Whitman Blue book shelf type coin albums

[coinkat]

I am curious as to whether the Whitman blue book shelf coin albums were ever popular in the UK. These were produced by Whitman probably starting in the early 1960s and offhand I have no idea when they may have been discontinued. I know there was a Victorian type set album; a two volume 20th Century type set album; various albums for farthings, 1/2 d and 1 d coins. I believe there were type set albums for Australia, South Africa and possibly Ireland. I have only one… the second volume of the 20th century album that started with Shillings. The Whitman small blue folders were more available back in the day than the book shelf albums. I should also add that the book shelf albums were not inexpensive… I recall seeing the Whitman Victorian type set album as a young lad and could not commit to buying it because it cut into my minimal coin budget… and that was over 50 years ago.

So were these popular back in the day or was there ever a resurgence at a later time? 

[King Kenny]

I certainly had a set of Whitman albums for my pennies back in the 1970's. They were very handy and I only stopped using them when I bought a proper coin cabinet. I think you could buy them in W H Smiths ( a famous stationers in the UK).

[Paddy]

They were certainly popular in the UK and still turn up at auctions here occasionally. I have seen all the way from farthings to Half Crowns, with the earliest catering for coins back to 1860 I believe. I can't say they were a great way to store coins, frequently losing their grip, and I have seen many coins sticky taped into place!

I don't believe they ever went decimal, so I guess they ceased in the early 1970s.

 

[Coys55]

I had them in the 60's and filled them with pennies and halfpennies collected from bank bags, but everything older than about George VI fell out every time I opened the things. They were basically useless. I never considered using sticking tape though! As King Kenny said, I would have bought them from WH Smith in Basildon town centre when it used to sell useful stuff. The rebranded TG Jones, which no longer sells anything anyone wants or can't buy cheaper elsewhere, is about to close, taking the town centre's Post Office with it. End of an era...

[Bronze & Copper Collector]

I'm not sure, but I believe Coinkat is referring to the Bookshelf Albums that had precut openings that were covered by plastic slides so both obverse and reverse could be viewed.

Some responses are referring to the ubiquitous BLUE Whitman FOLDERS, 3 cardboard pages with cutout openings for the coins. It was not uncommon to see coins taped in to hold them, or in the case of worn coins, to use an additional piece of paper to tighten the opening.

[Paddy]

@coinkat's OP mentioned "blue book" so I assumed the blue folders were what we were talking about. I have encountered the posher Bookshelf albums that @Bronze & Copper Collector refers to, but I don't recall the colour of those? They were an improvement in storing coins, but seem to have been much less popular - possibly much more expensive?

The blue folders were a great way for a young collector to get started, particularly when many of the coins could still be picked up in circulation.

[copper123]

In the mid to late seventies whitman folders retailed around 25p to 50p range its now virtually impossible to get them for less than a £5 note.

On their own they have been a great investment