H.e. Harris Crystal Mounts

I haven't seen these around for quite a few years. In the past week, I bought a small auction lot of supplies that has 15-20 unopened packages of Crystal mounts. I've read that they don't last as long as Showguard. Any thoughts; use them or just pitch out? Thanks in advance.

Do not use Crystal mounts - they can shrink over time and damage the stamps. Throw them in the trash.

Thanks for the tip. They will provide some nice weight in a leaf bag.

My Dad still had a pack of those lying around the house, which I found just a few months ago, when I was cleaning out his stuff (he passed away last year).

I remember, when I was a kid, looking at my Dad's worldwide stamps, and pulling them out of their mounts. I noticed that almost all of the stamps were 'shiny'. The mounts had essentially bled onto the stamps - and its not like he had had them mounted for more than a couple years.

Crystal mounts are no longer available, for a good reason. They will damage your stamps. Period.

I wonder if we would see this on TV..

Have you or your loved ones used or been affected by Crystal Mounts. If so, listen to this message from the Crystal Mount hotline. Have you experienced damaged stamps, crying, bleeding, upset stomach....

Class Action!!

well that's not good! I have about a dozen packs of the old crystal mounts as 'back ups' if I need something in a hurry. Glad I saw this thread! I have been using Scott and Showgard pretty much exclusively for years and have never had any issues with those. Does anyone know if there are any issues with any other mounts besides Crystal Mount that we need to be aware of?

Mounts

https://www.apfelbauminc.com/blog/e...stamp-mounts

http://www.jaysmith.com/Resource/Be...-Mounts.html

Crystal Mounts are one of those wonderful "improvements of modern technology" of the 1950s that turned out causing more damage than preventing. Kinda like DDT...

The debate over split back mounts continues. Most mounts sold are split back.

Angore thats another reason I switched to using Varios instead of going back to prtinted albums and mounts when I got back into collecting.

I seriously wonder why Harris didn't get sued at some point over these. There had to be hundreds of collectors with damages from using them. I did so briefly early in my collecting. The size for horizontal stamps was too big, the stamp would slide out when you turned a page. Also I noticed that every collection I bought where these had been used there was some damage, and that the glue left ugly brown adhesion on the page.

Yes, they wrecked my 1950's 3c commemoratives. True, this wasn't a financial calamity...but the pain and mental anguish I suffered was immeasurable. I think I deserve restitution.

A very common problem with Crystal Mounts, for the record, was that because they were a "one size fits all mount" you had to cut it to size, so many users took to using some Scotch (cellophane) Tape to close the mount up, essentially wrapping the mount around the stamp. This was intended to keep the stamps from falling out. The result was that not only could the stamp not be removed without cutting open the mount, but the glue often migrated from the tape onto the album page and often onto the stamps themselves. Hundreds of thousands of stamps must have been ruined this way. This is why modern stamp mounts require only cutting to size and then slipping the stamp inside. The mount itself (hopefully) grips the stamp well enough to hold it in place. No tape needed.

Split back mounts seem to have a better grip on stamps, but they have to be sized very accurately to hold their stamps properly. With mounts that are open on three sides, sizing is less critical but stamps are a little more likely to slide around and perhaps fall out since they're only held at the bottom instead of the top and bottom like in split backs. In my experience, anyway.

My Crystal Mounts went out in last week's trash.

Now that I have plenty of time due to social distancing I have decided to tackle my dad's stamp collection that was passed on to me years ago. Unfortunately he had mounted it all in 14 large capacity 3 ring binders using Crystal Mounts. As described in previous posts in this thread, these mounts were lacking and caused stamps to slide out when pages were turned. For this reason, again as described previously, tiny pieces of tape were added to each side. These tape pieces and the mount adhesive itself migrated into the stamps causing the distinctive brown stains on the stamps and the pages.

Attached are 2 sample photos showing the stamp damage from the front and the page damage as seen from the back. I have a rescue rate of roughly 1% that have not been damaged. So $1,000s of stamps are only good for the trash bin due to these mounts and the inappropriate fix that was used to contain the stamps in the mount.

So hopefully if anyone is still considering using these mounts, please look at the photos and reconsider.