Stamp Hinges?? Are There Any Decent Ones Made Anymore??

Back in the day, I used the original Fold O Hinges. Probably the best ever but sad to say, no longer available unless you find some on ebay ($$$$). I took a chance and bought some "Super Safe" hinges. Not impressed with them at all. They were all clumped together. Have to separate almost every one of them before I can use them. And the don't peel very well at all - tears the page when you remove a stamp. Not even worth the effort of tossing them in the trash.

Does anyone have any recommendations for decent hinges? Prinz?? Others??

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

All modern day hinges are made by one company Prinz in Germany. They are then packaged for sale with various names for other companies to sell.

I concur with floortrader. I have found good luck with most hinges that were made in the 50's-70's They are worth it!

Sorry Landoquakes,I need to rewrite that posting .
I just checked ebay and prices came down this month ,why I don't know . But I do think prices in general have been raising on both Dennison and Fold-O-Hinges ,which are the only two hinges I trust not to damage the stamp or the album page .
The biggest news is that the Fold-o's have been increasing from around $6.00 a pack up to close to the Dennison Hinges . The Dennison Hinges are starting to climb above $20.00 a pack to into the $20.00 to $30.00 range . Fold-O's are moving close to $20.00 .
Looking at ebay today for some reason both the above names are selling for lower amounts than a few months ago .Somewhere we are going to run out of both brands .

Vintage Dennison hinges are the only quality hinges available; none of the modern hinges are as 'pealable' as the vintage Dennison products.

While it is possible, by using very light moisture, to make modern hinges useable, many modern hinged collections lose value because the stamps will need to be soaked to get the hinges removed from the pages.

One strategy that is time consuming but make the vintage Dennison hinges a bit more affordable, is to cut them in half.

Vintage Dennison hinges have gone up in value over 4000% since the 1970s, they are a far better investment than stamps and covers. And since no one has been able to produce a truly peal-able hinge in the last 50 years, the outlook is that the supply will continue to become smaller and smaller. (Read as, they will continue to appreciate in value.)
http://stampsmarter.com/learning/Gen_Dennison.html
Don

Hi River:

I moved your post to the "supplies" forum -- there are several good discussions in here about hinges and it's a topic we all like to talk about <LOL>

KirkS

oldmanriver,

I really think it depends what you are mounting. For myself, I used Dennison's for my mint King George collection and I use Prinz for my used worldwide collection. They are not so bad - Sure, you have to separate them. But they are 1/10th the cost. Up until last month, I was exclusively Dennison's. Geoff Ha of this site recommended them to me and I am very happy he did.

Jack Kelley

Thanks, Jack - your cheque's in the post.

I've been using Fasto hinges from Nordfrim (and elsewhere). I use mounts for my more "valuable" stamps, but since I collect primarily used, and have had some success in removing Fasto hinges, I will probably stick with them. One big feature is that they don't seem to curl much at all - curling being a pet peeve of mine.

Geoff

Elon Musk needs to get involved in this. If anybody can produce a quality hinge with the right blend of desirable properties it is he.

Why?

Because he's already a little unhinged?

Jim

Dont use this that or the other brand. My head is spinning .

Somethings I have noticed with almost every different stamp hinge available out there. Do not try to peel any hinge before at least 24 hrs have gone by or the paper on stamp will say bye- bye and leave a thin in most cases. A piece of hinge remanent or gum remainder is not the worst that can happen for sure.

If you use saliva, it may contain food, coffee, tea, tobbaco, or sugar or acid. This may cause the gum to be extra stickey and may not release as easily as ordinary water does. It may also lead to stains or staining of the stamp itself.

Make sure you use a small amount of clean or distilled water to moisten your hinge. Something to consider and food for thought next time before you decide to lick that hinge.

Keep steady and don't become unhinged, enjoy!

Mike

I have been experimenting with methods to minimize moisture on mounts after migrating from hinges.

The lowly q-tip (goes by other names) seems to work. It does not absorb much water so harder to over apply.

My technique is to tab the q-tip on a wet sponge then dab on mount. I had experimented with hinges initially in my early experiments.

My second choice is a makeup brush with the sponge end but will absorb more moisture.

Sorry,

I just wet my index fingertip and then apply to the hinge holding the hinge with tongs.

Jack Kelley

It is interesting that the Dennison package sold in Buy Sell category contains hinges with round corners. A similar Dennison package contains hinges with square corners.

This package is coded "48-040 (No. 4)" and "2-72 (February 1972).

The package sold is coded "No. 4." See next message.