Classic Red Albums

As you handle stamp collections and estates over the years, you will surely come across the classic red global albums like this one:



These were printed by Scott Publications in 1940, and had enough spaces for a beginning collector to put their stamps way back then.  There were far fewer actual stamps to choose from.  I think Ireland only had about 100 stamps at the time.  Still, there is now way they could print one space for every known stamp.  A collector at this level is unlikely to have any stamps that list for over $5, but even excluding the more costly items, there would still be way more stamps than they could print spaces for.  So each page has a few blank spaces.

As a kid, I had a similar album, and even though I couldn't afford a lot of stamps, I found all those illustrations fascinating, all those people and castles I had never heard of.  All those little bits I had never seen yet.  I was always looking up the history of the countries, or biographies of the people along the way.

Finding these albums decades later, it's always interesting to see how the collectors used them.  Which issues did they find, which ones did they still need?    Since the albums were printed in 1940, it's not going to have any stamps newer than that, so all the 1940s and 1950s and later issues are going to be stuck in blank spaces and page margins.

On a historical note, the Scott catalog back then was one volume and is offered for $3.  These days it is 12 volumes and costs about $600 per year.  Albums have grown to be multiple 3-inch-thick volumes for some countries.  Russia has over 9000 stamps now.  

These old red albums are a vital reminder to how much more manageable it all was back then.  There really were no topical stamps yet, just stamps that were printed to meet postal needs.  It wasn't until the 1950s, starting mostly with eastern Europe, that there were dozens of sets per year of colorful pictorials, leading to vast printing empires churning out hundreds of stamps per year for some islands which barely have inhabitants.

It's always fun to flip through the old albums.  They all do look the same after a while, but sometimes there are odds and ends in the margins, or blank pages stuffed inside filled with easter seals or old registration labels, or some page of postmarks the collector found interesting.

There are many thousands of these old red albums tucked away in forgotten collections and attics and bookshelves.  I would normally expect them to have $50 to $100 worth of stamps.  Since they were beginner collections which sat for over half a century, always check to see if the stamps are stuck down or damaged.  I have even seen a few of these where al the stamps were glued down (oops!).  If the red album is nearly full and well organized and meticulously cared for, or has a high percentage of mint stamps (which is rare) it's possible that there are 3000 stamps packed in there, but the best I've ever seen was still maybe $250.

The main value is the fun of the hunt.

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