They don't bug me.
I tend to only print the pages I have stamps for but the odd missing stamp or empty space is not a problem.
I have recently been filling an old Davo GB album and have been cursing Gibbons for changing the colour description that is printed compared with the one in the catalogue. Had to go through my concise and enter the cat. number on the page before I could mount a load of Machins. mind you it has taken me about 25 or so years to get this far, thought I had better get some mounted before I pop my clogs.
I collect worldwide up to 1940 using the Scott International album so that a "complete" collection is at least doable, yet still a challenge with over 35,000 spaces.
I think empty holes are nothing to be ashamed of and in fact keep you humble and focused on the next acquisition.
I bought the hardbound auction catalog for the David Wingate collection of U.S. stamps that comes to auction in a couple of days. $1,000 stamps are chump change and even his inverted Jenny is not the most expensive stamp to be sold. Given all varieties he collected I'd be willing to bet there were a few empty holes in his collection too.
Also, I remember when I began collecting as a teenager if a stamps was a couple of dollars there was a hole because it was not in my budget. Maybe Dell4c that $22,000 B1 will be a manageable purchase some day!
Dennis
Holes do not bother me. If you want something to put there, print out an image and mount that. Call it a space filler.
If I didn't have holes I wouldn't have anything to collect
I have seen collections With pictures of the stamps put in place of the empty spaces. It filled in all the holes and he would replace them when he got a stamp. Some of the stamps looked real. That way no empty spots and can look nice.
Keep on Stamping Richard
My primary collection is US. I collect all press and major type differences, but I don't collect trivial perforation differences, rare paper types, watermarks, grills, or pre-Civil War "type differences" that are all on the same plate! I printed my own pages for definitives through the 3rd Bureau to eliminate those VERY expensive items that are just rare paper, rare grill, rare shade of pink, etc. I ended up printing my own pages for all the definitives after that because I wanted MORE than what the pre-printed pages had, like wet/dry printing, press differences on Transportation coils, etc. I also collect plate number singles for most type differences, so I needed a bigger footprint. Everything was too much and face different was not enough for my preferences.
For Commemoratives and Airmail, I mostly used the preprinted pages.
I have 4 "holes" in my US albums. I leave the 2 definitives blank to remind me that some day I hope to fill them. The other two missing stamps are State Department Officials and there are proofs that are quite affordable and make dandy space fillers. I may never replace those. I leave the two definitives blank because I don't want to lose focus on filling those holes!
So I didn't just print pages to match what I had, but I tried to develop a coherent collecting philosophy that avoided the impossible stamps needed to complete the collection.
I have been working on a presentation for several years and have hundreds of pages of notes, charts, graphs, etc. I don't have it ready for Prime Time, but the bottom line for a US collection through December 31, 1999, using 2008 Scott Specialized CV is this:
Total CV: $7,521,178
Seven and a half MILLION dollars. I'm out.
I broke down the components of that $7.5 million and found out:
$3,780,250 for Z grills
$1,739,045 for reprints
$643,253 for A-E grills
$425,506 for paper types (including watermarks)
$344,000 for 2nd Bureau coils
$308,290 for perforation varieties
$194,636 for mostly pre-Civil War varieties that were largely contrived by Ashbrook
That leaves
$86,198 for everything else. Not cheap, but possible over a lifetime.
Breaking down that $86K:
$26,778 F + H/I grills
$12,000 #485 5c red error (interestingly "only" $8,000 in 2016 Scott)
$6,506 watermarks
So if you forego grills, watermarks, and #485, now we're down to a CV of $40,914.
That's less than twice the Face Different CV of $25,800, and the more expensive items can be had at a percentage of CV based on your collecting needs. I'm generally happy with the quality at 25% CV and the few items I bought for 10-15% CV will likely be replaced some day (and I will sell the place holders to someone else with a blank spot).
So let's assume you pay 75% of CV for half the items (the cheap ones) and 25% of CV for the other half. That works out to $20,457. That's $85.24 per month over 20 years, $56.83 per month over 30 years, $42.62 per month over 40 years.
And those numbers are consistent with my experience collecting US.
Lars
" ... So let's assume you pay 75% of CV for half the items
(the cheap ones) and 25% of CV for the other half. ..."
I'd estimate something less than 20% of CL for inexpensive
because I have bought quite a few semi-filled albums
and moved the issues over to my Minkus Supreme.
Of course the obvious gems are creamed, but the owners,
relying on Scotts' guestinate and the auctioneer's
often polyannaish estamate can be misleading. But real bargains can be had, and filling those countries low cat stamps, in bulk is very inexpensive. Studying the numbers carefully for a few month is essential
Frequently lots with 1,00o - 2,000 CL or EST, sell at 10% to 15%
An example from last month's auction.
Two lots of North Borneo with a est $6.700 for both somd for about $700 or about 10%
The owner's calculation of the CL was abt $5,500
Of course I culled a few particular lots and some did go for 20-40% of Scotts CL. A few, peobably due to two stubborn bidders sold at the Est or above the Estimates.
I think they sometimes pull these estimates from a place where the Sun seldom shines. but the CL in a recent Scott can be verified.
I've gotten several lote from there auction an have yet to be dissatisfied. Quite often I find some really good set or item that has a good retail value were I to sell it.
"estimate something less than 20% of CL for inexpensive
because I have bought quite a few semi-filled albums
"
At one time I made a crude facsimile of the GB £5 orange stamp and put it in my album. It is the only time I have done that though.
Regarding holes, like most of us I find that the thrill is in the hunt and acquisition of stamps. Once I get one, I put it in my album and I'm off to the new quest. I fear the day that I have everything.. what would I do?
These 'holes' come in two types: those for which CV (and dealers' asking prices) are way beyond both pocket and common sense, and those for which CV is comparatively low, but no dealer anywhere in the world has ever had any in stock.
For the former I have taken to noting their existence briefly on my (self-made) album pages, with stern comments in small print such as "These stamps catalogue at many thousands of pounds and do not feature in this album". For the latter I leave blank rectangles. The size of these I measure according to the degree of reduction in the image displayed in the catalogue, a calculation which too often proves wrong and requires the whole page re-doing.
More frequent is the case of a set qualifying for more than one of my albums. For example, if a set was designed by Ivan Dubasov ('Dubasov' album) and printed in recess ('Recess' album), and was issued during WW2 ('WW2' album) then I do occasionally print off photocopies and mount them hinged, with an explanation such as, "The original set may be found in such-and-such an album". This is not wholly satisfactory, so occasionally just the explanation remains.
Yesterday I saw some pages made by a dealer in Thai revenue sets with the very expensive stamps replaced with printed replicas. They had been printed with a black background to match the mount so the fake perforations looked almost genuine.
My first reaction was shock, but he was open about them being replicas as the price of the page would have increased by a factor of at least a thousand. I still haven't decide whether it's good way of using the cheap home printing we can do nowadays. If I did it I think I would print "replica" on the replica.
Holes sounds so negative. They are album opportunities.
"Regarding holes, like most of us I find that the thrill is in the hunt and acquisition of stamps. Once I get one, I put it in my album and I'm off to the new quest. I fear the day that I have everything.. what would I do?"
I use stock books, not albums. This way I am in control of all empty spots.
The main reason is, there are so many stamps I am not trying to collect.
"There are so many stamps I am not trying to collect."
"There are so many stamps I am trying NOT to collect."
I was preparing a list of wants for a upcoming show and realized that there are holes in my album pages I will never fill. I use the Steiner pages for the countries I collect and was going through the French Morocco pages and noting the Scott number along with the mint and used catalog prices. When I got to the semi postals I found B1 was $22,500 and $26,000.
Having recently got my French West Africa to within one affordable missing stamp I guess it struck me that this county would never come to completion with these pages. Also I just visited a friend who collects and he makes his own pages. When looking though his Egypt I noticed he hadn't left a space for the high value 1938 royal wedding. I asked about it and he said he would likely never own one so why leave a space?
All this has got me wondering about what other collectors do with album holes they will never fill in? I know there are lots scattered throughout my albums but this has got me thinking more about it. I am considering using AlbumEasy and reworking some pages to just drop issues like the Fr Morocco B1 because I like the thought of being able to finish a country and being able to flip through the pages without seeing holes that I'll never fill.
What do you guys do with these empty spaces or don't they bug you?
re: Album Holes
They don't bug me.
re: Album Holes
I tend to only print the pages I have stamps for but the odd missing stamp or empty space is not a problem.
I have recently been filling an old Davo GB album and have been cursing Gibbons for changing the colour description that is printed compared with the one in the catalogue. Had to go through my concise and enter the cat. number on the page before I could mount a load of Machins. mind you it has taken me about 25 or so years to get this far, thought I had better get some mounted before I pop my clogs.
re: Album Holes
I collect worldwide up to 1940 using the Scott International album so that a "complete" collection is at least doable, yet still a challenge with over 35,000 spaces.
re: Album Holes
I think empty holes are nothing to be ashamed of and in fact keep you humble and focused on the next acquisition.
I bought the hardbound auction catalog for the David Wingate collection of U.S. stamps that comes to auction in a couple of days. $1,000 stamps are chump change and even his inverted Jenny is not the most expensive stamp to be sold. Given all varieties he collected I'd be willing to bet there were a few empty holes in his collection too.
Also, I remember when I began collecting as a teenager if a stamps was a couple of dollars there was a hole because it was not in my budget. Maybe Dell4c that $22,000 B1 will be a manageable purchase some day!
Dennis
re: Album Holes
Holes do not bother me. If you want something to put there, print out an image and mount that. Call it a space filler.
re: Album Holes
If I didn't have holes I wouldn't have anything to collect
re: Album Holes
I have seen collections With pictures of the stamps put in place of the empty spaces. It filled in all the holes and he would replace them when he got a stamp. Some of the stamps looked real. That way no empty spots and can look nice.
Keep on Stamping Richard
re: Album Holes
My primary collection is US. I collect all press and major type differences, but I don't collect trivial perforation differences, rare paper types, watermarks, grills, or pre-Civil War "type differences" that are all on the same plate! I printed my own pages for definitives through the 3rd Bureau to eliminate those VERY expensive items that are just rare paper, rare grill, rare shade of pink, etc. I ended up printing my own pages for all the definitives after that because I wanted MORE than what the pre-printed pages had, like wet/dry printing, press differences on Transportation coils, etc. I also collect plate number singles for most type differences, so I needed a bigger footprint. Everything was too much and face different was not enough for my preferences.
For Commemoratives and Airmail, I mostly used the preprinted pages.
I have 4 "holes" in my US albums. I leave the 2 definitives blank to remind me that some day I hope to fill them. The other two missing stamps are State Department Officials and there are proofs that are quite affordable and make dandy space fillers. I may never replace those. I leave the two definitives blank because I don't want to lose focus on filling those holes!
So I didn't just print pages to match what I had, but I tried to develop a coherent collecting philosophy that avoided the impossible stamps needed to complete the collection.
I have been working on a presentation for several years and have hundreds of pages of notes, charts, graphs, etc. I don't have it ready for Prime Time, but the bottom line for a US collection through December 31, 1999, using 2008 Scott Specialized CV is this:
Total CV: $7,521,178
Seven and a half MILLION dollars. I'm out.
I broke down the components of that $7.5 million and found out:
$3,780,250 for Z grills
$1,739,045 for reprints
$643,253 for A-E grills
$425,506 for paper types (including watermarks)
$344,000 for 2nd Bureau coils
$308,290 for perforation varieties
$194,636 for mostly pre-Civil War varieties that were largely contrived by Ashbrook
That leaves
$86,198 for everything else. Not cheap, but possible over a lifetime.
Breaking down that $86K:
$26,778 F + H/I grills
$12,000 #485 5c red error (interestingly "only" $8,000 in 2016 Scott)
$6,506 watermarks
So if you forego grills, watermarks, and #485, now we're down to a CV of $40,914.
That's less than twice the Face Different CV of $25,800, and the more expensive items can be had at a percentage of CV based on your collecting needs. I'm generally happy with the quality at 25% CV and the few items I bought for 10-15% CV will likely be replaced some day (and I will sell the place holders to someone else with a blank spot).
So let's assume you pay 75% of CV for half the items (the cheap ones) and 25% of CV for the other half. That works out to $20,457. That's $85.24 per month over 20 years, $56.83 per month over 30 years, $42.62 per month over 40 years.
And those numbers are consistent with my experience collecting US.
Lars
re: Album Holes
" ... So let's assume you pay 75% of CV for half the items
(the cheap ones) and 25% of CV for the other half. ..."
I'd estimate something less than 20% of CL for inexpensive
because I have bought quite a few semi-filled albums
and moved the issues over to my Minkus Supreme.
Of course the obvious gems are creamed, but the owners,
relying on Scotts' guestinate and the auctioneer's
often polyannaish estamate can be misleading. But real bargains can be had, and filling those countries low cat stamps, in bulk is very inexpensive. Studying the numbers carefully for a few month is essential
Frequently lots with 1,00o - 2,000 CL or EST, sell at 10% to 15%
An example from last month's auction.
Two lots of North Borneo with a est $6.700 for both somd for about $700 or about 10%
The owner's calculation of the CL was abt $5,500
Of course I culled a few particular lots and some did go for 20-40% of Scotts CL. A few, peobably due to two stubborn bidders sold at the Est or above the Estimates.
I think they sometimes pull these estimates from a place where the Sun seldom shines. but the CL in a recent Scott can be verified.
I've gotten several lote from there auction an have yet to be dissatisfied. Quite often I find some really good set or item that has a good retail value were I to sell it.
re: Album Holes
"estimate something less than 20% of CL for inexpensive
because I have bought quite a few semi-filled albums
"
re: Album Holes
At one time I made a crude facsimile of the GB £5 orange stamp and put it in my album. It is the only time I have done that though.
re: Album Holes
Regarding holes, like most of us I find that the thrill is in the hunt and acquisition of stamps. Once I get one, I put it in my album and I'm off to the new quest. I fear the day that I have everything.. what would I do?
re: Album Holes
These 'holes' come in two types: those for which CV (and dealers' asking prices) are way beyond both pocket and common sense, and those for which CV is comparatively low, but no dealer anywhere in the world has ever had any in stock.
For the former I have taken to noting their existence briefly on my (self-made) album pages, with stern comments in small print such as "These stamps catalogue at many thousands of pounds and do not feature in this album". For the latter I leave blank rectangles. The size of these I measure according to the degree of reduction in the image displayed in the catalogue, a calculation which too often proves wrong and requires the whole page re-doing.
More frequent is the case of a set qualifying for more than one of my albums. For example, if a set was designed by Ivan Dubasov ('Dubasov' album) and printed in recess ('Recess' album), and was issued during WW2 ('WW2' album) then I do occasionally print off photocopies and mount them hinged, with an explanation such as, "The original set may be found in such-and-such an album". This is not wholly satisfactory, so occasionally just the explanation remains.
re: Album Holes
Yesterday I saw some pages made by a dealer in Thai revenue sets with the very expensive stamps replaced with printed replicas. They had been printed with a black background to match the mount so the fake perforations looked almost genuine.
My first reaction was shock, but he was open about them being replicas as the price of the page would have increased by a factor of at least a thousand. I still haven't decide whether it's good way of using the cheap home printing we can do nowadays. If I did it I think I would print "replica" on the replica.
re: Album Holes
Holes sounds so negative. They are album opportunities.
re: Album Holes
"Regarding holes, like most of us I find that the thrill is in the hunt and acquisition of stamps. Once I get one, I put it in my album and I'm off to the new quest. I fear the day that I have everything.. what would I do?"
re: Album Holes
I use stock books, not albums. This way I am in control of all empty spots.
The main reason is, there are so many stamps I am not trying to collect.
re: Album Holes
"There are so many stamps I am not trying to collect."
"There are so many stamps I am trying NOT to collect."