Subway G & K Peelable Hinges--Anybody Know About These?

On page 10 of Subway's current flyer is this ad for G & K peelable hinges. They say they want to a manufacturer in Germany after complaints about non-peelable hinges.
http://www.subwaystamp.com/sept2015.pdf -- scroll down to p. 10.

Here's the link to the actual item in their online store:

http://www.subwaystamp.com/PRE-FOLD...info/ZGKPFHM


Is this something new from G & K or has it been around for a while? If the latter, does anyone have a verdict on whether these hinges truly are peelable? I use only mounts but I figured a lot of you would be interested if this is indeed a new product and if it lives up to the hype.

But I won't be holding my breath.

WOW - would that be nice! Looking forward to hearing if anybody's tried these yet.

I've spent almost $75 on 3000 hinges over the last month. Still have 2000 left or I would order a pack of those right now

Do youall know how long hinges could be expected to be good, I never use them anymore but I have a couple thousand in packages of 1000 that never been open but I got them in a box of stuff and I have had them for a few years now.

I restarted my collecting after a 30+ year absence and the package of Dennison pre-folded that I bought back then still work.

Terry

Do you all generally feel that basically any hinge on the market today is safe and peelable for used stamps?

I wouldn't say that modern hinges are peelable per se, but they are removable and safe if used properly. If you just barely moisten them, they often will come right off almost as easily as the old Dennison hinges. It's very easy to overdo the moisture, however, and in that case the hinge will often become tightly attached and difficult to remove. I'd hesitate to use a modern hinge on any stamp with thin paper, used or not.

I entirely echo Artful's comments. I use Prinz hinges without too much trouble. Experience has taught me to be very careful with some issues - eg too much moisture on gummed Czech CTOs from the 60s will have unhappy consequences!

I wouldnt use hinges on mint stamps, on used stamps you could always soak them off if you need and they dont peel but since I mostly take albums apart I have realized that albums with nice peelable hinges also have a bunch of stamps falling out.

So no one has any experience with these particular hinges? That was my question. We all know that modern hinges are not truly peelable. My question is whether Subway/G&K has come up with something truly new and peelable or whether these are just another variant on the not-really-peelable modern hinges, whether these specific hinges from G&K are a new product or have been around for a while.

If a new product then the answer is clear--someone who uses hinges needs to buy a pack and test them.

If they've been around for a while and people have used them, then please report your experience with them.

Otherwise the generalizations about hinges today are old news.

Hieronymus,

I have not tried them. Their description sounds intriguing, however, the picture of the package looks like the some old one that been around for some time…especially given the picture of the World Trade Center building on the package.

-Chris

I bought 3 packages of G&K hinges when I first started my worldwide collection back in 2008. My memory is that with the first package, I thought the hinges worked well enough although I had a number of stamps fall out of the album over the course of months. (This might have partly been because I hadn't relearned good hinging techniques.) The second package had too many unusable hinges. (However, I was used to working with the Dennison hinges from the old days and didn't know to rub "clumped together" hinges with my fingers to separate them easily.) But the bottom line is I switched to Prinz and never opened the third package. Prinz hinges hold "too" well for some collectors, but I practically never have trouble with stamps coming loose. Your milage may vary, and all that, of course.

Thanks. That's what I was looking for. They've been around for a while. They are not the magic bullet but fit somewhere in the range of what's on the market.

That's what I suspected but since I don't use hinges I thought I'd ask among those who do.

Don't want to burst any bubbles, but.. Safeway has been selling these for some time with the same sales pitch about going to a manufacturer in Germany, etc. I know I saw the same ad copy a decade or so ago, at least. What you'll likely get is another pack of hinges with the same old issues they all have now. These may be a bit better than some but none of them are as the ones used to be.

I've never used the G&K hinges but I'm skeptical that they're even any different, myself. Supposedly there is only one hinge manufacturer in the world today and they make only one type of hinge, regardless of the type of packaging they are sold in. I've used somwhere around half a dozen different brands of hinges in the last few years and all of them appear identical to me. I suspect if I bought a package of G&K hinges that they'd be the same again.

I have purchased various G&K Products a while back when Subway was on Nassau Street in Lower Manhattan - I miss them, I do.

G&K products are good.

I'd try them if I still was utilizing hinges to mount my collection.

Regards,
Stampalotapus