Big Blue, the "Browns", and Steiner: A three album shootout

1869 20pa yellow green

First issue: This stamp found in the "Browns" and Steiner

Quick History
It occurred to me while reviewing the various 1867-1906 Egyptian "Sphinx and Pyramid" issues, a reasonably complicated, but not very expensive stamp series, that they might serve as a candidate for examining the capabilities and stamp organizing philosophy of namely three albums: Big Blue aka Scott International Part I 1840-1940, the Scott "Browns", the iconic five volume album set of the world, and finally Bill Steiner's 6,500 classic era PDF files that can be printed out using one's own computer and printer.

Let's meet the candidates a little more closely.

Big Blue

One binder (original) to two binders (interleaving) to four binders ('97 edition, supplementary pages)

Big Blue and the first page for Egypt

Big Blue
http://www.amosadvantage.com/scottonline/
Of course the album we have been using on this blog. It has 35,000 spaces for a "representative" selection from the world during the classical era 1840-1940. Originally a large one binder "Junior" album, intended for juniors or those that found the "Browns" a little too much. My 1941 Big Blue still has "Junior" written on the spine, but the 1947 edition does not. It is important to remember that Big Blue was originally a "junior" album, and therefore the stamp selection tended to be inexpensive, and the stamp spaces were simplified, ignoring watermarks and perforation differences. That DNA, good or bad, is still with us today.

But what changed? The "Browns" (My copyright 1919-1939) stopped being published; Scott preferring to concentrate on the comprehensive, but more narrowly focused  Country albums. Scott then turned the "Junior" into the first volume of its "International" albums, intended for those that wished to collect the entire world. So the "Junior" became part I (1840-1940), part II covered 1940-1948+, part III covered until 1954, and so forth.

Has Big Blue changed much over the years? Surprisingly little. There were some elimination of smaller countries, and some deletions of BOB stamps in 1969, with some strengthening of the stamp issues remaining. That's about it. The most recent edition, the '97, has spread out the format so each countries stamp categories ( postage dues, officials for instance) begins a new page. But the '69 and '97 editions are substantially the same content wise. However, Scott/Amos now sell the Album in four parts (IA1,IA2,IB1,IB2) for a price north of $400. With interleaving (necessary!) and adding blank pages, the album today is a minimum two binder, and a more likely a four binder set.

With throwing off the shackles of a one binder album, it is possible that Scott/Amos could add substantially more stamp spaces to the album. My pet peeve about Big Blue are the many inexpensive stamps that have been left out. Could that actually occur? No idea.

The "Browns"

Nineteenth Century volume

    The first Egyptian stamp page in the 19th century "brown" album                    

The "Browns"
http://www.subwaystamp.com/
My International Postage Stamp Nineteenth Century Album states:
"Contains spaces for every principal variety of Postage Stamp issued by any Government in the World during the Nineteenth Century"
And yes, the album cover is "brown", hence the affectionate name these volumes are known by. The complete set by Scott came in five volumes, the last for the years 1934-1938 +/-. Sometime after Scott sold the rights to these albums, a sixth volume was produced bringing the coverage up to 1940. Presently, they can be purchased on good paper printed on one side at Subway Stamp Shop Inc.

A complete set of the "Browns" will take up a lot of shelf space, specifically 12-19 binders. Big Blue clearly wins that argument. Nevertheless, linking oneself to the great collectors of the past who used the "Browns" is hard to resist. :-)

Stamp Albums Web: Bill Steiners PDF files

Computer, Printer, your own paper

The CD-ROM holds over 50,000 pages, including 6,500 classic era pages

A Steiner page for Egypt

Stamp Albums Web
http://www.stampalbums.com/
Stamp Albums Web is the name of the web site where Bill Steiner sells access to his created album PDF files. He has created over 50,000 pages in total, and offers pages for virtually any country. More importantly, he has a separate section for the classic era 6,500 pages. And the cost? The CD-ROM disc is $30. And it has everything on it. If you are thinking about computer/printer generated album pages, it is clearly one of the great bargains out there. He also sells access to his website for $30/year; perhaps more important if you need up to date modern issues pages. He sells both the CD and one year subscription for $40. You can perhaps tell I am somewhat enthused. ;-)

He does not have a licence to print Scott numbers on his stamp spaces, but he follows the Scott catalogue almost exactly. I have NO problem figuring out which stamp goes where with his pages.

I will refer to his pages as "Steiner" in this blog.

This might be a good place to remind ourselves that all three of these albums are catalogue Scott-centric. If one is collecting Europe (Michel), or the British Commonwealth (Stanley Gibbons), or the French world (Yvert & Tellier/Maury), then think about which catalogue ( and album layout) fits best.

1874 Scott 26c 5pa brown with blurred impression, rough perforations, and Numerals inverted.

Steiner has a specific space; Big Blue & the "Browns" have a shared generic space

The challenge: Egypt "Sphinx and Pyramid" Stamp Issues
My proposal is to evaluate the stamp space offerings by Big Blue, the "Browns", and Steiner for the first three issues of Egypt's iconic "Sphinx and Pyramid" design. The "Sphinx and Pyramid" offers a moderately challenging group of varieties; yet for the most part is inexpensive. I hope this will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each album's approach to these stamp issues. But I believe the results can be used to show the general tendencies of each album.

1869 Scott 9 10pa lilac

Found in the "Browns" and Steiner

Despite moderate catalogue value ($10+), not found in Big Blue

The first issue: 1867 "Sphinx and Pyramid"

The first issue, with the Sphinx placed directly in front of the Pyramid, was issued as a 5pa orange ($10+), 10pa lilac($10+), 20pa yellow green($10+), 1pi rose red($1+), 2pi blue($10+), and 5pi brown($200+).

The first five denominations are modestly priced for classics.

Big Blue

Big Blue offers two spaces for this series: the 5pa orange($10+), and the 1pi rose red($1+). Missing are the inexpensive (for classics) 10pa lilac($10+) and the 20pa yellow green($10+). I believe this highlights one of the weaknesses (for me) of the Big Blue album. Big Blue promises a "representative" album, not an album in which they will include most of the affordable classic era stamps.  I would prefer the latter.

The "Browns"

Naturally, the "Browns" offer a space for the entire series. So far, so good. But the description for the 20pa yellow green is "green" in the "Browns". This again highlights a problem. Based on the copyright of the Album ( 1919 for the Nineteenth Century album, 1939 for the Fifth volume), the Scott descriptions are fossilized.

Yes reading the descriptions means you are reading a Scott 1919 catalogue! Naturally descriptions change. My 1947 catalogue describes the 20pa stamp (major number) as "blue green" with the minor number "a" given to "yellow green". Notice that the descriptions had already changed by 1947. Today (2011), the catalogue describes the major number as "yellow green", while the minor number "a" has "blue-green". So descriptions change, stamps drop out (Colombian States-City of Cucuta anyone?), and stamps drop in ( Five blank page coverage by the 19th Century "Brown" for the Indian Native Feudatory States, while Steiner has 131 page coverage in total). Big Blue has a similar, albeit not as severe of a problem, as their descriptions were fossilized in the 1940s-1960s.

So for the "Browns", one will need to interpret the 2011 catalogue through a 1919 catalogue lens. Not impossible, but a challenge nevertheless.

Steiner

The Steiner naturally likewise has a space for all the denominations in this issue. BTW, the Steiner usually just prints the denomination description in the stamp space, not the color description of the stamp. But they will print the color description if there could be confusion because of two or more different colored stamps of the same denomination.

As an interesting aside, the color descriptions in Steiner do not always follow Scott. I noted, at least for some of the British colonies, they used the Stanley Gibbons color descriptions. (But they still followed the Scott catalogue sequence.)

1874 Scott 22b 1p vermilion blurred impression & perforation 12 1/2 rough

Five varieties of this denomination stamp 

clear/blurred, thick/thin paper, clean cut/rough perfs,

 typographed/lithographed, different colors and perfs

The second issue: 1872-75 "Sphinx and Pyramid"

A specialist's delight or a generalist's nightmare, depending how you look at it. ;-)

The primary denominations/images are 5pa brown ( Also found with Numerals inverted), 10pa (lilac,dull lilac,gray lilac), 20pa (blue,gray blue)(found Litho also), 1pi (rose red, vermilion) (found Litho also), 2pi (dull yellow,yellow), 2 1/2pi (dull violet,deep violet), 5pi (green, yellow green).

Scott lists 34 varieties ( 8 major numbers: 7 for the denominations, 1 for the Numerals inverted). 

The catalogue values are 5pa ($5,$9+,$3+,$4+,), 10pa ($3+,$4+,$3+,$3+), 20pa ($4,$20,$80 Litho,$50+ Litho,$240+ mint Litho,$4,$3+),1pi ($2+,$8, $20 Litho, $50 Litho,$1+,$3+),2pi ($15,$8,$5+,$6,$10), 2 1/2pi ($11,$220+,$3+,$12+), 5pi ($35,$75,$22+,$220+). 

Therefore the cheapest values are 5pa($3+), 10pa ($3+),20pa ($3+),1pi ($1+), 2pi ($5+),2 1/2pi ($3+), 5pi ($22+). The cheapest Numerals inverted stamp is 5pa brown ($3+). Except for the lithography varieties, there are clearly many inexpensive stamps for this classical era.

There are two major stamp issues.  The 1872 issue has clear impressions, thick paper, and clean cut perforations. These are then subdivided into different perforations, and the lithography variety. (Total 19 varieties)

The second major issue, the 1874-75, has blurred impressions, thinner paper, and rough cut perforations. These are then subdivided into different perforations. (Total 15 varieties)

So how did the albums fare?

Big Blue

5pa brown : Scott 19($5) or 26 ($3+)

The Scott 26 is also the Numerals inverted type.

10pa: Scott 20 lilac ($3+) or 20b gray lilac (($3+)

1pi vermilion : Scott 22b ($1+)

2pi yellow: 23b ($5+)

Big Blue has four spaces, and offers six varieties a "chance" to be put in. This includes the Numerals reversed stamp. But BB does not offer a space for the 20pa ($3+), 2 1/2pi ($3+), & 5pi ($22+). Certainly the 20pa and 2 1/2pi are quite inexpensive. IMHO, BB should have provided some spaces for these quite affordable stamps.

The "Browns"

The "Browns" offer a space for all eight major numbers; the seven denominations and the Numerals reversed variety. Clearly, a simplified, but complete (major numbers) approach. If one wasn't interested in parsing this issue, this approach might be satisfactory. But the 2011 Scott catalogue seems to make a "big deal" out of this issue, and most of the varieties are inexpensive. IMHO, I believe the "Browns" do not offer quite enough.

Steiner

Steiner offers a space for all 34 varieties-amazing! Although Scott lists many of these varieties as minor numbers, there must have been enough interest in these issues for Steiner to offer the complete listing. Since many of these varieties are inexpensive, a modicum of interest should yield many filled spaces. I'm impressed.

Some, however, might consider the coverage overkill.

Third design: 1879-02 Scott 39a 2pi orange brown

On chalky paper: note the shiny glazed smooth appearance

Fourth design: 1888-1906 Scott 49 10p purple; on ordinary paper

The third issue and design: 1879-1902 "Sphinx and Pyramid"
The third issue has 13 denominations:
5pa brown (<$1)
10pa violet ($5)
10pa lilac rose ($5+)
10pa gray ($1+)
10pa green (<$1)
20pa ultramarine ($2+)
20pa rose ($1+)
1pi rose (<$1)
1pi ultramarine (<$1)
2pi orange yellow ($1+)
2pi orange brown ($1+)
5pi green ($5+)
5pi gray (<$1)

Chalky paper varieties(1902) are found for:
1pi ultramarine (<$1) (Scott 37a)
2pi orange brown (<$1) (Scott 39a)
5pi gray (<$1) (Scott 41a)

All the stamps are modestly priced.

Big Blue
Big Blue has eleven stamp spaces, and misses the 10pa lilac rose ($5+), and the 5pi green ($5+).
Perhaps on purpose, Big Blue does not provide spaces for the two more expensive varieties. As an aside, Big Blue does a great job of mostly providing spaces for modestly priced stamps. In this case, though, I would have liked to see the complete set. :-) The chalky paper varieties are not given an individual space; but as we shall see, none of the albums provide an individual space for these stamps.

The "Browns"
Of course the "Browns" have all thirteen denominations provided. Again, though, no separate stamp spaces for the chalky varieties.

The layout for the "Browns" illustrates another difference with the Steiners. The  "Browns" list the stamps separately by issue year; so the issue is divided into 1879 (6 stamps), 1881 ( 1 stamp), 1882 (1 stamp), 1884 (4 stamps), and 1893 (1 stamp). Although the "Browns" are historically accurate for issue year, Scott now lists the stamps under the 1879-1902 grouping. Scott then indicates the issue year next to the description in the catalogue. As a consequence, if one is mounting stamps in the "Browns",  the number sequence will be 29,30,34,36,38,49;31; 32; 33,35,37,41; 39. More challenging.  Interestingly, Big Blue does list the issues under "1879-93", following the more modern Scott grouping. So one is left with another 1919 Scott catalogue legacy here for the "Browns".

Steiner
Again Steiner has all thirteen stamps listed, and in  the correct Scott 29-41 sequential listing. An absolute piece of cake mounting the stamps in the album. Paradoxically, although Steiner provides the least information on the stamp spaces ( for copyright reasons) of any of these albums, they are the easiest by far to correlate using a Scott catalogue by one's side.

Now lets discuss the 1902 chalky issues varieties. Steiner does not provide individual spaces for these common minimum catalogue valued stamps. Why? Steiner simply follows the Scott catalogue in this case, and since they are minor number varieties (although bolded in Scott to show their importance), they are not in the album pages. (Since Steiner is open to suggestions, he might be willing to add these varieties.)

So this brings up a clear point. If one is interested in the subtleties of a stamp (minor color changes, different paper etc), then the Steiner-or any general album- will not be enough for you. They will provide the one major number space, and one will need to add supplementary pages. Or better, for a specialized country collection, making one's own pages is probably the best solution.

Summary
So what have we learned by putting these albums through the "Sphinx and Pyramid" torture test? ;-)

Big Blue
This examination parameters were such that  Big Blue was predestined to not do well. Big Blue's strengths are certainly not completeness, or even providing spaces for most of the inexpensive stamps in the catalogue. This was clearly demonstrated here. If one is interested in a specific country, Big Blue's offerings will probably not satisfy in the long term. But as one pulls back the focus to a general "representative" collection for the whole world ( and not getting bogged down at the country level), Big Blue fulfills its intent. The best way to use Big Blue is accept the offerings for what they are, and work within that framework. One would still have 35,000 possibilities, a number few who collect classic era stamps will ever accumulate.

The absolute best approach is one Bob Skinner of "Filling Spaces" blog fame does; simply make it a goal to fill as many of Big Blue's spaces as possible. That makes collecting classical stamps affordable, specifically defined, and completion, although difficult, is attainable, Go Bob!

The "Browns"
The "Browns" have a septia toned aura about them that reminds one of the days when world wide classical stamp collecting was the norm. But the stamp issues gushing forth as the years went by put an end to this quixotic goal for most. I love the ambitious nature of the 'Browns", and even the peculiarities of the anachronistic 1919 Scott album.

But back to reality: How easy to use in 2011?
Caveat emptor.  Definitely not as easy as the Steiner. Nevertheless, I find it difficult to say anything bad about the "Browns", because I still hold them in awe. The advantage is one can order the pages-all six volumes- from Subway Stamps- and be up and running without the fussiness of printing out one's own pages, and continue to share in the legacy of the many classical collectors whom have used this album.

Steiner
Steiner was a revelation. Putting stamps into the proper spaces was like cutting through butter using the Scott catalogue. Now Steiner has 6,550 classical era pages, so one can do the math regarding how many binders that would be for the full set. ;-)  An advantage is one only needs to print out the countries or sections one needs at the moment, leaving the others as bits and bytes on the CD-ROM, or at the web site.

The Steiner is in another league compared to Big Blue. Although obviously all the affordable stamps will have a space, so will esoteric or expensive entries. One is leaving the friendly comfortable confines of Big Blue. It is like embarking on the ocean when one is used to a lake. Then there is the question of mounting in the Steiners: hinges or mounts (Expensive)? The Steiner seems to demand mounts.

Finally, one will need to give up the thought that one can fill all the blank spaces. :-) But if there are indeed 90,000 stamps for the era, filling half of them might be attainable.

Hope you enjoyed this review. Comments appreciated!

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BTW, I measured the stamp space dimensions for the three albums for the "Sphinx and Pyramid"stamps, and here is the results...
Big Blue 28mm X 23mm (No space between the "boxes")
The "Browns" 28mm X 23mm (No space between the 'boxes")
Steiner 29mm X 25mm with 4mm spaces between the stamp space "box".

Of interest is Big Blue and the "Browns" share a similar space area. I've noticed using mounts (Showguard, Scott) for a series of stamps in BB is "tight", unless one vertically cuts the mounts close to the edge of the stamp. Also at times, I've had to place the first left stamp in a row a bit over to the left beyond the "box" to anticipate being able to mount all the stamps reasonably in the row. But it can be done.

The Steiner obviously provides more than enough room for mounts.
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