" between the strip and the page, allowing the strip to partially come off (and then you start having problems with the stamps getting stuck against the glue remnants which had been holding the strip to the page). The white page stockbooks with the glassine strips are much more robust and they can handle lots more grief, such as overlapping stamps to save space. When combined with the right kind of tongs (bent spade!), you can usually mess around with lots of stamps without damaging the glassine strips.
I still like black pages best for anything to do with display, as the perforations show up so nicely with them. But for any kind of intermediate sorting and storage process, white page stockbooks are my preference. 64 page books hold a lot of stamps but I have found the spines start to weaken over time and usage, and I would rather have two 32 page books than a single 64 page book. Of course, my shelf has about as many 64 page books as anything, bought before I learned what I liked best. Oh well.
Ryan
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,698
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on May 16, 2021 10:19:20 GMT
I just use Vario stock pages and spare binders. They are durable and be used over and over.
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gmot
Member
Posts: 205
What I collect: Canada & French Morocco
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Post by gmot on May 16, 2021 11:22:34 GMT
I prefer the look & ease of handling of stockbooks, but stock pages in a binder are more flexible. My son organizes a lot of my country collections/dups and he definitely prefers stock pages. So I'd defer to his opinion since he's doing most of the work  |
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pattib
Member
Posts: 80
What I collect: Anything France but especially semi-postal. Worldwide to 1920.
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Post by pattib on May 16, 2021 11:31:40 GMT
I agree with cjd . I honestly just last week started putting my mint stamps in a used 16 page stock book. I was surprised to find how quickly it filled up. I am stacking stamps on top of each other and am no where near done. I have a difficult time getting stamps into Vario pages, but will have to bite the bullet and put my mint stamps in those soon. In the long run, I think it will save a lot of time, money, and frustration. I also agree with Ryan about the stock books with semi-translucent strips and a white background. If you are going with a stock book these strips are much easier to manipulate and stack stamps where needed. Currently I have two used 16 page stock books acquired when purchasing floor sweeper lots on Ebay to start my collection. That might be a good way to get some stock books that don't break the bank. |
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tomiseksj
Moderator
Woodbridge, Virginia, USA
Posts: 6,385
What I collect: Worldwide stamps/covers, Cinderellas, Ohio Prepaid Sales Tax Receipts, U.S. WWII Ration ephemera
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Post by tomiseksj on May 16, 2021 11:53:42 GMT
While I have both stock books and Vario pages, the bulk of my duplicates are stored on manila pages housed in 3" binders. The primary advantage I find is that you can add the catalog numbers in pencil below the stamps on the strips. You can also layer multiple copies of the same stamp in them to save space.
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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 May 16, 2021 15:31:14 GMT
I am in the Vario camp- While it's easier to notate a manilla stock page, I can't see the bottom of the the stamp. I have atop my desk an olde watermark tray that I have filled with cut pieces of blank cardstock ~1/2" x 1? and 1" x 1" which I make notes and insert into the vario either next to the stamp or if a study lot, at the top left row where they start. I buy the double sided dealer packs 4x 25 for about $0.61 a page, which last time I looked was less than I could buy 100 manilla stock pages
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ajkitt
Member
Inactive
Posts: 175
What I collect: Classics, Central Europe, World
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Post by ajkitt on May 17, 2021 2:26:13 GMT
Auction houses pretty routinely have piles of stock books and stock pages in their listings. I bought a carton of miscellaneous stuff a few years ago and have never lacked since. To me, they're just "temporary" storage, so why go new?
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daveg28
Member
Posts: 1,062
What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on May 17, 2021 13:19:35 GMT
I like the idea of the manila stock pages so I can note the catalog numbers, but they don't seem readily available. Maybe I just keep them in glassines, note the cat numbers on the envelope, and keep them in an index car box.
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