Who Uses Hinges?

Hi, I have a question for forum members, as this might be helpful in answering my dilemma on hinges vs mounts vs stock books vs stock pages.
Do many of you use hinges to mount and display the bulk of your collection?

Uh, I do..i prefer postally used stamps..so I do not usually have too much guilt !!

i guess like everything else today..hinges are a mixed blessing..gone are the days when you could get 1,000 good quality hinges for a dime..now you pay 2 or 3 dollars and may get a couple hundred really usable hinges..i used to laugh at the guys who took the pains to cut hinges in half...but then again !!

I use hinges on all but most souvenir sheets. I am primarily used collector but use hinges on mounts when I use them. And I agree, it's hard to come up with good hinges today, but they are better than the pieces of selvege found on some 18th century stamps.

mike

SCF had a recent discussion on this very topic. There are as many opinions as to who does/does not use hinges as there are in convincing collectors of who makes the best hinges and where to acquire them:

https://goscf.com/t/11321

I have been using hinges on used stamps and mint stamps in stockbooks,I get by on a limited income and the cost of a good stock of mounts just isnt in the budget right now, but maybe in the future.

I was removing some stamps from a German collection I purchased (on old album pages) recently, and was amused (at first) by the fact that most of the stamps had 5-7 hinges each and created a kind of "accordion" of hinges. After awhile, that amusement turned to annoyance. The worst of the stamps had 9 hinges on it. I should have taken a photo ...

Brian

I use both. I use mounts on my US collection, my side specialties, and my other countries in which I have more specific interest (GB, Germany, Canada, and a few others). Then, on all the rest of the world collection, I use hinges because I just sort of "tinker" with it in a big 12 volume worldwide collection but don't really invest much into it.

Kurt

I use hinges, stockbooks and mounts.

I use them on used as well plus, on a lot of my dupes because they are mounted on approval pages. The higher value stamps, mint or used, I go for the stockbooks and mounts.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I use a lot of hinges - but also some mounts and hagnar style sheets.

All of the above-- I have a hingeless Hagner US Album (it was discontinued several years back, but I only collect the classics anyways), and then for revenues, Private Die Proprietary medicines, and the specialized 3c 1861 I have to used other means.

The revenues, I have a Scott specialty, and use hinges for the common stamps, and mounts for better items. I keep the few silks and ultramarines I have on Vario pages.

The medicines, I have Aldrich pages, and use mostly mounts, a few of the commons are still on hinges, but anything I buy now goes into a mount.

For the 1861 3c covers (and I wish A LOT more of them were dated in 1861!), I have a Nike shoe box with some home-made dividers by year and keep them mostly in plastic holders in date order. For the cancels and other loose colors, I keep in a stockbook.

Last batch of hinges I got were out of a freebie box at a local stamp club meeting, when my name was drawn for the door prize-- Prinz. Last mounts I bought were from a guy I found on ebay who deals in seconds from Showgard at great prices-- deals only in strips.

Nice topic...thanks, Ray

I am a hinge girl and proud of it

Dianne

I am surprised someone didn't mention that as a general rule ,stamps mounted on album pages will get better prices when sold than a stock page or in envolpes.Stamps hinged on album pages being sold at auction or on ebay are easier to view and see condition .Naturally if its MNH then mounts or a stockpage is best to keep the condition intact ,but if its a cheap set then just hinge it ,value will not change on the resell . The MNH crowd is a thing of the past and values don't justify the extra cost on most stamps .There are a few exceptions but not many .----My rule is to maxiumize the resale value after I finish with my collection .

They are still very popular with carpenters.

I have been removing common stamps from an old worldwide album I got at a show and I have frequently stopped and asked myself "why am I doing this?" The old hinged stamps look very nice on the page and have not fallen off or have any damage. The problem for me is that they are oversize pages and I greatly prefer 8 1/2 x 11 sized pages. And the old pages have lots of gaps sometimes so would I fill them in a treat it like a stock book? But still . . .

[quoteThe old hinged stamps look very nice on the page and have not fallen off or have any damage.][/quote]

There's your lightbulb moment Scouter,
there is nothing wrong with hinges at all,
No need to be dictated to by fashion.

Caveat, if you are buying to resell,
then that's another matter, MUH will always get a better or quicker price, but if your a collector, what's the point?
(I still do not have the courage to hinge any of my stamps over $500
but there aren't many in that category. ;)