One Way to Organize a Collection
Back in the early ‘60s there were a lot of little independent album makers. One of these was AYAL, who produced 3-ring album pages in a style similar to White Ace. AYAL was noted for its clever page layouts, and an ad in Linn’s, showing a sample EUROPA page, really caught my eye. It showed the 1956 Northern Countries issue, and the layout captured the feeling of the stamps. I liked it so much, I’ve stuck with it on my present Lighthouse pages.
That got me thinking that there might be more than what White Ace was offering. Then came the ATA Europa handbook, which included agencies, forerunners and historical Europa, and I was on my way to beginning a very ambitious Europa collection.
The second handbook (called “Special Bulletin #3”, and the one still being offered today in hardcopy form), was much more ambitious. Begun in 1965 and updated through 1974, it was organized by then editor of the Europa News, Ms. Ruth Hellard. It expanded considerably on the original handbook, and the topics were extensively subdivided. The organization was a mixture of subject matter and historical timeline. The idea was to show the connection between the various issues, and to help the collector decide what he or she wanted to collect. The trap in doing this was that some issues can fall into multiple categories. Putting things in several places may be fine for a catalog, but do you really want to organize a collection that way? Unless you buy more than one copy of something, where do you decide to put it?
My solution to this problem was to organize my collection into 5 parts. I came up with this scheme shortly after the second Handbook was released, and it’s served me well. I computerized the listing in 1983 (my first real use of the IBM PC). The database has migrated from PC-File through dBase IV to Microsoft Access, but the layout hasn’t changed very much.
Category I is the core of most Europa collections – the annual issues. Related stamps (such as the 1992
· IIa is EU proper, from the ECSC to the EU parliament
· IIb is NATO and other military alliances
· IIc is the ERP
· IIIa is friendship, cooperation, joint efforts, etc.
· IIIb is meetings and conferences of a European nature
· IIIc is European sporting issues
· IVa Prophets or advocates of unity (St. Benedict, Victor Hugo)
· IVb Historical attempts at peaceful unity (Balkan Entente)
· IVc Military attempts (Caesar, Charlemagne)
Finally, Category V is the Eastern Bloc.
· Va KSZE issues
· Vb Iron Curtain counterparts to Europa (Warsaw Pact, COMECON)
This last Category is a lot of fun to collect, as it is considered way off the beaten path by some. Steve suggested during our meeting that this would be a fascinating area to delve into, and I have found that to be the case. Lighthouse prepared a few printed pages for KSZE issues. These are still offered, but they are far from complete. I prepared a checklist of these in a previous EN years ago. I hope to provide an update soon.
