DIY Mounts Or Displays?

I'm re-organizing many loose stamps, and I want to put them into existing albums. All of the stamps currently in my albums have been hinged, but I would rather not use hinges.

Has anyone thought of a way to DIY their own mounts? Could I make mounts out of acid free vellum paper?

If they are used stamps it does not make any difference. And not much difference on low value common mint stamps either. But if mint, and if you want to retain the original gum why not purchase clear mounts that will not change the look of the pages.

Personally, in my opinion; I do not like black mounts in an album with the image underneath. It really defeats the purpose of that album. What is the sense in that? Your just as well to use blank pages and position the stamps the way you like with black mounts.

Edit: Welcome to the forum! Enjoy.

How do you envision to use vellum? It is translucent so do you plan to put vellum on top?

I would opt for the pricey mounts, but I have thousands to organize, and I'm trying to save a little money as far as that is concerned.

I envision the vellum mounts would look like a pouch. The vellum isn't opaque, so you can still see the stamp. Granted, it's not clear either, and I do love looking at the intricacies..

Maybe I'll post some pictures? My grandmother's album has wonderful stamps, but they're all in poor condition (I think) because of the hinges.

Hinges don't of themselves create poor condition - if they're obtrusive, you should be able to soak them off.

Here are a couple of pictures. Maybe it's another kind of damage I'm not aware of. It looks like where the hinges have been placed, the stamp has yellowed.

Here is a picture of the DIY vellum mount I was thinking of using.. What do you think?

go with the commercial mounts... the velum does not allow for a true view of the color (or design)… there are second hand suppliers that will provide 2x the amount for the price of 1st condition... I have purchased 2nds & there are few issues so far.

Good advice, I will check out that route as well.

It all depends on what sort of hinges your grandmother used. If she used something like scotch tape or something else with glue on it, then the glue will no doubt have migrated into the stamps. That might be the cause of the "yellow" you mention, although I don't see any of it in the pictures you've posted. If she used real stamp hinges, that would be very unlikely to have happened. Generations ago, collectors sometimes used stamp selvage (borders) as hinges, or small pieces of paper which they used to glue the stamp into the album with. Any use of selvage or most glues can damage stamps. Normal stamp hinges are very safe, however. The damage done by stamp hinges comes from their being too aggressive and hard to remove later. This can lead to tearing the stamp or "thinning" the stamp. Some older hinges had glue that didn't release easily which tended to cause these problems. But the glue on even those hinges didn't stain or discolor the stamps. It was just hard to remove the stamp.

Those are wonderful stamps that deserve to be preserved. Those labels and local or city post stamps are really interesting. Would it be possible to keep them in that old Scott International album you have instead of removing them? It would act as a family heirloom (which it is) and make it much easier to work with since you'd only be adding new stamps to it rather than removing them all and remounting them. Or is that album in really bad shape?

I'd use clear (or black, if you prefer) stamp mounts rather than that "vellum mount" you show. It obscures the stamp far too much. Mounts are more expensive than hinges, but there are discounts. I use mainly hinges in my collections, but my collection are mostly used stamps or already hinged unused stamps -- or mint stamps that are cheap enough so I don't care about hinging them. With all the mania for stamp mounts, I sometimes feel like the last collector that still hinges like that.

The amount of money invested on stamp mounts to hold what are basically ordinary mint stamps so they don't get a hinge mark on the back must be phenomenal, perhaps more than the cost of the stamps in the albums they're mounted in. I've seen many albums which contained stamps cheaper than the mounts they were in. Does that even make sense? I just purchased a used modern hingeless Netherlands album. The particular volume of this album sells for about $150 today. I paid only the price of the stamps in it, about $100, and even that was one-quarter the catalog price. So for $400 worth of stamps in a $150 album, I paid $100 and got the album and its mounts for nothing. You'll never get back the cost of your albums or your mounts. Better to spend your money on nice stamps. Use hinges when you can, mounts when you need to.

I also prefer clear mounts since they allow you to see the information in the stamp box underneath the stamp. Black mounts cover that up. To me, clear mounts look better, less heavy and cluttered than black mounts. All major album makers use clear clear mounts in their albums. A page of black mounts often seems overwhelming to me, sometimes too heavy, too cluttered. However, when used in small quantities, especially on blank pages, black mounts look good. I just think most people overuse them or use them where they don't belong like in preprinted albums.

Showgard mount factory 'seconds'

http://www.stampmountseconds.com/ or ebay seller "stampgolfer" https://www.ebay.com/sch/stampgolfe...trksid=p3692
Don

Thank you all for the help, Drew. And thanks for the link Don.

I don't want to take any stamps out of their original albums, only add to it. I really enjoy my grandmothers Scott album, and I agree - her first page of local and city post stamps is awesome!

I'll use hinges now that I know it isn't destructive. I have plenty of those.

Good choice.