Switching My US Collection From Hingeless Back To Scott National

I am wondering if others have done the same. My main issues with the hingeless is that the stamps get "lost" on the light page background because of the clear mounts and I have to mount margin copy stamps and other stamps which do not conform to the installed mounts separately anyway. I want to see the perforations and centering clearly and I want to mount the plate number stamps etc.in a way that makes for an organized presentation. It is a personal preference for sure but I am going black back mounts on National pages.

If you have done the same have you been happy with the switch or do you have some regrets?

Exactly the reason I never bought Mystic's Hingeless for my USA collection. I have regular Mystic binders with Showgard black backed mounted mint stamps and Showgard clear mounts for the few used stamps in the collection.

Jack Kelley

I converted from black to clear since I like the look and makes the page look less crowded. Black can highlight crooked and improperly cut mounts (see it in postings here). Clear on Steiner pages makes the frame visible too. The perfs showing better is not a concern to me.

I am glad we have a choice.

I use black mounts on white quadrille, clear on black quadrille and clear on printed pages. The drawback of black mounts on printed leaves is that they obscure the text or image beneath

I did not think of clear on black quadrille. Pretty cool. I might try a test page of that.

Like angore, I too prefer the clear mounts to the black mounts.

Well I started moving my US into the new National with black back mounts and WOW I wish I did it long ago. IT just looks so much better. More exciting. You can really see the perfs and the colors just pop against the black. My Fiskars rotary cuter is working out great as well.

I am definitely black mounts on white paper. Like some others here, I like to see the perforations. I agree wholeheartedly with Rogdcam on the Fiskar Rotary Cutter. I recently picked a largish one up on Amazon and am loving it. I will never go back to the guillotine style of cutter again.

I customize my own pages for my Canadian collection, but for the other countries, I use the Steiner Pages. Unfortunately, the black mounts generally do not work that well on those pages though as the frame sizes in about 90% of the pages are too small for the black mounts.

Any chance of more details (or a link) for the Fiskar Rotary Cutter please?
Many thanks.

Brad/Rogdcam, what is this rotary cutter you speak of? Curious as I use a good heavy pair of Fiskar shears; but occasionally they (they being the user) don't cut perfectly perpendicular to the top/bottom edge.

Brad; I gave Steiner pages a try for my Ecuador collection (and will be doing the same for older/pre-US occupation Philippines) and am thrilled; but are you saying you would like to see the frame outside of the mount?

Andy - This is the one that I use. Love it.

https://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-1524...C213&sr=8-16

The Fiskars web site https://www2.fiskars.com/Products/C...g-and-Sewing shows their selection of cutting tools.

I use a Fiskars paper trimmer to cut my mounts, and that works well. I've never tried a rotary cutter for that (I have one that I use to cut fabric) but I can see it working well in conjunction with a straight edge.

Both JoAnn fabric's and Michael's craft shops carry a wide selection of Fiskar products, including replacement blades. You can sign up to receive 40 - 50 percent off coupons from both companies, and Joann's routinely has Fiskar products on sale.

I started with the Mystic albums and was really unhappy with it. It seemed like a kids/beginner album and I really didn't like the clear mounts. I switched to the Scott National and loved the look but got frustrated because it didn't have spots for stamp varieties I wanted to collect (broken hat, cap on 2s, etc) and because it had spots for stamps I will never own. I now make my own pages on letter-size sheets and can make spots for whatever I want, and it is almost free to change my mind on how to display my stamps. I'm now free to collect any variety I want. That decision has made my collecting so much more enjoyable, and now I focus my collecting on varieties that are interesting to me. I'm not a slave to Scott numbers any more.

Thanks! Will give it a try. Very much appreciated.