OK This May Rile Some Folks And Make Others Laugh But Why Clear Or Black?

Why clear or black mounts? Why not blue and yellow and pink and red and green and mauve and vermilion and all different colors? That is what I want!

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

Hey, 102 cards come in colors like "lava" and "canary". A bit gauche, but they do stand out.

I would not need for my mounts to "stand out". Black and clear are neutral and do not take away from the stamps. Same reason as why I am not in favor of colored album pages.

Peter

I agree with Peter, I want the focus to be on the stamp.

Black mounts make the stamps jump out at the viewer because of the contrast between the two. For that reason, black pages are even available from Stanley Gibbons in their 'Nubian Album' (not commonly used by collectors, but the presentation with stamps mounted by hinges is, in my opinion, stupendous).

Clear mounts are the mounts of choice for exhibiting since they are essentially neutral and don't visually interfere with the story line paragraphs, although placing frame lines around stamps or using colored backing is pretty popular, but these can't overpower the stamps so something in a gray is common.

Stamps in some coloured mounts would blend in and get lost but not in others. You'd need several colours to offset this effect which would eliminate the order and uniformity many of us collectors prefer on our pages. Its a fun-sounding concept, though I don't see it happenin.'

The early classic American President stamps were in many colors including pink.

One of the main issues is contrast.
There is a case for contrast in some instances (like bluish paper issues 357-366 & 369) which when placed on orange background makes the blue-gray color more obvious but generally you don't want to detract from the stamp that way.

There are a few black stamps (or very dark) in modern issue, which get a bit lost on a black background. But they are the exception to the rule generally speaking...
But as others have echoed, colored mounts in general, take the focus away from the stamp. If you want a particular color behind the stamp though, you can always use a clear mount, cut a color to fit it as you wish from another paper source and place your stamp on top of that. Beware with OG stamps though, you don't want them sticking to paper.

To ClassicPhilatelist

That is a great idea, Thank you!

I wish you luck in finding color backgrounds you find appropriate for your stamps. Different colors depending on the color of the stamps. Sounds interesting and I would like to see the results if you get around to doing that. Personally I fell in love with black backgrounds decades ago but would still like to see your results.