Lot 24 - Super Deluxe Canada Safe Dual 4 Volume Hingeless Album Set - 1851-1998, The Ultimate Canadian Hingeless Albums

A pristine and complete 4 volume set to 1998 of the Safe Dual hingeless albums for Canada. There are several attributes that make these the very best albums on the market for Canada, the first one being that the binders are a 14-ring system that lies completely flat when open. The pages are much wider than normal albums and are made of heavier weight acid-free 60lb paper. The hingleless system itself consists of printed pages, over top of which are secondary clear plastic pages with pockets, custom made to place the stamps in the right area of the page and hold them there, so there is no possibility of damaging the stamps trying to get them out, unlike the very old hingeless albums with embedded pockets. There is no need to fiddle around with plastic mounts that can get damaged and have to be replaced.

Volume 1 covers all issues to 1959 plus the related back of the book at the end. The coverage of the Large and Small Queens is very basic, but there are spaces for Montreal and Ottawa printings on the Small Queens, but there are no spaces for perf. 11.5 x 12 printings, which is perfect for a collector looking to put basic mint sets together. the 1898 map stamps include spaces for the two basic shades. Coverage for the Admirals is also basic, with spaces for the sheet, coil and imperforate stamps. The Arch and Medallion issue include spaces for sheet stamps and coils, but not the die types. All coil stamps are covered with a space for a single, rather than a pair Both perfs of the War issue coils are included, as are Winnipeg tagged Wildings, even though Volume 2 includes spaces for them also. Finally, back of the book includes spaces for War tax overprints, but no semi-official airmails.

Volume 2 starts at th 1960 Girl Guides Issue and runs to the end of the 1976 semi-postals, which are integrated with the regular issues. In this volume the Winnipeg Tagged Wilding issues and Cameo issues are on the same page, just as they were issued. The Centennial issue includes spaces for the basic stamps, Winnipeg tags, and coils, so it is very basic in this respect. The 1970 Christmas issue contains spaces for both tagged and untagged singles, and the horizontal strips of 5. The Expo 70 issue includes spaces for singles and blocks, tagged and untagged. The 1972 Earth Sciences issue has spaces for 2 blocks, but only 1 set of singles, and the 1972 Christmas issue includes spaces for only 1 set of tags. Issues that come in se-tenant blocks have spaces for both singles and blocks whereas pairs are shown only as horizontal pairs. Lastly, the 1972-78 Caricature issue gives you spaces for the basic stamps, plus both perf.s of the $1 and fluorescent papers of the 10c-50c values, though you could place tagging differences or perf. 12.5 type 2's there instead. Volume 3 has a spaces for the perf. 13.3 type 2's.

Volume 3 starts at the 1974 Winter Sports issue and ends with the 1987 Capex Issue, plus pages for all the red Centennial postage dues. Where an issue is printed in se-tenant blocks of 4, spaces for both the block and the singles are provided, and these are always on separate pages, so that you can always remove them if you don't want to collect both. This volume includes 1 page for the 10c-50c Landscapes and 2c, 6c, 8c and 10c Caricatures, which would be for the printings made after 1974, i.e. the type 2's with revised perf. 13.3, though the page does not identify them as such. Later printings of the 7c, 10c, $1 and $1, which were still current when the 1977-82 floral issue came out are included with that issue, so that you can see the actual progression of these issues as they would have been sold when they were current. Where there are miniature sheets of singles, or larger booklets such as the 1979 flag issue, or 1983 Forts issue, there will be a page for the sheet and a page for the singles. Issues that came in se-tenant pairs are typically shown as horizontal se-tenant pairs only. Same goes for se-tenant strips. Space is provided for the Stick N Tic Labels and the booklet singles, as well as both printings of the Floral and Artifact definitives.

Volume 4 starts with the 1987-1988 definitives and ends at the last 1997 issues, with the 1998 pages loose and in a separate envelope. You will need to purchase another binder for these and any new supplements you want to add to bring the albums up to date as far as you wish to go. As is the case with the other volumes, se-tenant pairs are shown as horizontal pairs only, whereas issues that come in se-tenant blocks, souvenir sheets or booklets will include spaces for both the multiple and the singles. In addition there are pages for some of the early small format sheets of 16, like the 1989 Canada Day issue, 1990 Petro Canada forests sheets The 1988-1991 Mammals issue includes spaces for the more common perforation varieties, but not the rare ones, nor does it include the paper differences or CBN versus BABN printings of the high values. But it does include the booklet singles. The same would generally hold true for the Fruit trees set. It does not seem to include spaces for perforation varieties on commemoratives like the 1990 Folklore, nor are there spaces for the 1992 Signature sheet, or the overprinted 1998 Hockey booklet. Spaces are included for some complete booklets or booklet panes, such as the 1993-1996 Greetings stamps, and the 1998 pages include the 1998 Canals booklet, where the pane is too long to fit on a page.

So, in summary this is a fantastic set of albums for a collector wanting to form a complete basic collection of Canada that includes most all of the regularly issued stamps, but does not want to collect all the sub varieties listed in Unitrade, or wants to keep those in a separate album. These albums are very expensve new, costing $225-$250 USD per volume on SAFE's website. They are designed to take both mint and used stamps on the same page, by hinging the used stamps on the printed page, and then placing the mint in the pockets of the plastic page. Finally, even though the pockets on the page have spaces that correspond to the illustrated spaces on the printed page, there is still additional pocket space on either side where you can place unlisted varieties if you wish.

Please note that for bulky items we will be charging actual shipping cost, rather than the usual first class letter rate. We would be happy to supply estimates of what the shipping cost will be if you tell us which items you are planning to bid on. Usually, we bill the estimate and then either refund or re-bill the difference after we return from the post office. Generally Canada Post's rates are most expensive for parcels between 3 pounds and about 15 pounds. Once you go above 15 pounds up to the 70 pound maximum, the price levels off at between $50-$75 within Canada, whereas a parcel that weighs 3 pounds can be $25. So the more you buy the cheaper the shipping gets on a per item basis. So, if you need supplies this may be the time to stock up at bargain prices. These albums weigh about 5.6 pounds each.