I've inherited 3 stamp albums from my grandmother and father. Scott Jr World (including US stamps) up to 1943, Scott III World (no US stamps) up to 1943, and Minkus World to 1952 (including US stamps). There are many stamps for both US and world...many used and some new but all are hinged. I remember dabbling in these albums when I was 12, and my cousin did also at one point, which means at the least 4 different people have entered stamps in these albums. Personally, I remember as a 12 year-old entering the stamps by simply matching the pictures, so I know some are misplaced/misidentified.

I want to start with the US stamps which would be the Jr album (1847-1943) and the Minkus (1944-1952). The Scott Jr album is not in the best shape and is not going to be a good working album. I currently also have a Scott National album (from 1847-1985) with NO stamps in it but has been used and there are currently a few empty mounts in the book. No hinges.

Would it be wise to consolidate and transfer all stamps to this empty album? Should I mix used and mint stamps in the same album? Do I mix mounts and hinges in the same album? Or should I use mounts only for the mint stamps? Should I remove the mounts that are already on the pages?

What would you do with these albums if you wanted to keep them and resume the hobby?

I think you must keep these albums untouched and develop a collection. A stockbook is a best choice for incomplete collection. Later you can move stamps to albums, using stamp mounts.

I'm somewhat new to proper stamp collecting as a hobby. Why would I leave the albums untouched? Is it best to collect everything in a stock book until you have a full collection and then enter them in an album?

First of all, its a loving memory of your grandmother and father. If you change your mind and retire out of stamp collecting, your albums will look like 20 years ago.

At last, it's a safest way to storing your stamps undamaged.

Hi.

I'm new here. In fact i've registered to answer your question above.

I'm just now getting back into stamp collecting after about 25 years. I've collected many albums over the years but they were always not exactly what I wanted but could only afford at the time.

I've recently had the same problem of consolidating my collections together in a more uniform way. I've purchased a Lighthouse Hingeless Album to house my Irish collection. While expensive I don't think you could buy better. For one country collections hingeless is the way to go.

For a more world wide collection i'm not sure what or how many options are out there, but from what i've observed over the last couple of years is that people are moving away from hinges.

Do you intend to continue collecting world stamps? Maybe a White Ace Album might be a good choice for your US collection. I've seen lots of these coming up on Ebay with good collections for relatively little money and could be a way to expand your US collection cheaply.

Just my two cents.

rustamps is right! Sometimes we forget that stamps are also meant to remember our ancestors. It is not all about what is worth when we sell it but what matters is what its worth to the people whom we loved so dearly.