This Is Similar To My View On Stamp Hinges

Gibby01,
No one should feel frustrated by the opinions given, I am sure that no one intended to insult others over what or how they collect. I use hinges all the time in my 'fun' albums, and I am neither young nor a beginner. I use vintage Dennison hinges on many used stamps. I also use them on some mint stamps which already have been hinged and do not exceed a certain value.
Don

I hinge mounts to pages but I wonder how they'll adhere long term.

Stamp collecting for me has been a dilemma and perhaps trying to figure out how to collect stamps is what keeps me coming back to it.

Hinges are a good example:

I have enjoyed finding stamps and quickly placing them into albums with hinges. Now I find I need to remove the hinge (which usually requires a dry time), cut the mount and then place. All fine for a few stamps but way too time consuming for migration of feeder albums to a new country. This is motivational for just collecting pre 1910 or one country where more time, attention and money is placed per stamp.

I appreciate the look of consistently mounted stamps so now I want all the stamps on a page to be mounted with the same mount and well cut & placed....not just the one new mint stamp I want to add to my collection.

I was drawn to Vario pages for these reasons but continue miss to the descriptions and information of an album. I like seeing how my stamps fit the Scott Catalog. Am I missing stamps in a set? what year and watermark, etc. So back to printed albums although I do stock up on stamps in Vario before starting a new country.

Once an appreciation on never hinged was gained, I then want to know which of my mounted stamps are hinged and for my Dutch Scott Specialty with all never hinged mint I nly want to add the same....although for most of my albums I have always just enjoyed a mix of cancels and unused while never really caring about the backs.

Even mounts create decisions....getting the correct size enables more consistent shape vs cutting. Black mounts not perfectly sized, cut and placed look messy...hinged mounts have been used to buy time but are partially detached like hinged stamps.

I have a bit of "if I was to do it all over again" thinking and desire to start new album directions with a clearer destination in mind. For my WW doubles album (Harris Citation 3 volume) Dennison hinges are still the plan as started in 70's and the few MNH are now hinged inside clear mounts.

I have always found it most relaxing working with the Dennison hinges and used stamps. It is a hobby for me afterall.

Looking to easy the barrier to mounts....(clear top loader is probably the easiest) but:

I looked at British Basutoland as an example. If I use top load mounts I could probably do the album effectively in 2 heights. If I use split-back the recommendation is 11 different heights. I like not having to cut the top because it is too easy to get the line angled which looks sloppy w/black mounts. Perhaps if I invested in a start up package of 11 -15 heights I would then be able to have the right size split back and only replenish the popular ones which seem to be 30mm followed by 25 and 36.

Last night I froze, walked over to the wall, took the receiver off the phone, rotary dailed 911. "911 what's your emergency?" I am afraid I am about to use hinges on a stamp." "Sir, that is "archaic" behavior. I am sending an officer over. Step away from the hinges and take a breath." Officer arrives, "Sir I am going to have to take you in for "Philatelic Malpractice" you have the right to remain silent. . ." You know the rest of the story. Your Honor I was simply attempting to enjoy my hobby in a financially prudent way, I leave myself at your mercy.

You have a phone on the wall?

Indeed my friend. It also has a cord that reaches from the kitchen to the living room provided I don't trip on the shag carpet and knock over my latest Heathkit project.

As long as you're not damaging classic and/or rare philatelic treasures, my opinion is go ahead and hinge away. They are your stamps and if it makes you happy then have fun.

BUT if resale value is super important to you, expect to receive slightly lower bids or buy offers when you go to sell if you do use hinges. Your choice, your decision. Pay now for mounts or hingeless storage or pay later. You can't have it both ways. That's just the way it is.

Not sure about this, but it seems to me that stock books would be best purely from a 'resale' standpoint. No hinges, no fiddly mounts.

Unless you're like me, and enjoy going through old albums to add to your own. Stockbooks will never excite me in the way that albums do!

You're right - Albums do have the advantage of being able to quickly assess completeness and really old albums are super fun. Yet I've seen some excellent pics of collections arranged on Vario or Hagner sheets with printed info sheets on the opposite side. Those types of displays retain much of the charm of albums and allow easy rearranging or addition of varieties, cancels etc. without fussing with mounts or hinges or album supplements.

There are so many ways to arrange a collection. No one way is the right way.

Try to stay away from hinges. Unless Dennison they damage stamps period. I went with a good old stock book. If one is going to hinge for fun. Used and cheap stamps OK the rest I would not. Maybe filler.

Quanah - My solution was to make "page inserts" between the vario pages to act as keys as to what was or will be on the pages. Then you get the best of both worlds - album page look but not having to deal with hinges/mounts/cost of album pages (I print inserts on regular 8.5x11 paper and put into page protectors)

That looks very good.

"Actually, it is called 'expressing an opinion'. Healthy dialogue allows all opinions."

All right then. This thread, as is often the case, has comments which take hinge users to task for being bad collectors. And Gibby makes a very good point that too often people are made less interested in this hobby because it appears to have silly rules. Most of us, I'm fairly sure, began with cheap albums and cheap stamps which we stuck on the pages anyway we could, maybe even with scotch tape, a more accurate collecting equivalent of "wire coat hangers" than stamp hinges. After all, stamp hinges are designed -- or were designed -- to attach stamps to album pages with little damage. Some early hinges left very little mark on the back of the stamp (unlike modern hinges), as most of us know.

So, no, hinges are not a plaything of the devil. In my large multi-volume worldwide album, I still use hinges (horrors!) for used stamps which have already been hinged. What possible damage does that do? In fact, I often find I can remove the remnants of an older hinge and "purify" the stamp first before applying a new hinge for mounting in my album. It's my "just for fun" album with zero expectation of any profit from it (an unfortunate self-imposed limitation that may limit enjoyment for some collectors), and I'll keep doing that no matter what anyone instructs me I "should" do. For all my many other albums, and for all mint stamps, I use stamp mounts.

For some collectors the choice of hinges vs. mounts is a financial one. Stamps mounts cost "around" 4-5 cents per mount. Hinges cost a fraction of that, often less than 1/2 cent per hinge. Which method of mounting stamps do you think beginning collectors and many less affluent collectors are going to want to use?

So if you push the "use only mounts or you're a bad collector" issue to its limits, you denigrate some less-affluent collectors and may drive them away from the hobby. Part of that is comparing stamp hinges to "rotary phones" from the past as if they have no function today and make you out of date -- and perhaps a little stupid, as well. They're not out of date if you enjoy using them and can't afford mounts. I say leave people alone to do what they want.

I always suggest to beginners, especially if they are young collectors, that they spend money on stamps, not mounts, and so they should use stamp hinges. There's a difference between making a suggestion and trying to enforce a "rule" or trying to embarrass collectors who use older methods. It's the "I know best for what you should do" tone of voice that no one likes. The rule-makers make the hobby less attractive and more oppressive and that in turn discourages young collectors. Leave people alone to enjoy their hobby any way they want to, including using hinges. In fact, the debate over stamp hinges has become dull and tiresome.