Choosing the Best Stamp Album


All right. You've begun your stamp collection, accumulating stamps wherever you find them, and maybe even making a stamp purchase or two. But right now, all your stamps are in a shoebox. What's a new stamp collector to do?

It's true, a shoe box will provide storage. But it's not the safest way to store your stamps, and it's not exactly the way you'd like to display them, either. Shoeboxes hold a ton of stamps, but when you use a shoe box, you run the risk of damaging your stamps: creases, bent corners, perforation damage and the like are all too common in shoebox collections. Your stamps will lose value as well as much of their beauty. Stamp albums are the solution, providing safe storage as well as a beautiful way to present your stamp collection.

Many types of stamp albums are available. You can begin with a "beginner's stamp album," but you don't need to stick with it forever: if you and your stamp collection require it, you can graduate from a beginner album to a nicer, more comprehensive stamp album. Your beginner stamp album may even consist of homemade album pages in a spiral or three-ring binder, but we suggest one of the albums printed by commercial album publishers: the paper used for the album pages is heavier in weight and better able to support the stamps without ripping, tearing or becoming dog-eared.

If you're buying a commercially-made stamp album, don't be misled by claims that any particular stamp album is "the best:" what's best for you may be a lot different from what might be best for a very advanced stamp collector. Good but inexpensive beginner stamp albums are available; most feature stamp illustrations to show you where to mount the stamps, and some even provide additional information about the stamps.

Keep in mind, while selecting a stamp album, that some types may present problems. The most notable of these problems is caused by double-sided album pages, meaning albums where stamps are intended to be mounted on both sides of each page, front and back. When the album is closed, the stamps on the front of one page have a tendency to become tangled with the stamps on the back of the facing page, and they may even tear off the page when pages are turned or the book is opened or closed. It's best to buy a stamp album designed for stamps to only be mounted on one side of each page. But these can be more expensive, so you may be forced to use a doubled-sided album for your collection. If that's the case, invest in some good-quality interleaving or plastic sheet protectors: they'll prevent stamps from tangling.

Your stamp album should consist of quality, fairly heavyweight, acid-free paper: flimsy paper just will not stand up, and an album made of lightweight pages will end up not being a whole lot better than a shoebox. If you have a specialty stamp collection or you just don't like the way commercially-printed stamp albums look, you can make your own stamp album pages, but make sure you use acid-free paper to protect your stamps from discoloration caused by chemicals in the paper itself.

Choosing the best stamp album is an individual decision, and you're the only person who can decide which one is best for you. But think before you buy, don't jump at the first album you see. But don't be too concerned if you make the wrong decision or if you decide to "upgrade" later - you can always use your album for temporary storage or for storing your duplicate stamps. Any stamp album is better than a shoebox!