When Did The "Craze" For Mnh Stamps Begin?

My understanding is that, once upon a time, collectors of mint U.S. stamps were not as enamored of never-hinged stamps as they are today. Is that correct? If so, about when did the NH "craze" begin?

Thank you.

I remember in coming on in the mid 1970's. It felt like suddenly everyone was more focused on the back of the stamp than the front.

I think Lindner introduced hinge-free albums in the 1940s, but I suspect the '70s is right for the tedious obsession with unmounted mint.

It is a long running craze - perhaps 50 years.

Hate to say it, but I've been collecting USA MNH longer than that, Chasa.

Jack Kelley

Two more viewpoints.

http://www.ebay.com/gds/GUM-AND-THE...26037/g.html

http://www.jlkstamps.com/qa/qa3.htm: Note this article was from the late ninties referring to the seventies.

For me personally after seeing my father's hinged collections and being a rich kid I started using mounts in the early sixties. I would say the "craze" started in the seventies.

I started collecting in the 50s at the age of 7. Even as a young child I felt uneasy about adding hinges to unhinged stamps. I had started using Scott's American album in 1959, and by mid sixties had turned most of the postage section into a hingeless album with crystal mount. (I still have that album, filled with used stamps.) Because stamps often fell out of those mounts, when I got my first National album about 1965 I remounted everything that was still nh with Showgard. (Still have that album too.) To this day I use clear Scott or Showgard for practically everything, especially for building exhibits. The material is easier to handle that way, and pretty well protected.

With all that, I never got in on the nh "craze," i.e. paying significant premiums for nh material. But the root of that was already going on in the middle 60s, mainly driven by people who invested in stamps. NH was a criterion for rarity then, and it still is. Authentic nh classics (before 1870 back then) really were and are much rarer than their og hinged counterparts.

I have never been interested in stamp investment, so for me the nh thing is a dud. But I do like to preserve my material in as good a state as it comes to me - and better in some cases. Today I rarely use a hinge, but would not hesitate to do so for used stamps if the occasion arose. But for uniformity of appearance, it is easier to mount everything.

Well, I dropped out of stamp collecting in 1970 (off to college) - with the exception that I probably have every stamp from every incoming piece of mail during the 'non-collecting' interim - and I remember lamentations about the by-then-well-established MNHOG craze in the mid-1960s.

I suspect that the post-war economic boom of the 1950s, with the attendant rise in disposable income, helped move a number of these crazes along, including the insistence on pristine unaddressed FDCs.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I was using Crystal Mounts in the mid-late 50's. When I re-entered the hobby I started using Showgards. I only started using hinges (Dennison's) for the first time about three months ago in my KGVI collection!

I really like the appearance of hinge mounted stamps.

Jack Kelley

I'm not sure where I fit into this philosophically. I've been collecting, like most of those who've responded, since the early 60's, when I used hinges because all I collected were used stamps. When I starting adding mint stamps in the late 60's, I wanted to keep them in as pristine a condition as I could and that meant putting them in mounts. I did use Crystal Mounts for a time because that was all that was available but when I discovered Showgard mounts, they became the preferred method. I like the black backed type as they really show off the stamp. Now, I use them for both mint and used since Dennison hinges are so hard to get and cost so much, even for a partial packet.

My mint stamps for the 20th century are MNH but those of the 19th century can be lightly hinged. I'm just not willing to pay the huge price differential for NH in that period, although I will take the NH stamp over the hinged if the price difference isn't steep.

Hi

I sort of remember Never Hinged in the late 1940's (after WW II). However, hinges were the "norm" and the NH craze was not as prevalent as it is now.

I started, in the 1940's, using hinges as that was all there was. If I got a mint stamp it went into a stock book. When Crystal mounts were introduced, I did not use them as I was told that they would harm the stamps. Then came the answer to most collector's prayers, PM mounts (remember those?). It turned out that PM mounts were not much better than the Crystal mounts.

When Showgard was introduced, I started using those and have never "looked back". My collections are now in Showgard mounts 100%, mint, used or otherwise. Scott (Prinz) are similar but I, personally, do not like them as they seem to be much thinner than Showgard.

I only collect 3 countries so it is not a "all at once" investment. Over the years I have accumulated at least one package of Showgard mounts, strips. If I was a World Wide collector I am not sure what I would do as a World Wide collection in mounts would be exorbitant.

Jerry B

Family,

According to an article by Apfelbaum, HE Harris started distributing Crystal Mounts are around 1950. Before that, everything was hinged. So it looks like MNH mounting began at the same time.

Jack Kelley

The desire to own the best example of something certainly predates stamp collecting. Of course some hobbyists removed gum in the early years of our hobby. Since there were few mounting options beyond the use of hinges, hobbyists had to be very creative if they wanted to avoid hinges.

The advent of mounts certainly facilitated anything that could be defined as a 'craze'. Crystal mounts were a horrid mount implementation since over time they could adversely affect stamps. (A 100 years from now perhaps future hobbyists will regret our current mount material.)
Don

Hi Don

I was breaking down collections for a dealer friend. One collector was very innovative when it came to mint stamps. The collector cut off a glassine envelope corner (the right size of course). He put the mint stamp in the corner and hinged the corner to the album page!

When I started to use PM mounts I was told to leave the top of the mount open, i.e.; cut off the top flap. It did not help. One can usually tell if a stamp was previously mounted in a PM mount by the black "fuzzy back".

Jerry B

For me the back of the stamp means nothing. That's like looking at the other side of photos and examining if the kodak trademark is centered correctly. Stamps to me are a one sided affair.

Stockbooks and Vario pages work nicely, neither a mount nor a hinge being necessary.