Who Uses Hinges?

With regard to the old Dennison hinges, they came in a red and blue pack as well as a green pack. Does anyone here know if both those were the 'good hinges' or was one of them a knock off?

Cheers
Ram

I used to hinge everything that went on album pages, but that was years ago. Since I restarted the hobby, I'm considering using mounts exclusively, even for used, previously hinged items. The reason is two-fold. First, the mount would make it easier to swap stamps in and out, as I acquire better copies. Second, the mount provides another layer of protection against damage. I've seen plenty of old hinged collections that have damaged stamps (toning, foxing etc.) from whatever source (acid from the hinge, the paper, etc.) whereas the mounted stamps are pretty well preserved (could be a difference in age though, since mounts are probably in the newer collections).

I might make exceptions to this rule. For instance, I will probably make a hinged collection of used US stamps (because I have an album already started) and another collection that uses mounts.

Ram,
both seem to have the same Name Font, suggestong both original?...

I use both, but not in the same collection. In my us album, I use mounts (although I'd like to purchase a hingeless album). In my Austrian collection I use hinges, but only because it came that way and I don't think that a mix of hinges and mounts looks too good (well, I don't mind hinges and clear mounts mixed, but I dislike hinges and black mounts). I have several more collections (machins and pre-40) that I need to get an album for, so I will have to decide for those!

Floortrader,

re. " 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 ".

Could I ask you what those few exceptions are,

Okka

OKKA-----The exception would be better value stamps like those worth $10.00 or more,or in MNH complete sets.I just hinge the stamps because there are so few collectors willing to pay a premium for MNH low value material.

Floortrader,

I don't agree, many countries stamps are considered uncollectable if they are hinged, even slightly,doesn't matter if they are 1c. or $100 stamps,

Okka

Floortrader,

re.

" I just hinge the stamps because there are so few collectors willing to pay a premium for MNH low value material "

You have got it back to front, it should be

I just hinge the stamps because there are more collectors who are too mean to pay a premium for MNH,

Okka

TOO MEAN TO PAY A PREMIUM FOR MNH....??????

hinges only for used less that $5 catalog value

I don't use hinges. I stick all my stamps to the page using the liquid rubber solution from my bicycle tyre repair kit.

Well, actually that's not true, though I occasionally wish I had the courage to do it, just to really get up the noses of the Unhinged brigade.

Is anyone else as old as me and therefore remembers the days when we were all told that the only serious way to collect stamps was in blocks of four? Eventually a degree of relative sanity returned so all those dealers who could no longer make 300% extra on every purchase that way, invented the MNH Delusion instead.

It would be funny if it wasn't so serious to the future of our hobby. It's hard enough trying to persuade outsiders, never mind YOUNG outsiders, that stamp collectors are not mad, without having to explain to them that the REALLY important thing about a stamp is not what it has printed on it, but whether the gum on the back is disturbed.

So I'll carry on using hinges.

The pictures above of the hinge packets reminds me of a complaint many years ago in a stamp magazine that stamp collectors were so obsessed with para-philatelic items that soon we would stop collecting stamps and instead fill our albums with pages of different hinge packets and lovingly mounted single examples of rare antique Stamp Hinges!

Perhaps that day has now come. I have at hand a beautiful packet of 1000 Prinz ready folded hinges, guaranteed Unmounted Mint Never Stamped. I'm prepared to accept £100 + postage/packing. Or am prepared to split the set for, say, £1 each.

I liked licking hinges myself. Especially Dennison's. Tasted much better than some Romanian stamp's gum or those Bulgarian ones. Uck.

Its all in the O . The original Dennison hinges is spelled with a O while the knock offs are spelled with a E Dennisen hinges.

Dennison hinges (O) = ORIGINAL

Dennisen hinges (E) = KNOCK OFF

Floortrader,

re. TOO MEAN TO PAY A PREMIUM FOR MNH....??????

Yes, too mean to buy mounts instead of hinges. By using hinges you are destroying the sellability of the material as well as the value.

Check out the selling prices of most European or Australian stamps which are mounted against those that are mnh. Doesn't matter if they are from 1910 or 2010. No problem about hinging used stamps but the second a hinge goes near a mnh., there goes the value,

The only person you are fooling is yourself,

Okka

I wonder if man could go to war over , hinged v unhinged

Certainly sounds like it.