PRINTED ALBUM PAGES OR PENNY PLAIN?

Printed single-country albums have been strong in Europe since the 1920s. They are ideally suited to a straightforward run of "normal" stamps. As a collector, it is easy to see what is still needed as your collection progresses, and therefore to fill the gaps. And when your heirs eventually sell the collection, it is equally easy for a dealer to take in what is present and to assess a value; this method tends to achieve a higher price in auction.

One drawback is that these printed albums, if purchased new, tend to be rather expensive, especially for the postwar period where there are many pages needed for relatively cheap stamps; the pages may even cost more than what is mounted up on them. Safe and Lindner do offer a "dual" system, handy if you collect both mint and used. However, 2nd hand, such as the collections on our lists, these printed albums cost so much less, the price is basically the stamps themselves rather than the album.

Plain pages have tended to be the British approach for stamps of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, where shades and watermarks play a big part. This way offers a more flexible approach to the complications of philately. It entails more writing up, but this can be part of the pleasure of creating an individual and personal collection. If you reach competitive displays, this method is essential. A printed album can, of course, be expanded with suitable plain pages for specialist sections.

Any specialist collection of early material always needs an individual approach, on plain pages, or perhaps in a stockbook. Personally, I use stockbooks for our reference collections of German States, where shades and paper types need to be studied, and forgeries kept for comparison with genuine. Not so pretty, but more practical. Paper slips alongside are easy to change, and sections can be easily expanded without a major re-write.

From what we sell, I get the impression that collectors are equally divided between printed and plain albums, but I'm interested to hear your comments on how you collect.