What Would You Do With This Stamp Album? 

Yup, that´s a neat little piece of philatelic history which needs a little bit of restoration. Origin was France (Paris) , like you said, probably issued around 1880/1890. I would keep it as it is, because the stamps in those old collections often are not in the best of shape. Stamp collecting standards were different back in those days. Greets from GER, U.

I understand the struggle of wanting to pull items from the album for your personal collection but I agree with you, it is a lovely historical album and I would leave it “as is” and keep it on the shelf. I have my father’s and my brother’s old Canada album collections (not nearly as old as your example) and I am keeping them as is for the sentimental value that they have. There is nothing much of great value, they just have an emotional connection for me.

My two cents; great find with lots of history, including the album itself as you mentioned. If the album was mine, I would remove a few of the most wanted "as safely as possible" and then vacuum seal it with desiccant packs, after all the wet spots have completely dried for preservation. If you decide to keep it, the thrill of going through the album can be yours again whenever you want. If you decide to part with it, the thrill will journey on for those who find it. But, I would like to add something else to consider; add to the album to make up for what you've taken. I know the album is in rough shape, but that in my eye adds to it's historical travels through not only time but physical journey as well. By doing so, will leave a warm spot inside knowing that you've added something to it's journey and are now a part of it.

I am enthused by your passion for the album that you have just shown. It's unfortunate that if you sell it on it will more than likely be pulled apart and then the history is lost. Keep it on your shelf and protect its history. Regards Clark a lover of postal history.

That book it’s amazing

I echo the concerns of others in that the acidity will destroy the pages and the stamps on them. IF it was my album, I'd remove those I needed, then remove all the others to trade, sell or give away. I have two old albums, a Lincoln Stamp Album and a Triumph Stamp Album (both British), that I mainly bought (also probably overpaying.....)... for the old maps. The Lincoln Stamp Album also has a stamp catalog in it..... very different prices found circa 1900 AD. :-o Thanks for sharing this old album with us. Please do let us know what you decide.

My personal advice is: keep this album as it is, because, as you said, it is part of history. Keep this album as is. Sometimes, I find stamps on envelops, and I don't take them out.. I am a stamp collector since age 8_51 years_ It is my personal opinion. But this is your album. Good luck. David

It seems to bring you joy which is priceless. It is a keeper.

At my age (74) I've given up on collecting. I had a fairly complete Canada collection. I'm now buying and selling on ebay. I do pick out one good one from each issuing country/agency for a 1 stamp from "everywhere" album that I created. I just bought a 40# box of stuff at auction for $250 that has given me lots of entries to my one stamp collection. There was a 1940 album with lots of stamps, pages falling apart like yours that I picked everything out of and tossed the pages. Some were stuck down, most were just hinged. I can't just leave them as is to look at once in a while. Love your channel. Jealous of some of the purchases you've made.

Замечательный альбом,прекрасная подача материала,Лайк!

Just subscribed to your channel after Ken's Stamp Collection mentioned you and have been binge watching your videos. Great content. As to your old French album, I would remove what stamps I could as the acidity of the paper the album's printed on will ultimately destroy the stamps. If you must keep the album and it's not moldy/mildewy, put it into an archive bag to preserve it. Nice piece of history.

I have a few albums like that .only one I had stamps somewhat stuck. I usually clean them out and if they are not a significant or expensive album then I toss them. leaving the stamps will cause more hurt than gain from the history. the acidity of the paper is horrible

If you decide to remove stamps, I would first soak a common stamp from the album in water to see what they used to glue the stamps down with. Nice old album, they can hold some surprises.

I have recently discovered your videos and I'm binge watching them and enjoying them enormously! Thanks for posting them. I love your enthusiasm for the process of sorting through albums you've got for very little money and finding stamps you like or need for your collections. I have never bought an album like this one, to avoid the very issue you're discussing. I think if I did have one like this I'd probably take the stamps I wanted out as at the moment they're like a picture in a gallery that's got a frame that's disintegrating and a thick coat of varnish over it. The beauty of the many stamps in this album is dimmed by their surroundings. But I'm sure I'd feel (as you do) that I was destroying somebody's collection. I do try to keep albums or pages that other people have put together. where they seem to be labours of love or to demonstrate knowledge and research. I've spent quite a bit of time filling a pair of very empty France albums I bought on ebay laid out and detailed on pages by somebody thirty years ago. I've got a lot of pleasure both out of re-looking at the stamps as I put them in the albums but also in looking in detail at the history the stamps have been reflecting. Keep up the good work!

In some decor somewhere it might be a coffee table book. New York antique stuff. The stamps look old but fairly common. Hmmmm.

On one hand: The album is falling apart, the pages are browning. On the other hand: It's absolutely beautiful and I'm sure it has an interesting history. I think I personally wouldn't be able to resist destroying the album. Perhaps if you choose to do so yourself you could do high quality scans of all the pages so that the way they looked will be preserved? The thing I personally like about taking stamps out of old collections for my own is that I'll now be joining that history, all those stamps someone painstakingly collected and treasured with my own collection to make it better. In my mind, I kind of hope someday this may happen to my collection too. It would make me happy I think. Kind of this story generations of collectors are working on together.

Beautiful. I could tell you to get the stamps you want and do what you will with the rest. Me personally I like it like it is. I see it as a bit of a time capsule. The stories and history behind each page. It was woth it because you enjoy it.

I bought an Imperial Stamp Album (almost identical to the one you featured recently) and overpaid for a very tattered item with rather common stamps but I had never owned stamps that old before. I have done some very basic bookbinding repair to it to preserve it as a "relic". To restore your album would be quite a feat and wouldn't address the acidity issue that others have raised. That being said, I have two other period albums with stamps that complement my main collection and I simply made a color photo copy of the stamp, cut it to size and put it in my main album with a note of where the original is. The period albums were from friends who gave me their collections so it's more of a heritage issue for me. But I am not what most philatelists would consider a serious collector. What you have has no particular provenance.

It's a great collection. And I'd be hard pressed NOT to take from it whatever would improve my collection. But would doubtless feel guilt if I did that. My first stamp album was when I was 8; and as the collection grew I graduated to larger albums, and took the stamps from the old and put them in the new. And recently I saw on sale a copy of the first album I had. Gad -- it must have had probably 30-40 pages at most.

Hi Take the stamps out and keep album sealed somewhere. Before something lives in it. Best regards from james in scotland.

I love the art on stamps and also thinking about the journey they have taken to end up in my collection. Have an awesome day 💥! From HWFAH (Hot Wheels, Lego, Cards & collectables)👍

leave as is? have you picked anything out, yet? I think its a fantastic neat perfect little collection! from that period }}} 1905.ish

I wouldn’t take anything out. I’d keep the album as it is. I understand you’d like to take out a few to add to your collection, but as you are now the owner of this beautiful, historical album, it is already part of your collection!

Thanks for sharing. While never having had the conundrum I understand the problem. And you are right it’s a piece of philatelic history, the latest stamp I recognise is a UK King Edward VII from the period 1902-1911 Looking the the album as a thing it’s in a poor shape and the pages are fragile due to the acid in the paper (the yellowing); that may damage the stamps eventually. Unlike you (and me) dealers are quite unsentimental and if they saw anything of value would remove it and then sell the remainder as a job lot. That’s the way of it usually, almost all collections are recycled by being broken up - I expect mine will be, my family will take mine to a dealer who will look at at and make a judgement as to value and and offer a price. If he/she notices anything of value the price will be higher and the significant items removed for separate consideration and sale (I have some). The passing on and recycling is how sometimes rare or unique items are found in old-time collections like yours here, they lie undiscovered for decades until someone with knowledge and time looks closely. A case in point, I paid closer attention to the first page of UK stamps seeing if I could see any ‘penny reds’ from the 1858-1879 issue as one it’s plates is incredibly rare (plate 77) with just six known and the last one discovered in an “old time collection” in 1994. When ever I encounter any I check the plate number (and many others have done the same since the first one was discovered in the 1890’s). Any stamps from that plate sell for £400-500K. While finding one is possible it’s not very likely and I am more worried about the damage the deteriorating album’s pages could be doing to the stamps. Sorry for the essay 😢

what would I do? I'd give it to me, LOL. Seriously keep it intact.

you missed that scruffy old British Guiana copy! a one cent magenta....check it out...

at 4:33 there are Ceres and Napoleon (3rd page). It is 1849-1850

Lesson learned. Remove the stamps to save them from the acidity of the album pages.

if i bought such an album that the pages are crumbling and in acid condition i would take all the stamps out and perhaps leave it at that.And decide later what i can do to repair it, if at all possible.

Can you make a new video of your favourite stamps that you looking for or have in your collection

I would carefully go through the album with a Scott Catalog to see if there are any stamps which may be of value which are not visibly damaged. Sometimes, common looking stamps have slight variations which can make them valuable. Visibly damaged stamps may just as well be left in the album as a record of what may have been acceptable to collect in the 19th Century. Any stamps that are stuck to the page from the passage of time may be removed , without causing damage,with Stamp Lift Fluid, available from a stamp dealer. This would be particularly useful for any unused stamps, as you should preserve as much gum as possible on any that have not been used. If the stamps have been pasted in, you could try placing a wet paper towel on a page, to see if that would loosen the stamps without destroying the album. If that doesn’t work to loosen the stamps, I probably would leave the album alone and keep it as a record of the way that many stamps were collected in the 19th century, when standards for collecting were not what they are today.

Great historical find…but….Personally, I would remove the stamps that I need. This album has a lot of acid damage (yellow, crumbing pages) and it will slowly destroy the stamps. If you keep the album, I suggest getting an archival quality storage bag.

There are many of those stamps scattered about but only one book like yours. I view it the same way as removing a stamp from a well written old postcard.

Put it on the shelf, keep it, then run away very fast.

Truthfully, I would remove the more valuable stamps and let the common ones stay in place. The album itself, as a first edition for 2 Francs at the turn of the 20th century from the 19th, is interesting even with the cello tape "repairs". Unfortunately the paper it's printed on that highly acidic cheap pulp rolled extra smooth commonly used in the 1800's and is highly yellowed and looks very brittle. I doubt it will last 77 years to see the turn of another century. Still, it's a fun reminder to be picky about your purchases.

Translation: "Timbres-Poste" = After the tree has fallen.

I'm sure there is way to remove the stamps without taking apart the pages of the album if you really care about the album. Don't you think?

Are you selling that book..i would love to have it 😂

Were there a couple of penny blacks or were they dark penny reds ?

I know I'm late to the game commenting on this. I just hope you haven't done anything rash with this gem since you posted this. How about an update. Just my two cents worth but unless I missed an 1856 British Guiana or a Swedish treskilling in there this album is probably going to fetch more at an antiquinarian book fair than at an ebay auction. Keep it's French belle epoque and there cool.

Let me ask you this...If you had a 67 Mustang in your garage that was rusted out and not worth restoring, would you let it sit forever or take a few good parts off it?

I’d take everything out and see if anyone wants the empty album, otherwise, I’d add it to my pile of old, empty albums that perhaps I’ll make an eBay lot out of one day

Personally, I mostly collect mint stamps, but having watched this video this is my observation. It looks like the original collector of this album had a keen eye towards clean and, at times, SON cancels. This might be an angle for you to resell the album. The brutal truth of collecting is; if you don''t remove the stamps that you like, the next person that gets their hands on this album surely will. You basically have two choices, leave it "as is" on your shelf until "eternity" (and what will happen to it after that?) or select the items that you want for your personal collection, and then try to recover some of your financial loss by finding an angle, like what I observed, to sell the rest. I agree that it's a cute little album, but there are lots of nice albums out there. It would be different if the original collector had a personal connection to you as was mentioned in a previous comment.

Have you catalogued these stamps? You may have a few gems. While the album is beautiful, you need to rescue the good items from the acidic pages so you or others can enjoy them.

When I was a kid someone gave me a very old stamp album that was red velvet covered. I took all the stamps out and threw away the album. I regret that to this day. I threw out a beautiful album because I was a kid and did not appreciate it. Think long and hard.

Stamps perhaps $50-100 because of condition such as trimmed perf's etc. People are picky now about condition not like a 100 years ago. Those albums are fascinating but have 0 value unless they are very old,like civil war era,and in decent condition.

Were do you buy your stamps..i would love to know....

Soak it 😂

The album paper is acidic, which is why is is that tan color. The acid may be causing damage to the stamps.

The album looks to far gone for restoration. Take what you need.

I dunno if you overpaid? cool album. but sounds like you know what you're doing. Yeah, I just take all the stamps out. It's too much to have all these random albums with all the countries.

Good for you for admitting you way overpaid. We've all done it but seldom admit it.