My Greatest Stamp Collecting Mistake

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My goal is for you to learn from my mistakes, and to enjoy my adventures too.
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And join in the conversation below!
#stampcollecting #philately #stamps #collectingtips #collections

[@laurenceireson4538]

I am now 78 being a collector for most of my life. my houghts on album collections are as follows. It is rare to find good quality material because sets above a shilling were to expensive most contain used material only for the classic periods . The value is what its worth to you it could be someones life time work you have . IF you like it cherish it . Stamps are a HOBBY not a INVESTMENT Best Wishes Laurence

[@voneschenbachmusic]

Amen. I look at it like spending money to go to the cinema or something else that is fun - hours of fun but not something that will necessarily be worth anything.

[@ericbond5276]

I will buy plate blocks of Kansas Statehood and Traffic Safety and Austrian drug awareness. I will buy more than one plate block as well as single Austrian stamp.

[@carloscanabarro8386]

sim é apenas um hobby um entretenimento e muito educativo contudo pelo lado financeiro não.

[@PunkPhilatelist]

The mistakes are part of the collecting journey! But also, kudos to you for appreciating these albums for more than just their monetary value. Much of the attraction of this hobby is the appreciation of the culture that has come before us. It’s the vibe of the thing! Cheers from a new subscriber.

[@silkontheweb]

Totally agree! And welcome... thanks for subscribing

[@RichardLaurence]

When I was about 15, I took all my UK stamps out of my album, with the intention of remounting them. I put them in an envelope… and my mother threw them out. There were a lot of mint stamps which were valuable, even in the 1960s. I never had the heart to start a new collection so I switched to France and colonies!

[@silkontheweb]

Uggh... heartbreaking... my aunts have a story about their Mom tossing out their baseball card collection. Mantle, Mays, Aaron RCs... sounds to me like an opportunity to reclaim a lost childhood treasure!

[@bsherman8236]

What a beautiful book

[@fareast_de]

Nothing wrong with the content of this album. The Poland and New Zealand sections were excellent, and Macau and Malayan States stamps are highly sought after by Asian collectors. Did you overpay ? Well, perhaps a little bit, but not that much. My estimate with a quick shot would have been 100,-/ 150,- bucks. So, not a huge loss. Greets from GER, U.

[@silkontheweb]

Thanks! I feel a bit better... it's the fact that I didn't stop after the 1st one, and thought I'd make a collection out if it that makes me shake my head a bit.....

[@davidcolombier5673]

Hi, I love your video....i am a subscriber. I collect since 1972, age 8. I don't call that a mistake. I call it being passionate! I bargain for every stamp or stamp album I have. I started collecting in Paris, where I was born and lived 16 years, than, went to Los Angeles 12 years where I started my 2nd collection, and in 1992, I buried my mother in Israel, and moved there 29 years. All the stamps I have are donations. Nothing worth insuring. But it is a passion since almost 52 years. Til next time. David

[@voneschenbachmusic]

What a lovely way to collect!

[@terrybunting8685]

Keeping the wife happy is always a good idea, i must admit that i often have to thin out the accumulated items. Thank you for another great video, sharing the ups and downs 🙂

[@silkontheweb]

Agreed!

[@raulgongora2077]

Nice collection friend

[@deborahlee9972]

Ironically, one of my best purchases was one of those Minkus albums. Letter “G” which included three penny blacks! I’m a worldwide collector, so I can use a lot and I do take the albums apart. (Those album covers seem to buckle with the weight of older collections.)

[@silkontheweb]

Wow! Phenomenal find...

[@joannewolfe5688]

I guess I don't understand how such a beautiful album could NOT be worth $200! I love international stamps, and so many of them were mint! I know it's been nearly a year since you published this vid -- wondering whether you sold the albums?

[@silkontheweb]

Thanks for asking! That album (the M-P that I bought at an antique store) is a really nice album... and probably worth close to $200... the bigger mistake was falling for those Master Albums, because I just don't have room to store them in my house. To that end... I have been thinking about selling off some of my collection so I can focus on the more expensive USA stamps. If you have any interest in that M-Z album let me know, I could put it up on Ebay for you and send you a link.

[@silkontheweb]

Or we could skip the Ebay fees and you could drop me a line to my channel's email address... it's in the description of my videos... :)

[@piratephilately1087]

To be quite honest, I loved the "look" of those albums. And so when I first started back collecting, I used to drool over some day getting a set of those. But you are correct, a lot of bulk! BUT here is a story for the ages, I bought one at a club auction for $20. A penny black and a yellow 5 cadarin China stamp were my reward! I could not believe my eyes. The penny black was hidden on the black and white printing and easily missed. About the only thing I dislike about them is just the clutter on the page (and the need for page separators, to add more to the bulk) and the lack of variety spots :)

[@silkontheweb]

Woah! Great find... do you store them upright? And if so, does it warp the pages?

[@piratephilately1087]

@@silkontheweb I did not end up keeping the album, sticking to the Scott internationals Part 1-6 ... I stop at the 1970s for all worldwide countries, for my sanity and family peace :)

[@silkontheweb]

@@piratephilately1087 I hear that... I'm toying with the idea of narrowing my focus for similar reasons... though there's so much I'm fascinated by

[@piratephilately1087]

@@silkontheweb Yeah, and I have 3 ring binders ... for that "wow, what's that" kinda items :)

[@chuckswain8299]

Condense each album down to one or two albums

[@silkontheweb]

Done!

[@alexgrannum9866]

As you opened the video with this massive stamp album being a failure I began to panic, because just this morning my massive imperial stamp album (mostly empty)from the 1800s to 1920 arrived. As the video progressed I felt a sense of relief as I only paid £50.00 for it and I do intend to fill it with my collection. Thanks for sharing though. I thought you managed your disappointment quite well.

[@silkontheweb]

That's the way to go... buying an album with the intention of filling it... that was my thought too, originally, with these, but hadn't counted on just how much Mrs. Silk would hate their appearance. They are quite bulky... and our house is quite small...

[@johnscamardo2145]

I bought an old Imperial earlier this year .I t had a lot of early GB Victoria to 10 shilling as well as Edward to the 10 shilling. it has one of the low number in between sets 1 shilling of the imperf large stamps that look like a cut square but are stamps.. I t also had a massive early US section, Canada and some very early Romania which are expensive to find as well. So in that I hope you have as much fun finding not only the valuable but that old elusive stamp that only cost pennies and hard to find.

[@fenrik8178]

400 dollars.... wow.... that’s never been my budget, so haven’t made an oopsie of that magnitude yet..... One of my first mistakes was actually with the first stamp collection I ever bought. I bought it on Catawiki and just really wanted to win an auction. Finally I won one for like a box full of several stamp albums. I don’t quite recall what I paid. Somewhere between 50 and 70 euros???? So the box with the stock books arrived. I open it, and the smell..... just very heavy mildew. I go through the stock books.... Most of what was the best preserved in them were CTO’s and the kind of stamps that you know were never issued to actually be postally used. The stamps I did deem alright enough to be saved (no mildew or foxing) had to be aired out for two weeks until they didn’t smell anymore..... There were some neat enough stamps but nothing truly special. Then that box sat in my room untouched for a long time, until I sold the whole lot and some extras for 10 euros to a guy who wanted to use them to educate children. My next purchase on Catawiki was also not that great..... so not great that now I actively look for the sellers name and avoid buying from him again. The whole stock book when it arrived was just moldy.... (which you couldn’t see on the pictures) also I found insects in it.... I saved some nice stamps from it, but had to throw quite a few away. Afterwards I became a lot more discerning with what I’d buy lol even on Catawiki which is technically curated. Found some alright things on there, though often what I want someone bids way too much over my budget for so yeah lol. Recently bought an album full of Bavaria+ some Wurtenburg+ another stockbook with stamps from the Americas in them for 25 euros on a secondhand site. Was more pleased with that purchase than I ever was with some of my Catawiki purchases. Also recently bought a very filled and thick Schaubek album to look through. Very pleased with that purchase too, even if I paid 50 euros. (Which for my budget is a lot lol)

[@fenrik8178]

Okay 200 dollars... somewhat less bad I guess? If I had that much money to spend on stamps at once I’d probably purchase some German Reich Zeppelins plus if I’m lucky some higher value stamps I’m still missing from my Deutches Reich collection, or instead a very nice collection of the earliest Bavarian issues. (I love the look of them so much, only own one of them so far though)

[@fenrik8178]

One interesting thing I really liked of the Schaubek album I purchased is that it has like a booklet advertising the albums from 1955. It’s really cool in my eyes. Also makes me wonder, the album itself is from 1943 and a ‘Jugend album’ and very well filled and obviously well loved. Mybe the youth it belonged to was at one point looking at that booklet to get a new album, after having outgrown this one a little? I’m not 100% sure, very cool to have a vintage booklet like that though.

[@silkontheweb]

I hate it when an album arrives and it's mildewy... the risk you take, I suppose, since smell doesn't translate on an auction listing... but I'm always like 'c mon, you ought to disclose this on the description.' Not everyone's honorable like that I suppose

[@adamhuffman3354]

Nothing worse than mold. A quart of lukewarm water and a 💧 drop of dawn. Give those stamps a bath!

[@olivermiller2013]

I´m collecting for a long time and I do not care a lot about the worth. I do not want to sell the interesting things and the rest I sell via Delcampe - guess what - to buy other stamps. I know such albums, I have some of them and they need a lot of space. I took several of these albums to get the stamps out of it and sfterwards this album is history. More space. There is another big disadvantage with these album: Mint stamps tend to stick on the pages. Regarding the 200 $ album: Yes, sometimes you pay a little too much, but for this album it may be OK. It´s not a big mistake. There is nothing really valuable in it, but you have some nice old stamps bringing fun. I like the old ones, even from countries where I´m not active. I put them on A5 cards and set them in boxes. When I want to go on an adventure tour I take one of these boxes and look through them. With this I get rid of the old big albums and win space.

[@silkontheweb]

Well said! I'm planning a major reorg currently to win space... it'll be a pleasing activity on its own, and make my wife happy... :)

[@personalspace_YouTube]

My World Wide collection is in three of these. I know you are building your Scott album. I might be interested in those if you still have them.

[@silkontheweb]

I do... and could be interested in parting with them, though worth noting I condensed 7 into 4 to appease Mrs. Silk... still have the 3 covers but used the blank pages for another project. Drop my channel email (in the description) if you're interested

[@johnscamardo2145]

I was lucky buying a 5 volume set of minkus in that they were full of stamps. but i have bought some things and wished that i had looked a little better

[@CaldonianDude]

All part of the learning process... :)

[@bobkeane7966]

I had a friend we went to shows together and the local stamp shop and he bought a set of 14 Scotts international albums. now these were really nice with glassine pages between each page a-z the whole shebang only 20 bucks apiece. Well it came time for college life moved on and he asked if I would buy them from him I hemmed and hawed and bought them for 10 dollars a piece. I focused on U.S.stamps but would still add stamp occasionally to the albums. I got married and moved from apt to rental house and again to another rental all the time lugging around 14 albums. When it came time to buy our 1st house I sold them for 10 bucks a piece not a huge mistake I only lost the stamps I had added to the collection perhaps a 100 dollars. The money wasn't the mistake the mistake was not realizing how much space was needed to house such a collection.

[@silkontheweb]

Boy... does that sound familiar!

[@voneschenbachmusic]

Yeah - they are very bulky. I managed to put together a complete set of Minkus Globals through 2000 and they ware 20 stuffed volumes lol

[@bobkeane7966]

@@voneschenbachmusic enthusiasm gets the best of us.

[@GerrieVanStaden-um3jd]

🤣🤣I make the same mistakes 🤭🤭

[@sylvaindore3190]

I'm jealous man. That is a really nice stamp album. Have fun!

[@thomasalmerini471]

Unfortunately, I started in Harris and graduated to a multi a volume Harris Standard album. I wish I had started with Minkus. You should be able to resell easily as these albums seem to be popular.

[@spleenforsoul]

You're making me nervous. I'm a new collector. I've been working in a harris US liberty vol 1. Its like from the beginning to 1994 I believe. Is that bad? I also I have a lighthouse stockbook to put extra things and foreign stamps (for now). If I screwed up then it's a pretty costly mistake...😬

[@voneschenbachmusic]

Yeah - people ask crazy prices for those albums with $10 of stamps... Mine most recent miss was a beautiful-looking box lot that had amazing old stamps in glassine envelopes... but I didn't realize the lot had been stored in damp basement so the entire lot was fuzzy with mold and most of the stamps had discolored and even with soaking were unusable. Luckily the lot was not too expensive but I felt like the dealer was endangering people's health with that one... You CAN store Minkus Globals on their spine but you have to make sure the binders have the absolute maximum pages in them and have them supported on both sides... if they are at all loose they will sag. As a kid I always wanted to get a set of Minkus Global Supreme but couldn't afford them until recently. I tend to buy large lots and found several sets and managed to mix and match to create a complete 20-volume set that goes until the early 2000s. I also found enough glassine interleaving to make the albums safer for the stamps. I'm enjoying filling those albums up!

[@silkontheweb]

Love it! That was my original vision... and thanks for the advice on storing the Minkus albums, much appreciated...

[@darrensmith9564]

I would take the two red car stamps from the first album if you want to send them to someone also in the USA. Always interested in stamps with cars on them.

[@Creek54]

It's not stamp related but it's regrettable. I saw a huge die cast put it together yourself model of the James Bond Aston Martin DB5. It's 1:8th scale and realistic looking but very impractical. Total cost of all the parts was over $1000. The problem is...Where to display it? And if I try to sell it, can i get 1/10th of what I paid? Anyway the parts are all over my kitchen table.

[@silkontheweb]

A fun project though? I've seen sets like those in one of the hobby shops near me... very cool looking...

[@GreatStampAdventure]

Oh, those albums are beautiful. I would have been tempted as well! Maybe you should buy one of those old mansions with ceiling heigh wooden book shelves to house the albums. ;) Just joking, but I really like them from a safe distance, where I am not tempted to buy them all. :) Enjoyed your video as always. :)

[@silkontheweb]

If only... :)

[@ThriftShopHustler]

One of my rules is I never buy albums from stamp dealers, stamp collectors and stamp sellers on ebay. They will almost always cherry pick the good stuff out and your chances of finding something good or rare is very low.

[@BubblyBee530]

I just start phylately again after AGES, at 36 I'm back being the excited 12 y.o collecting and learning about stamps

[@silkontheweb]

Happy collecting!

[@BubblyBee530]

@@silkontheweb I watched your video as I organized my stamps 😄 I feel like I have a same stamp-enthusiast friend with me 😂 thank you! Looking forward for more of your videos

[@TheSuomipoika83]

Where I live you couldn't even get a hold of these albums and people would easily pay 200 for one

[@mossig]

Put a piece of wood between the covers under the pages.

[@venkatmn123]

Well it happens.....

[@schuey089]

Just a thought but seeing as the pages drop when you stand them upright couldn't you find & cut something to the shape of the albums like pieces of plastic or wood or even cardboard to prop the pages up whilst they are upright? Then you wouldn't have to sell them on!

[@silkontheweb]

That's good advice... won't solve the Mrs. Silk issue tho... 😕

[@spleenforsoul]

That's actually a really good idea. Thank you!

[@colinbousfield6381]

In my country on auction that would hit about $50 or so.

[@paleog]

Run, do not walk, to Apfelbaum's for their 26 Master albums for a mere $8600. Mrs. Silk will be over the Moon. (from another guy who has also done a lot of dumb stuff.)

[@silkontheweb]

And with a 10% discount, it'd only be like $7,800!

[@peterkwiatkowski151]

How much you selling those stamp books for??

[@chrislovesstamps]

I dis not spend as much as you. But as a beginner I bought stockbooks full of worldwide, even though I knew I did not intend to collect just any stamp. At times I find it hard to focus, concentrate on a few areas. And watching your videos did not help 😂 Now again, I am interested in USA, Canada and France. I wanted my focus to be Germany, Luxemburg. So now I am trying to justify collecting more than I wanted. Anyway, I really enjoyed this video, as I do with all videos I watched from you. Now I am gonna watch your ‘successes’ video. I am curious though if you did get some money back from your investment.

[@silkontheweb]

Not yet... one day, perhaps... but for now I found a better place to store them where they don't annoy anyone in the house...

[@jwbjpb1338]

I have done this very thing and bought World wide albums. What do with it? Not much. Any expensive stamp(s) would not be in there and if there were any of those stamps they'd be gone before the album was sold. I recently decided to take the pages that have stamps on them out of the various albums and put them into ONE or TWO albums and throw away the pages and album covers from the albums that I will no longer use and have no stamps on the pages. The reality is, as we life long stamp collectors know, that 99.999999 percent of the hobby is not about money. It's about the hobby itself.

[@silkontheweb]

Exactly! And, I'm really close to your decision (combining into one, and discarding the rest). It pains me a bit, but shipping would be a bit of a fiasco, if I could find a buyer. We'll see...

[@chcivic]

👀

[@patd.3836]

Decent price Why you complain so much is the puzzle. It is in real good shape.

[@michaelwiggins1455]

Oh, but at first sight don't they look good, tempting and full of some sort of ethereal essence that draws you in …… Ah well, the irresistible nature of these old albums defies logic. The stamps if removed and placed in a bag for $30 would not be half as much fun.

[@silkontheweb]

Exactly!

[@ericbond5276]

You bought it for the mystique. Stay focused on what you like. You have to specialize. Too many stamps out there. Don't buy other peoples albums.

[@TheBSideDJ]

you did not overpay, you are just complaining.