A stamp for every country

The idea for A Stamps for Every Country album first got my attention when the American Philatelic Society posted a link to the Smithsonian’s free album.

I downloaded it and remember thinking how awesome it was, but it sort of stopped there.

One day, while reading in the Stamp Community forum, my favorite, I saw a mention of a commercially available album.

Among my several collections, I’m a worldwide collector and the idea of a stamp for every country collection just wouldn’t go away. So off to Amazon I go, making the purchase.

A stamp for every country

Compiled by John Knudson, A Stamp for Every Country comes in a simplified and a comprehensive version. Both are available as paperback or hardback.

I purchased the comprehensive hardback for about $25. It is 546 pages, printed on one side only. The simplified is smaller at 218 pages.

It is a nice book, well bound. You of course choose the stamp you want to include for each country (or in some cases “version” of a country. There are spaces for colonies and other stamp-issuing entities.

I love the flexibility of choosing what stamp(s) I want to include. And I plan on adding stamps featuring country flags where possible. I also like the addition of the map.

Concern

My only concern is if I add enough albums and at some point in time, the album starts to bulge. Being bound, I can’t add pages to this specific album. And I’ve not convinced myself of purchasing a second.

But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

The thing is

This album gives me some flexibility and it is kind of fun. It takes my collecting to a bit of a relaxed level. I can sit in front of the television or turn on some music, sort stamps, and here and there pick a stamp for every country.

The “Big Blue” albums by Scott remain my preferred choice to house my world collection, for now (I’m considering moving to stock pages), but this album is a great addition to my overall collection.

It really has brought some joy back to my usually unsuccessful efforts to maintain a highly organized collection.