I'm Unhinged

fredcdobbs (I LOVE that username) - So you're a hinger... Hmmmm. We'll have to vote on whether you get full club benefits (You may have to bring your own towel)! Now back to business - It's a lot easier if you're not trying to mix Used/New stamps.

Moonbird - My only problem with your "solution" is that you can end up with over-stuffed stock books waiting for you to "decide what to do with them".!! Do they go to albums with mounts/hinges? Basically, that's where I am now - too many piles of stamps and stock pages/books full. I need to move them.

These responses are most interesting.

I will have to join the majority and say that if the stamp is worth more than a few dollars (mint or used) it gets a mount. The lesser quality items either get hinged or put away in a stockbook. I, too, am at the point where my stockbooks are getting too much to store and technically the stockbook pages I have are quite old to the point where the stamp is probably better off hinged in an album than stored in non-archival quality stockbooks, so it will eventually lead to my hinging them in albums.

In a perfect world, I would use mounts for everything, but financially, it is just not feasible to pay what amounts to 8-10 cents per mount for a minimal value stamp. Plus, I also collect precancels and the sheer volume of such stamps (most of which carry only a minimal value to begin with) just isn't worth the cost for mounts.

Now for a question: What is the general SCF reaction to using HINGES to mount current MINT self-adhesive stamps? Technically, the use of hinges may scuff the paper lining of the stamp if the hinge is removed, but in actuality, the MINT stamp itself remains undamaged by the hinge. (Besides, 50 or 100 years from now the self-adhesive on the modern generation stamps are probably going to disintegrate anyway whether I use mounts or hinges.)

Prince
The best to have is a hingeless album, no problem you just have to insert the stamp. I got a Lindner hingeless album when I bought a Greenland collection on ebay. My Europa collection is all mnh so it's mounted. For my Poland collection I used mount for those classic used stamps that I have but I usually buy mh or mnh and use mount. For my Zanzibar collection I use mount for mint and hinge for used no matter what the used worth. I think it's a wast of money to always use mount for a used collection. I'll never use a mount for a used stamp that is 20 cents Scott cat. value it's a waste.
You better save that money and spend it on stamps. Daniel