About Ruskystamps
I
have had an interest in philately since I was a young
boy. Since 1992, I have been involved with a children's
charity with projects in Eastern Europe, including
Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and other countries of
the Former Soviet Union. As a result, I have become quite interested in 'most
things Russian/Soviet'.
A few years ago I started to collect Russian stamps
during my travels, and this has now become an on/off
interest of mine, buying through eBay but also street markets in
Kiev (Ukraine), Bucharest (Romania), etc. Overseas charity colleagues also collect for me.
My
'Perfect' Album
I wanted to eventually house all my stamps in a
one-country album system, rather than a stock book -
covering the Empire and Soviet Periods to 1991 - the
periods which most interested me, and especially what I will
call 'CLASSIC RUSSIA' from
1858-1959. What I wanted was an
album system which provided generous bordered spaces for
ALL
the stamps actually numbered in the Stanley Gibbons
Russia 5th Edition specialised
catalogue.
By the way, the new Stanley Gibbons
Russia 6th Edition catalogue should
be on sale early 2008 - watch out
for our colour Ruskystamps advert!
This meant covering stamp numbers SG1 -
SG6310 (including the 'A' and 'B' perf./ imperf.
types, miniature sheets etc). Most of the commercial
albums I considered did not cover this range - they were
TOO MINIMAL. My 'perfect' album would therefore still be
MUCH MORE INCLUSIVE compared to, for example,
Russian stamp listings in the American Scott catalogue
and Minkus, Davo, Lighthouse, Lindner Safe, Scott, KA-BE
Marino, Schaubek albums etc.
Individual Stamp Titles
In
addition to stamp set headings, I also
wanted TITLES TO INDIVIDUAL STAMPS, although I knew that this would mean a lot more
pages, with much less cramped page layouts than one
finds in the
mainstream commercial albums. Individual stamp
titles makes page browsing much more interesting and
helps to tell a more complete country and stamp history
- the Ruskystamps album includes some snippets of
interesting Russian and stamp history in the run of pages.
The Ruskystamps album places more emphasis on display
and information. All bordered boxes in a stamp set are
nicely spaced (wherever practical) to avoid overlapping of mounts, as well as
having an aesthetically pleasing presentation.
Proper
Album Sized Pages
I wanted a reasonably detailed album
printed on PROPER SIZED ALBUM
PAGES (i.e. larger than A4
or American Letter) but I was NOT interested in it including every stamp variation (e.g. colours, papers,
numerous perfs, faults, etc) that exist. I will never be
able to afford to buy these exotics - besides this, for
me, would mean crossing over from 'hobby' to
'addiction'. However, for those who want additional
pages for variations, we can oblige with blank 'matching
design' pages with the USSR crest.
DIY
Having researched all the commercial and one
privately-produced illustrated album options, I just
couldn't find what I was looking for - quite frankly
they all left a lot to be desired!!
In the end, I decided to produce my own album
using professional QUARK XPRESS
DTP software which I used when I ran a small publishing business.
If you are looking for a truly
superb quality Russia Stamp Album
but at a very
affordable price...this is it? Your
Soviet Russian stamps (becoming
quite sought after,
especially by Russian collectors)
deserve the best!
OR Greyscale Illustrated
