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General Philatelic/Gen. Discussion : How To Organize?

 

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Cattywumpuss
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The odds are good, but the goods are odd.

27 Aug 2015
06:56:15pm
Greetings All. I realize that this question will elicit many answers, perhaps as many as there are stamps in the world. I also realize that there is not necessarily a right answer or a wrong answer, and that’s fine too. All I really wanted was a bunch of opinions to see what others thought and if anybody had any wonderful thoughts or ideas I had not come up with yet. That said, on to the question.

I have been sorting out my collection or a while now and have not really honed in on any specific area of collection for the time being. Instead I have just been collecting stamps from all over the place, with an emphasis on the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.

I have started sorting out my collection and have been placing the stamps in stock books. I have been arranging the stamps first by continent, then by country, and lastly by denomination. This seems to work fine for most of my collection which consists of various numbers of stamps from a variety of countries.

However, I have a larger number of stamps (enough so that they have their own stock books) from the US, UK and Germany, and so I was wondering if I should perhaps arrange those differently in the stock books? Perhaps I should take age in to consideration? Or maybe I should split definitive and commemorative stamps? Should I arrange Germany by East Germany, West Germany and unified Germany? Should I sort by color?

I realize there are many ways to sort my stamps, but I am interested to see how folks here would tackle the problem. Thanks so much, and hope you all have a great evening,

Paul.

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Guthrum
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27 Aug 2015
07:34:22pm
re: How To Organize?

I would advise sorting by date of issue first, for which you will need a simplified catalogue. Perhaps your local library has one such, or maybe you can find some old catalogues on cheap offer. This would give you a far better perspective on the history of your country and the way its stamps reflected what was considered important or worthwhile at the time. (I am thinking especially of Germany here, where separating East and West German stamps from 1949-1990, for example, would seem obligatory.)

Where stamps have not been produced wholly for topical collectors, they will always reveal something of historical or sociological importance. Even if your interests lie elsewhere than this (for example, different printings, perforations or watermarks) a chronological ordering will serve you better than, say, denomination or colour.

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Inverkeilorjohn

28 Aug 2015
03:10:43am
re: How To Organize?

I too had that problem a while back. I first sorted stamps by country in stock books by size and landscape/portrait configuration (in sets).i.e. small portrait, large portrait, very large portrait etc. That enabled me to find duplicates. If you obtain more stamps for that country before you have a chance to catalogue them, it lets you quite quickly check for duplicates.

In some instances where I had too many of one type of stamp e.g. large portrait I would sub divide them into types e.g. Christmas, head & shoulders, animals, flowers etc.

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thebiggnome
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28 Aug 2015
08:16:38am
re: How To Organize?

"a chronological ordering will serve you better than, say, denomination or colour"



Guthrum, while I think I agree with you, allow me to play devil's advocate for a moment. You say chronological ordering will reveal things of historical or sociological importance. Is this the only way such ordering will better serve you? Not everyone is interested in the history or social aspects of their stamps.

The original poster is American, and therefore most likely to have access to Scott catalogs than any other brand. A strictly chronological ordering would not match the Scott numbering system (since airmail, semipostal, postage due and such all have their own sections) and could cause much confusion. Will this better serve anyone?

I don't know about you, but when I begin a big sort in unfamiliar territory, I initially sort by denomination. While I can (and do) use clues like style, subject or cancellation, it is often difficult to tell when a stamp was issued, without using a catalog. For commemoratives sorting by denomination roughly gets them started in a chronological order anyway.

I never really thought about sorting by color before. This would be difficult for multicolor issues. I'm not very artsy-fartsy. When I was a kid, I wondered why there were so many green, blue and red stamps, but I figured they just didn't have as good ink-color technology back then. However, if I had sorted early issues by color I might have noticed there was a pattern and that pattern existed in multiple countries. I'm not sure if I would have discovered why it exists, but I might have figured it out. As it is, I went at least 25 years without knowing, until I came across it in ancillary reading.


As I said, I do agree, and have all my stamps in chronological order, but that's basically because that's how catalogs and albums have them arranged. It saves me time to keep them in the same order the catalogs have them. I've been thinking a lot about topicals recently, and am reluctant to just arrange them in boring checklist order. Order is necessary for things such as checklists, but perhaps not for display or for organizing in albums.

Are there other ways we are better served by organizing chronologically?

Chris
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ikeyPikey
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28 Aug 2015
09:45:46am
re: How To Organize?

"... For commemoratives sorting by denomination roughly gets them started in a chronological order anyway ..."



Posted by someone who has clearly enjoyed life in a time & place with a stable currency Happy

Never mind occupation currencies, pre-post-colonial currencies, post-hyper-inflation re-valuated currencies, and voluntary adoptions of new currencies.

I like Inverkeilorjohn's suggestions, as I did the same thing when I was managing a small chem lab at a small women's liberal arts college.

One of the professors had organized 70-odd linear feet lab supplies by a particular supplier's proprietary catalog number, the thought being that even undergraduates should learn the correct name for each item so they could look up the catalog number and find the item.

Of course, what they actually did was hunt-and-peck (there were not that many shelves) or ask each other or, worst of all, ask me.

I separated the supplies by material: clear glass, ceramic, metallic, rubber, paper, etc. Within clear glass, quantities compelled me to group all of the straight-sided beakers, all of the Erlenmeyer flasks, etc, and within all of those categories I worked by size.

Everybody loved the new system except, of course, my boss - the guy who had laboriously typed all of those shelf labels with catalog numbers & names. I pointed-out that different catalogs had differently-styled names for the same items, making his system inherently arbitrary, but it was unnecessary: I had already won the war, by acclamation.

I would try breaking the portraits into 'heads comma face front', 'heads comma profile', and 'heads comma quarter view' but that's me.

Q/ What to do about with & without shoulders?

Q/ What to do about with & without epaulets?

Try working chronologically, and you will end-up being Twelve Years A Slave To Scott.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey
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Cattywumpuss
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The odds are good, but the goods are odd.

28 Aug 2015
12:24:37pm
re: How To Organize?

Thank you all for some great feedback already. I knew I could rely on this group! Happy

Guthrum, I do have several simple catalogs at my disposal: a 2014 version of Scott's Pocket Catalog; a 2014 USPS Guide to US Stamps; and a 2014 Stanley Gibbons British Stamps guide. I figured those would get me going with the US and UK, but of course that still leaves Germany. (Any suggestions for a good catalog of German stamps?)

I did think of sorting by date of issue. The only reason I did not jump in to that right away is it would mean a lot of further sorting, research and placing stamps in order before I put them in my stock books. Or else a lot of moving around of stamps after they go in the stock book. I do like the idea of the social / historical perspective that might be revealed though.

Chris, thanks for playing devil's advocate. I do realize that the Scott's catalogs have their own sections for Airmail, Postage Due, etc. and so I did think about whether they should be separated out on their own like they are in the catalog, However, that seemed like a lot more work than I wanted to take on at this point as I would have to become quite familiar with those special sub-set of stamps in order to identify them and sort them separately.

I am just getting my collection sorted (until now my stamps were in various albums, bags, envelopes, boxes, etc.) and so I am trying to make judicious use of my time. I only seem to be able to work on my collection at the weekends too. This little thing called 'work' gets in the way during the week! Big Grin

Good food for thought though Chris.

ikeyPikey, I think I am going to run in to the currency issues when I try and sort Germany out. Initially I am sure I will have to sort out the German stamps by: Pre-WWII Germany, East Germany; West Germany; and unified Germany. Then after that I am not too sure. One of the cons I noticed about sorting by denomination is that when you have a nice commemorative set you can end up splitting the set up if the stamps were issued at different prices.

Just trying to figure out how I want to do things from the get-go so I do not end up changing my mind in a year or so and having to re-do my stock books. Although if I did, I doubt I would be the first person to do so! Thanks for all the great feedback again, and hope you all have a great day,

Paul.

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BenFranklin1902
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Tom in Exton, PA

28 Aug 2015
01:15:12pm
re: How To Organize?

I am in the same place as you are, just starting to attempt organizing a huge hoard of stuff I collected in my youth. Some of these books and boxes haven't been opened since 1980. When I joined this group I identified myself as a collector of one stamp, the 1902 1 cent issue in my avatar, but I've since discovered I have many collections, some of which I had plum forgot about.

What I decided to do was sort out my USA collection to see what I actually had. I know that I have mint and used singles, often saved corner singles and blocks, zip and plate singles, plate blocks and covers. I didn't want to have a single stamp collection, and then a plate block collection and a first day cover collection. I decided that if I had any one of these items, that would represent that specific stamp.

For sorting I bought 2 pocket clear pages, punched for a 3 ring binder. That way I can keep binders for any era or set I choose, and add or delete pages and move things from binder to binder as the situation arises. I cut index cards up and put a label of what stamp should be there in every pocket. This way I'm not only cataloging what I have, but making note of what I'm missing.

For the initial sort, based on what I knew I had, I started with the commemoratives of 1919. The first binder starts with the Scott 537 Victory stamp, which I had a mint single, and goes all the way through 1929. As I go through my boxes, I found that I had a stamp, block of 4, FDC or even a cover with interesting usage of a specific stamp, I put it in the correct spot in the binder.

I decided to do the definitives of this era in a separate sort, so for now they are all being placed in standard stock books. Same with 19th century, one stock book, Series of 1902, one stock book, Washington/Franklins in their own stock book as well for now.

Past the binder that ends with 1929, I started doing the same by decade. So I have one from 1930-39, 1940-49, and I'm working on the 1950-59 one right now. I'm actually amazed at how complete I am in these eras, and with multiple examples. For some stamps my pocket has a mint stamp, a plate block and a first day cover. Other fairly common issues surprised me when I didn't even have a used single.

My goal is to create my own album pages someday and a page for a stamp issue may have a single, plate block and a cover on it. If I have a couple of nice covers on that issue, it can run a couple of pages. I have no set format and limitations.

For now, I haven't made any final determinations, I'm just letting it flow, and my binders will allow for any strategy changes in the future. I am following Scott order and will keep the Airmail and Post Dues etc in their own sections.

But so far the clear two pocket pages have been serving me well. I can keep all the items of different sizes together and see what I've got at a glance.

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Guthrum
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28 Aug 2015
04:38:35pm
re: How To Organize?

Paul, Chris and others:
Linking stamp issues with the socio-political history of a country works only up to a point - but it's that point which drives my own interest in Third Reich Germany and Stalinist Russia. Both of these were of course totalitarian regimes, where one might expect stamp issues and designs to be carefully controlled to present a propagandist face to their own populations and to the outside world.

If you try to do the same thing with GB you run into serious difficulty. The policy of the Royal Mail (whether set down in writing or otherwise) seemed to be to avoid any reference to the country or to its history (royalty excepted) - as if it were above that sort of thing. (I speak of the period before the Benn reforms.) The 'Victory' issues after WW2 are a prime example - the stamp-using public and the stamp-collecting hobby alike must have been mystified as to their quite inscrutable timing and design.

It may be that we in the UK are better served by our SG catalogue than the US. Germany may be better served than either - a simplified Michel catalogue, available in English, should cater for basic needs.

It's also evident that many on this forum possess stamps in such astronomically vast numbers that my advice on chronological ordering becomes impractical. My non-collection stamps, accumulated randomly over the years and not required for any current purpose, are either in stockbooks arranged by country, or in small boxes labelled by continent. Their ordering is irrelevant - a job for the grandchildren one day long hence.

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philb
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28 Aug 2015
07:15:26pm

Auctions
re: How To Organize?

i could use another room that would fit a couple of good sized bookcases !!!!

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cdj1122
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..

28 Aug 2015
10:36:34pm
re: How To Organize?

As for stock book pages, they are simply by country. Occasionally nations like Germany are subdivided as noted by others.
I have Minkus Supreme Globals up to about 1975-'76.
After that certain nations have their own binders. Some countries simply get new sets hinged (Yes HINGED, mint or used.) to a blank page as I acquire them and inserted into the Minkus binders.
US, UK and China have the entire range 1840 to date in their own binders on blank pages annotated to my whims. Other countries I enjoy have separate binders post about 1975 or so. Each binder has several stock pages at the rear where new acquisitions can be stored by country till I am ready to mount the stamps. When I have several years mostly complete the stamps are then hinged in reasonably year order and the pages are placed in the appropriate binder.
The local library has a set of Scotts and when I need to organize a years worth of stamps I have been getting dropped off, with stamps and tools, a thermos of coffee and something for a snack so I can use their catalogs if necessary to arrange the stamps, usually of just one or two countries at a time.



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malcolm197

31 Aug 2015
08:01:49am
re: How To Organize?

With arranging collections, you cannot take a "one size fits all" approach. As issue policies vary so much, the way you would arrange say UK and USA will necessarily differ fudamentally, and also differ from every other country. However a little thought, considering a country in isolation will usually suggest a sensible approach ( or in some cases a choice of 2 or more ). I collect all-world, but would give just a couple of examples.

1)USA - Standard definitives,followed by all the "flag" definitives, followed by"NVI" definitives followed by Airmail,followed by Christmas/Greeting followed by other commems followed by Express,postage dues and other special purpose stamps all in roughly chronological order,except that all "definitive sets" are kept together even when not strictly issued at the same time. Sets are subdivided in groups into Tagged/untagged,coils and booklets etc. Large sets are mounted in face value order. Sets such as "Famous Americans" are defined as set out in the SG catalogue for convenience ( they are in several groups ).I don't have any really modern stamps so I am not sure how I am going to treat or define "Forever" definitives and commemoratives.

2) UK. All commemorative/special stamps in chronological order. All definitives pre QE2 and postage dues likewise. QE2 Wildings and pre-decimal Machins in face value order, each variety of face value/phosphor/flourescent/value type in chronological order before starting the next. Machins is far too complicated to go into here,but again is basically in face value order,followed by DoubleHeads and other "Commemorative" Machin definitives.Regional Wildings and Machins have their own volume. So far I have 6 volumes of Machins with thousands more stamps in various stages of sorting.

Every other country has it's own individual treatment -and countries are grouped in albums by geography or political relationship ( e.g all French colonies and their successive political systems are kept together). A very cursory study of each countries history and it's relations with other countries ( before or after) will usually suggest it's treatment, without too much pain.

This is all a bit longwinded - however it is the logic you apply rather than the end result which is important.

Maslcolm

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Philatarium
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APS #187980

31 Aug 2015
06:37:02pm
re: How To Organize?

Paul -- I just put 2 and 2 together, and see that you're in Anchorage. Armed with that fact, I learned that the Anchorage Public Library has the Scott catalogues. It looks like, like most libraries that get them, the current year is in reference, but that the prior years circulate. So it might be worth taking a look and seeing if you can start checking them out. This'll at least help give you an idea on how you'd like to organize things. (Not that you need to keep to a strict catalog order, but at least it'll give you a pretty good overview of things.)

http://jlc-web.uaa.alaska.edu/client/apl/search/results?qu=Scott+stamp+catalogue&te=ILS



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oldguy
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31 Aug 2015
08:11:12pm

Approvals
re: How To Organize?

I recommend you just donate them all to the APS Stamps Teach program and start over with a clean slate. http://www.stamps.org/Stamps-Teach

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cdj1122
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..

31 Aug 2015
10:15:25pm
re: How To Organize?

" .... Initially I am sure I will have to sort out the German stamps by: Pre-WWII Germany, East Germany; West Germany; and unified Germany. ...."

Not to be picky but Germany is one national grouping that greatly illustrates either the need to be aware of some history or you will shortly learn history as you go.

I'd start with;
1.) Pre WW I and its immediate aftermath, up to the beginning of the inflation issues
2.) The Nazi Era, Pre-WWII and WW II Occupation issues such as the General Government, Bohemia and so on
3.) The Allied Occupation Issues,
4.) Berlin,
5.) East Germany;
6.) West Germany;
7.) Unified Germany.
Then The semi-independent pre-Unification issues of German States Bohemia, Prussia and so on can be separate or inserted where they seem to go, (before after or during)
Danzig,
Colonial issues.
This is simply the way I think of Germany, somewhat by calendar, but also by political situation.
I have the wartime issues of Norway and Netherlands in their country albums, but a second set, originally duplicates that are also mounted along with the Nazi era, also the Italian Socialist State stamps issued under Nazi control after Italy switched sides.

Ooops, I forgot a second set of he Belgium and Norwegian "V" stamps is about three quarters completed and included in the Allied occupation issues.

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Cattywumpuss
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The odds are good, but the goods are odd.

01 Sep 2015
05:48:28pm
re: How To Organize?

Thank you for all the wonderful feedback. It has provided much food for thought, which is exactly what I was after. I wanted to try and consider as many options as I could before I take the plunge and get half way through sorting a country out, and then realize I could be organizing things completely differently. Hope you all have a great afternoon,

Paul.

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Cattywumpuss

The odds are good, but the goods are odd.
27 Aug 2015
06:56:15pm

Greetings All. I realize that this question will elicit many answers, perhaps as many as there are stamps in the world. I also realize that there is not necessarily a right answer or a wrong answer, and that’s fine too. All I really wanted was a bunch of opinions to see what others thought and if anybody had any wonderful thoughts or ideas I had not come up with yet. That said, on to the question.

I have been sorting out my collection or a while now and have not really honed in on any specific area of collection for the time being. Instead I have just been collecting stamps from all over the place, with an emphasis on the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.

I have started sorting out my collection and have been placing the stamps in stock books. I have been arranging the stamps first by continent, then by country, and lastly by denomination. This seems to work fine for most of my collection which consists of various numbers of stamps from a variety of countries.

However, I have a larger number of stamps (enough so that they have their own stock books) from the US, UK and Germany, and so I was wondering if I should perhaps arrange those differently in the stock books? Perhaps I should take age in to consideration? Or maybe I should split definitive and commemorative stamps? Should I arrange Germany by East Germany, West Germany and unified Germany? Should I sort by color?

I realize there are many ways to sort my stamps, but I am interested to see how folks here would tackle the problem. Thanks so much, and hope you all have a great evening,

Paul.

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Guthrum

27 Aug 2015
07:34:22pm

re: How To Organize?

I would advise sorting by date of issue first, for which you will need a simplified catalogue. Perhaps your local library has one such, or maybe you can find some old catalogues on cheap offer. This would give you a far better perspective on the history of your country and the way its stamps reflected what was considered important or worthwhile at the time. (I am thinking especially of Germany here, where separating East and West German stamps from 1949-1990, for example, would seem obligatory.)

Where stamps have not been produced wholly for topical collectors, they will always reveal something of historical or sociological importance. Even if your interests lie elsewhere than this (for example, different printings, perforations or watermarks) a chronological ordering will serve you better than, say, denomination or colour.

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Inverkeilorjohn

28 Aug 2015
03:10:43am

re: How To Organize?

I too had that problem a while back. I first sorted stamps by country in stock books by size and landscape/portrait configuration (in sets).i.e. small portrait, large portrait, very large portrait etc. That enabled me to find duplicates. If you obtain more stamps for that country before you have a chance to catalogue them, it lets you quite quickly check for duplicates.

In some instances where I had too many of one type of stamp e.g. large portrait I would sub divide them into types e.g. Christmas, head & shoulders, animals, flowers etc.

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thebiggnome

28 Aug 2015
08:16:38am

re: How To Organize?

"a chronological ordering will serve you better than, say, denomination or colour"



Guthrum, while I think I agree with you, allow me to play devil's advocate for a moment. You say chronological ordering will reveal things of historical or sociological importance. Is this the only way such ordering will better serve you? Not everyone is interested in the history or social aspects of their stamps.

The original poster is American, and therefore most likely to have access to Scott catalogs than any other brand. A strictly chronological ordering would not match the Scott numbering system (since airmail, semipostal, postage due and such all have their own sections) and could cause much confusion. Will this better serve anyone?

I don't know about you, but when I begin a big sort in unfamiliar territory, I initially sort by denomination. While I can (and do) use clues like style, subject or cancellation, it is often difficult to tell when a stamp was issued, without using a catalog. For commemoratives sorting by denomination roughly gets them started in a chronological order anyway.

I never really thought about sorting by color before. This would be difficult for multicolor issues. I'm not very artsy-fartsy. When I was a kid, I wondered why there were so many green, blue and red stamps, but I figured they just didn't have as good ink-color technology back then. However, if I had sorted early issues by color I might have noticed there was a pattern and that pattern existed in multiple countries. I'm not sure if I would have discovered why it exists, but I might have figured it out. As it is, I went at least 25 years without knowing, until I came across it in ancillary reading.


As I said, I do agree, and have all my stamps in chronological order, but that's basically because that's how catalogs and albums have them arranged. It saves me time to keep them in the same order the catalogs have them. I've been thinking a lot about topicals recently, and am reluctant to just arrange them in boring checklist order. Order is necessary for things such as checklists, but perhaps not for display or for organizing in albums.

Are there other ways we are better served by organizing chronologically?

Chris
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ikeyPikey

28 Aug 2015
09:45:46am

re: How To Organize?

"... For commemoratives sorting by denomination roughly gets them started in a chronological order anyway ..."



Posted by someone who has clearly enjoyed life in a time & place with a stable currency Happy

Never mind occupation currencies, pre-post-colonial currencies, post-hyper-inflation re-valuated currencies, and voluntary adoptions of new currencies.

I like Inverkeilorjohn's suggestions, as I did the same thing when I was managing a small chem lab at a small women's liberal arts college.

One of the professors had organized 70-odd linear feet lab supplies by a particular supplier's proprietary catalog number, the thought being that even undergraduates should learn the correct name for each item so they could look up the catalog number and find the item.

Of course, what they actually did was hunt-and-peck (there were not that many shelves) or ask each other or, worst of all, ask me.

I separated the supplies by material: clear glass, ceramic, metallic, rubber, paper, etc. Within clear glass, quantities compelled me to group all of the straight-sided beakers, all of the Erlenmeyer flasks, etc, and within all of those categories I worked by size.

Everybody loved the new system except, of course, my boss - the guy who had laboriously typed all of those shelf labels with catalog numbers & names. I pointed-out that different catalogs had differently-styled names for the same items, making his system inherently arbitrary, but it was unnecessary: I had already won the war, by acclamation.

I would try breaking the portraits into 'heads comma face front', 'heads comma profile', and 'heads comma quarter view' but that's me.

Q/ What to do about with & without shoulders?

Q/ What to do about with & without epaulets?

Try working chronologically, and you will end-up being Twelve Years A Slave To Scott.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey
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Cattywumpuss

The odds are good, but the goods are odd.
28 Aug 2015
12:24:37pm

re: How To Organize?

Thank you all for some great feedback already. I knew I could rely on this group! Happy

Guthrum, I do have several simple catalogs at my disposal: a 2014 version of Scott's Pocket Catalog; a 2014 USPS Guide to US Stamps; and a 2014 Stanley Gibbons British Stamps guide. I figured those would get me going with the US and UK, but of course that still leaves Germany. (Any suggestions for a good catalog of German stamps?)

I did think of sorting by date of issue. The only reason I did not jump in to that right away is it would mean a lot of further sorting, research and placing stamps in order before I put them in my stock books. Or else a lot of moving around of stamps after they go in the stock book. I do like the idea of the social / historical perspective that might be revealed though.

Chris, thanks for playing devil's advocate. I do realize that the Scott's catalogs have their own sections for Airmail, Postage Due, etc. and so I did think about whether they should be separated out on their own like they are in the catalog, However, that seemed like a lot more work than I wanted to take on at this point as I would have to become quite familiar with those special sub-set of stamps in order to identify them and sort them separately.

I am just getting my collection sorted (until now my stamps were in various albums, bags, envelopes, boxes, etc.) and so I am trying to make judicious use of my time. I only seem to be able to work on my collection at the weekends too. This little thing called 'work' gets in the way during the week! Big Grin

Good food for thought though Chris.

ikeyPikey, I think I am going to run in to the currency issues when I try and sort Germany out. Initially I am sure I will have to sort out the German stamps by: Pre-WWII Germany, East Germany; West Germany; and unified Germany. Then after that I am not too sure. One of the cons I noticed about sorting by denomination is that when you have a nice commemorative set you can end up splitting the set up if the stamps were issued at different prices.

Just trying to figure out how I want to do things from the get-go so I do not end up changing my mind in a year or so and having to re-do my stock books. Although if I did, I doubt I would be the first person to do so! Thanks for all the great feedback again, and hope you all have a great day,

Paul.

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Tom in Exton, PA
28 Aug 2015
01:15:12pm

re: How To Organize?

I am in the same place as you are, just starting to attempt organizing a huge hoard of stuff I collected in my youth. Some of these books and boxes haven't been opened since 1980. When I joined this group I identified myself as a collector of one stamp, the 1902 1 cent issue in my avatar, but I've since discovered I have many collections, some of which I had plum forgot about.

What I decided to do was sort out my USA collection to see what I actually had. I know that I have mint and used singles, often saved corner singles and blocks, zip and plate singles, plate blocks and covers. I didn't want to have a single stamp collection, and then a plate block collection and a first day cover collection. I decided that if I had any one of these items, that would represent that specific stamp.

For sorting I bought 2 pocket clear pages, punched for a 3 ring binder. That way I can keep binders for any era or set I choose, and add or delete pages and move things from binder to binder as the situation arises. I cut index cards up and put a label of what stamp should be there in every pocket. This way I'm not only cataloging what I have, but making note of what I'm missing.

For the initial sort, based on what I knew I had, I started with the commemoratives of 1919. The first binder starts with the Scott 537 Victory stamp, which I had a mint single, and goes all the way through 1929. As I go through my boxes, I found that I had a stamp, block of 4, FDC or even a cover with interesting usage of a specific stamp, I put it in the correct spot in the binder.

I decided to do the definitives of this era in a separate sort, so for now they are all being placed in standard stock books. Same with 19th century, one stock book, Series of 1902, one stock book, Washington/Franklins in their own stock book as well for now.

Past the binder that ends with 1929, I started doing the same by decade. So I have one from 1930-39, 1940-49, and I'm working on the 1950-59 one right now. I'm actually amazed at how complete I am in these eras, and with multiple examples. For some stamps my pocket has a mint stamp, a plate block and a first day cover. Other fairly common issues surprised me when I didn't even have a used single.

My goal is to create my own album pages someday and a page for a stamp issue may have a single, plate block and a cover on it. If I have a couple of nice covers on that issue, it can run a couple of pages. I have no set format and limitations.

For now, I haven't made any final determinations, I'm just letting it flow, and my binders will allow for any strategy changes in the future. I am following Scott order and will keep the Airmail and Post Dues etc in their own sections.

But so far the clear two pocket pages have been serving me well. I can keep all the items of different sizes together and see what I've got at a glance.

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Guthrum

28 Aug 2015
04:38:35pm

re: How To Organize?

Paul, Chris and others:
Linking stamp issues with the socio-political history of a country works only up to a point - but it's that point which drives my own interest in Third Reich Germany and Stalinist Russia. Both of these were of course totalitarian regimes, where one might expect stamp issues and designs to be carefully controlled to present a propagandist face to their own populations and to the outside world.

If you try to do the same thing with GB you run into serious difficulty. The policy of the Royal Mail (whether set down in writing or otherwise) seemed to be to avoid any reference to the country or to its history (royalty excepted) - as if it were above that sort of thing. (I speak of the period before the Benn reforms.) The 'Victory' issues after WW2 are a prime example - the stamp-using public and the stamp-collecting hobby alike must have been mystified as to their quite inscrutable timing and design.

It may be that we in the UK are better served by our SG catalogue than the US. Germany may be better served than either - a simplified Michel catalogue, available in English, should cater for basic needs.

It's also evident that many on this forum possess stamps in such astronomically vast numbers that my advice on chronological ordering becomes impractical. My non-collection stamps, accumulated randomly over the years and not required for any current purpose, are either in stockbooks arranged by country, or in small boxes labelled by continent. Their ordering is irrelevant - a job for the grandchildren one day long hence.

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philb

28 Aug 2015
07:15:26pm

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re: How To Organize?

i could use another room that would fit a couple of good sized bookcases !!!!

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28 Aug 2015
10:36:34pm

re: How To Organize?

As for stock book pages, they are simply by country. Occasionally nations like Germany are subdivided as noted by others.
I have Minkus Supreme Globals up to about 1975-'76.
After that certain nations have their own binders. Some countries simply get new sets hinged (Yes HINGED, mint or used.) to a blank page as I acquire them and inserted into the Minkus binders.
US, UK and China have the entire range 1840 to date in their own binders on blank pages annotated to my whims. Other countries I enjoy have separate binders post about 1975 or so. Each binder has several stock pages at the rear where new acquisitions can be stored by country till I am ready to mount the stamps. When I have several years mostly complete the stamps are then hinged in reasonably year order and the pages are placed in the appropriate binder.
The local library has a set of Scotts and when I need to organize a years worth of stamps I have been getting dropped off, with stamps and tools, a thermos of coffee and something for a snack so I can use their catalogs if necessary to arrange the stamps, usually of just one or two countries at a time.



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malcolm197

31 Aug 2015
08:01:49am

re: How To Organize?

With arranging collections, you cannot take a "one size fits all" approach. As issue policies vary so much, the way you would arrange say UK and USA will necessarily differ fudamentally, and also differ from every other country. However a little thought, considering a country in isolation will usually suggest a sensible approach ( or in some cases a choice of 2 or more ). I collect all-world, but would give just a couple of examples.

1)USA - Standard definitives,followed by all the "flag" definitives, followed by"NVI" definitives followed by Airmail,followed by Christmas/Greeting followed by other commems followed by Express,postage dues and other special purpose stamps all in roughly chronological order,except that all "definitive sets" are kept together even when not strictly issued at the same time. Sets are subdivided in groups into Tagged/untagged,coils and booklets etc. Large sets are mounted in face value order. Sets such as "Famous Americans" are defined as set out in the SG catalogue for convenience ( they are in several groups ).I don't have any really modern stamps so I am not sure how I am going to treat or define "Forever" definitives and commemoratives.

2) UK. All commemorative/special stamps in chronological order. All definitives pre QE2 and postage dues likewise. QE2 Wildings and pre-decimal Machins in face value order, each variety of face value/phosphor/flourescent/value type in chronological order before starting the next. Machins is far too complicated to go into here,but again is basically in face value order,followed by DoubleHeads and other "Commemorative" Machin definitives.Regional Wildings and Machins have their own volume. So far I have 6 volumes of Machins with thousands more stamps in various stages of sorting.

Every other country has it's own individual treatment -and countries are grouped in albums by geography or political relationship ( e.g all French colonies and their successive political systems are kept together). A very cursory study of each countries history and it's relations with other countries ( before or after) will usually suggest it's treatment, without too much pain.

This is all a bit longwinded - however it is the logic you apply rather than the end result which is important.

Maslcolm

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Philatarium

APS #187980
31 Aug 2015
06:37:02pm

re: How To Organize?

Paul -- I just put 2 and 2 together, and see that you're in Anchorage. Armed with that fact, I learned that the Anchorage Public Library has the Scott catalogues. It looks like, like most libraries that get them, the current year is in reference, but that the prior years circulate. So it might be worth taking a look and seeing if you can start checking them out. This'll at least help give you an idea on how you'd like to organize things. (Not that you need to keep to a strict catalog order, but at least it'll give you a pretty good overview of things.)

http://jlc-web.uaa.alaska.edu/client/apl/search/results?qu=Scott+stamp+catalogue&te=ILS



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oldguy

31 Aug 2015
08:11:12pm

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re: How To Organize?

I recommend you just donate them all to the APS Stamps Teach program and start over with a clean slate. http://www.stamps.org/Stamps-Teach

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31 Aug 2015
10:15:25pm

re: How To Organize?

" .... Initially I am sure I will have to sort out the German stamps by: Pre-WWII Germany, East Germany; West Germany; and unified Germany. ...."

Not to be picky but Germany is one national grouping that greatly illustrates either the need to be aware of some history or you will shortly learn history as you go.

I'd start with;
1.) Pre WW I and its immediate aftermath, up to the beginning of the inflation issues
2.) The Nazi Era, Pre-WWII and WW II Occupation issues such as the General Government, Bohemia and so on
3.) The Allied Occupation Issues,
4.) Berlin,
5.) East Germany;
6.) West Germany;
7.) Unified Germany.
Then The semi-independent pre-Unification issues of German States Bohemia, Prussia and so on can be separate or inserted where they seem to go, (before after or during)
Danzig,
Colonial issues.
This is simply the way I think of Germany, somewhat by calendar, but also by political situation.
I have the wartime issues of Norway and Netherlands in their country albums, but a second set, originally duplicates that are also mounted along with the Nazi era, also the Italian Socialist State stamps issued under Nazi control after Italy switched sides.

Ooops, I forgot a second set of he Belgium and Norwegian "V" stamps is about three quarters completed and included in the Allied occupation issues.

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Cattywumpuss

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01 Sep 2015
05:48:28pm

re: How To Organize?

Thank you for all the wonderful feedback. It has provided much food for thought, which is exactly what I was after. I wanted to try and consider as many options as I could before I take the plunge and get half way through sorting a country out, and then realize I could be organizing things completely differently. Hope you all have a great afternoon,

Paul.

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