If I Have A Block And Use Stamp Hinge On The Border

Hi,
If I have a whole sheet of block and the stamo hinge is used on the border(not below the stamp) , does it lose value or is it considered Ok? How can I use hinges and still make sure my stamo doesnt lose value?

Any hinge placed on the back will reduce the value not just on the stamp but ANYWHERE . Put it in a plastic mount of some kind or keep it in a black page with plastic strip mounts

Thanks floortrader.Can you send me pics or provide online links on doing it with plastic strip mounts? just wondering how it will hold stamps in place.

There are variables. If you have a block of US stamps from say 1950 then chances are good you can hinge the stamp and not lose value. There really is no value to US Stamps from the 1950's so whether it's hinged or not does not matter. Of course there are exceptions to the rule.

Thanks @stallzer .So maybe wi ill stick to hinges only on the low value ones . How do you store usually?

I use Vario stock pages and Vario F binders w/ slip covers.


https://www.lighthouse.us/vario-f-p...chanism.html

Stallzer, you can buy cheaper Vario F binders from Canada Post https://www.canadapost.ca/shop/coll...p-341778.jsf

I don't know how Canada Post is able to sell cheaper than the manufacturer but they do...

I don't buy from them I was just using the link to show the product.

As indicated, for many modern stamps, it doesn't matter whether the stamp is hinged or not: it's just postage at the end of the day.

For older stamps, if it's an imprint/plate number block, or the selvage is interesting in some other way, keeping it attached and never hinged may add (sometimes a lot of) value. Blank selvage doesn't usually add value, though, so a hinge mark in blank selvage is usually inconsequential (the stamp itself is still NH, and the selvage can be removed if desired.)

Most (genuine) MNH nineteenth century stamps either came from broken multiples, or from stamps that were only hinged on selvage like this. Comparatively few were carefully stored in glassines or stockbooks for 100+ years.

ETA: one of the favorite "tricks" of older hinge-mounted collections was to fold attached blank selvage back, and apply the hinge to the ungummed side of the selvage. This avoids any hinge mark, as long as the hinge pops away cleanly.

codehappy..so is it safe to use hinges on all used stamps assuming it wont affect its value?

Well, there's always some chance of the stamp getting thinned or torn when a hinge is removed. If you use good quality peelable hinges, that chance will be small, but if it's a valuable stamp, used or unused, mounts may be a better choice. (Don't stick down both ends of the mount, though -- let one side stay free so the stamp can be easily removed if needed. If you have to force the mount off the page or the stamp out of the mount, it can be just as damaging as using bad hinges.)

Where you draw the line between what can be hinged and what can't is a personal choice.

I realize this is off-topic of the post - but addresses comments within this post.

I truly appreciate all of the comments in this forum and especially all of the great knowledge of the many things I do not know. But I have to admit I am tired of folks just tossing a blanket on all U.S. issues from WWII onward as having "no value," such as "there really is no value to stamps of the 1950s ..."

First, these stamps always carry face value for mailing purposes, but that is not what the hobby is about. For collecting purposes, these stamps have much more value 1. to place in an album to create a proper collection of stamps of that era; (and anyone who wants a true background of the U.S. stamps of the 1950s should read Charles Posner's stories in The American Philatelist (APS) ... 2. to create such a collection, I would have to buy these stamps from a dealer, probably for several times their face value.

I know that no harm is meant, but if collectors want to see the hobby move forward in any way - to be positive toward potential new collectors - you need to change your phraseology. To say these stamps have NO value totally demeans the hobby and those who collect them.

On your second point, if I wished to create a post-1971 GB collection, I'd simply have to buy one of the large lots that regularly appear at auction, the estimates for which reflect their face value (50-60% thereof). Pre-decimal QEII collections are available cheaply because most of the stamps are relatively common and they no longer have the face value safety-net.

Agree with you CENTERSTAGE 98 , this "no value" stuff I hear all my life as a worldwide collector .

Belief that stamps will always have a 'face value safety-net' requires that a person also believes that snail mail will exist forever. But if a postal system goes all digital, mint stamps will no longer have any face value.
Don

To believe that U.S. Commemorative stamps from the 1940's and '50s have practical or collectible value requires irrational exuberance. As franking material, 18 of these stamps plus another 1c stamp will mail a letter for you, IF you can fit them all on an envelope.

As collectibles, these stamps were produced in numbers way beyond any purpose of franking and collecting. They are somewhat like the inflation issues of Germany, still hanging around everywhere in complete sheets. I still have a 3/4" - 1" stack of them (the 3c commemoratives) I " inherited" from a neighbor of my parents many years ago.