What are the best hingeless stamp albums around? What are their pros and cons? There are several decent brands out there, so I'm interested in your opinions.
i purchased SAFE albums, 14 ring with Album on Dual transparent pages about 45 years ago. It is supposedly top of the line and definitely the most expensive. The albums themselves are still in excellent shape and well constructed however more importantly, the binding mechanism have not held up as well as id like. They pages dont turn over smoothly when turning pages. The pages themself are excellent quality but blank hingeless pages are appx 5x the cost of blank Lighthouse Vario pages which i recently purchased and are very good and in my opniion the best value and not compromising quality, they fit in any 3 ring binder.The LIGHTHOUSE album is 1/2 price of a SAFE album and even comes with a dust cover to house the album that costs $40 by SAFE.. i was told that buying 3 ring binders to house the Vario hingeless pages is basically as good as a custom album even 99 cent ones or slightly more, unless you want the asthetic but the albums are way overpriced in my opinion. Those are the only two companies i have used.
I have my US collection housed in a pair of Lighthouse hingeless albums purchased used at a stamp dealer in 1990. They are springback binders and came with slip cases. They beat the competition by a country mile.
That said - if money is an issue the vario 3 rings are the way to go- but get high quality binders. I have no experience with the lighthouse turnbar binders - the springbacks are superb.
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That said - if money is an issue the vario 3 rings are the way to go- but get high quality binders. I have no experience with the lighthouse turnbar binders - the springbacks are superb.