Maybe The Last Box Of Dennison Hinges Was Sold At A Stamp Auction

The middle packet is Dennisen not Dennison

I put those in the picture because we have new readers and new collectors reading this board .

I am concern with the big gap in price for hinges ,that we will have clowns showing up on the internet to sell the better hinge packages with the cheaper lower quality hinges repackaged.. The picture wasn't a mistake,

I only remember the red and blue package on the far right in Floor's photo. I guess the green package was from before 1968.

There have been several discussions here in SCM about the lack of a classic, Dennison-style hinge in current times. I firmly believe that the technology exists to create a hinge that would function like the Dennison hinges. But in the various threads, people have written about all kinds of accommodations they make to get their stamps mounted in a way that allows the stamps to be moved around or otherwise removed.

The kind of product needed will cost some money at retail, otherwise why would a company bother investing in the R&D only to find they can't sell 1,000 hinges for $10 or $12? The hobby has also moved gradually into other forms of mounting, such as hingeless pages, stock books, and Vario. So it seems to be a self-fulfilling prophesy that while philatelists want great hinges, it really isn't worth the effort to make them.

FloorTrader, Thanks for the education and the photos..

I think the reason why nobody has stepped forward to fund R&D and manufacturing of an exact replacement of these hinges is an inability to put numbers to the proposition as a business. Can anyone find data to use that would accurately estimate the number of collectors that would purchase the product and how much of the product they would purchase over what period of time? Not a chance. Nobody can even answer how many collector's there are with any accuracy. Most if not all of the philatelic materials suppliers are privately owned so there is little publicly available information on revenue by product or product category. "How much money am I going to make" is a question that cannot be answered with anywhere near the accuracy to justify investing in the endeavor.

If you go on UK ebay, you won't find much in the way of vintage hinges - SG, Rapkin etc. And I've never seen them listed in the accessories sections of the auctions I look at. So I imagine that collectors here use Prinz hinges or mounts - unless, like me, they picked up a heap of old Rapkin hinges in a pile,of "philatelia". That suggests that demand over here for a new, expensive product might be low.

It's not remotely the last one. I have one sitting on my desk. It's not going anywhere.

It's a good sales pitch, though. "Your last chance to buy peelable hinges". A little like "Frank Sinatra's farewell tour".

Gentlemen ,there is a issue which is not being discussed here .

Most of my life I have watch the sale of worldwide collections , do you know back in the 1980's and 1990's you can buy them at public auctions around 2 cents per stamp mounted in albums . Then in 2004 the prices started to raise up to 5 cents each mounted in albums .

Well we are now at 2023 and these same mounted collections are now selling at 10 cents per stamp mounted in worldwide collections . So with this inflation pressure we can see another possibilty that prices can continue higher ,so three cents per hinge is not out of the possible range .

So to wrap this up ,stamps mounted in albums will get you a better price if mounted ,meaning your going to need HINGES

Given the ridiculous prices being paid for these plainly packaged pieces of glassine it is amazing that someone, perhaps in China, has not started selling excellent fakes. They are all genuine. We know that for certain. Right?

My stamps are way more valuable NOT being hinged. It would be philatelic blasphemy to damage the gum on more stamps. When my time comes, dealers and auction houses will salivate over the scarce MNH stuff I've put together into complete sets.

It's ok to collect stamps that are nicely mounted in albums and measured 10c at a time. Your pages are beautiful and show the care and focus you've invested in your collection for half a century. I respect what you've accomplished- you have WAY more completed sets and depth than most worldwide collectors. But it's also just as valid to build collections measured in $50, $70, $100, and $250 complete sets that don't require hinges.

It is astounding that one post after the other on this forum points out to those who hope they inherited a fortune that you should not treat the hobby as an investment. Also, frequent posts complain about the decline of the hobby and how bad the market is.

Yet, time and again, people who have a big and valuable collection think every collector will be inclined to spend a lot of money on the preservation of his or her collection. The number of people who care about how much potential future buyers of their collection will discount for the lack of a good presentation may be very limited.

If a collector is fine with pages that have both stamps in hingeless mounts with clear and black backgrounds, and hinged stamps, the collector is not going to pay a premium for hinges. Also, people that want to fill the spaces and are fine with heavily cancelled, smudgy stamps are unlikely to splash out on expensive hinges or hingeless mounts.

The average collector is not the active participant on this forum.

Shermae ---- Thanks for your positive comments . I think the most important part of this chat board is ,that collectors can see what others are doing .

What I find important is not telling them what others should be interested in . So I stay away from telling them what to collect ,but I will share my ideas about being organized and keeping focus on having goals .

What has been interesting to me ,is the high percentage of people who post here but you don't know what they collect and what they been doing with their collection . Have they established any goals with their hobby ,do they ever display their stuff . the social connection is seeing how their collection developes over time .

As far as I go, I currently do not have a collection. I shared my US and Russia collections in detail over the years, but they have both been sold off. Will I start something new? Maybe. I certainly keep thinking about it. That being said, I come here to keep learning, to share my knowledge and for the fellowship. Not owning stamps and being interested in stamps are not mutually exclusive.

As a sort of follow-up to Shermae's post; are there collectors who currently use hinges on NH stamps still? I can understand that practice prior to quality mounts/Vario pages and so forth; but wonder why someone would hinge a perfectly gummed stamp.