10. Choosing an Album

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Worldwide albums, for the most part, are printed on both sides. As you fill stamps in, remember that stamps may interlock and touch those on the opposite page, tear at the perfs or cause the paper of the stamps to fold. To prevent this, consider buying glassine interleaf sheets, available from most major loose-leaf album companies. They look something like wax paper and are semi-transparent. If you've experienced interlocking problems, this is your best solution.

What I did may be a little costly, but I intended to stay with the hobby for many years. I purchased the "pages only" for the entire world that go with the Scott's Specialty Series albums, costing well over $1,000. These pages are printed on one side only. I sorted out the pages alphabetically and then purchased #4 sized Scott

The Scott Minuteman is one of many choices for the collector of United States stamps.

Specialty Binders that are for loose leaf pages, each holding 400 pages. I decided to only install pages that I had stamps for. That way my albums don't have a lot of blank pages. As I purchase stamps I add the appropriate pages. This works out very well, as I now have about 20 albums, but this plan may not be to your liking.

An alternative is to simply buy binders and blank pages to fill them. That way you can make up your own pages to suit yourself. This would be a lot less costly and you'd have fun designing customized pages. A cheaper alternative would be to buy three ring binders and again make up your own pages. If by chance you have a computer, you can buy software that will allow you to design pages that could look even better than preprinted ones. One downfall to this method is that you may need to continually remount material as you go along.

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