This Is Similar To My View On Stamp Hinges

LOL - Some of you virtue signal too much or get on your high horse about people's feelings. I am here to inform you that most beginning collectors don't really care. I am closer to a beginner than all of you are. When "beginners" search this website, I can tell you that no one feels bad about using hinges even IF someone criticizes them. People including beginners are searching for the pros and cons on hinges. They are looking for experienced collectors like yourselves for your sage advice on what to do either short term or long term. Then the beginner can decide what they want to do. For example, a common scenario is that some old collector will tell them it's cool to use hinges. Then later when know more, they regret that they hinged all their stamps. Some wish they knew more about stocksbooks vs printed pages, vario stock pages vs stockbooks etc.... The beginner IQ is just is high as the old persons IQ. What they need is information. And that is where older collectors can help. As for hinges, there is a reason why MNH costs more than MH. Many of the thins we see today are from hinges. Then again, maybe without hinges we would not have the stamps at all, since that was the best storage system back then. It's a great debate.

Personally, I try to stay away from hinges, but I admit that hinging is fun and I hinge some stamps. Mostly cheap stamps.

Is there a preference for never hinged 1970's CTOs? They have cancel but also gum.
I know many simply avoid them but I have a Harris Citation for doubles and post 1960 stamps needing a home. Flipping through a few pages of 60's and 80's CTOs is fun….a binder of Steiner pages of CTOs is not. I was just hinging them when I came across them but recently found more never hinged and have paused. Clear mounts are a tight fit but I have used some

My new idea is to only keep the sets I like and mount them to Steiner pages on Specialty sized cream paper for adding to the end of my Specialty collections.

I believe that German collectors, who like their unmounted mint stamps, also preferred to keep modern CTOs without hinges. Using Hawid etc on this stuff is an expensive way of preserving penny stamps.

I am rather late to this party (probably a good thing ) but I would like to point out that there are good vintage, peelable hinges out there that are not Dennison. The 2nd tier vintage hinges (FOLD-O-HINGE, HARRIS Honor-Bilt, etc.) are also nice and much cheaper...

Dennison are priced so high in the current market that you almost have to cut them in half to make them economically feasible.

Just an opinion from a long-time vintage hinge user. There are other good peelable vintage hinges out there.

John

Similarly, older Rapkin, Gibbons and other hinges are fine, although they're rarely offered in a usable state on ebay. And they aren't a bilious green.

I just hate the idea that a hinge will leave the stamp just a little bit worse than it was. So many of the stamps I move to my Hawid open tops are warped around where the hinge was attached. I guess whoever gets these stamps next can either continue as I have or go back to hinges.