POLL: Hinges, mounts, or hingeless albums?

DJC

Looking to replace my old (10+ years) Scott National pages. I've always used mounts on standard pages, preferring them to hinges for the extra protection they offer the stamp. Nothing worse than turning a page, and creasing a stamp as it falls forward on the hinge!

But as expensive as the Schaubek pages, and other hingeless albums are, are they worth it? What do you prefer?

dougwtx

I feel hingeless pages are worth it if you are using albums. I've gone through several collections and always do something different when rebuilding, but always used mounts. Then I purchased Schaubek hingeless and it made a world of difference. No more cutting, licking, trying to fight the right height, carefully using your guillotine to get all the lengths the same, etc... Since I only collect early, all I needed was their volume I. Guess it can get pricey if you buy the entire sets up to current. Although I've never used them, the Lindner hingeless looks nice as they come with a mounting page over the printed page; Davo may also do this. This way you can put mint, used, diff var by the picture. After albums, I then went to G&K dealer sheets. I still use them, but my primary US collection is housed in size M Lighthouse padded stockbooks. I like the size M as its about 7.5" tall and fits perfectly in bookshelves and is about the same height as other books. Many times you can find used hingeless albums for pretty cheap.

If/when I go back to a US album, I'll sure use a hingeless; maybe a Lighthouse or Davo. Schaubek US is nice as it has the cat#s and its a shame that the Platinum was discontinued.

In short, yes, its worth it. You also save by not purchasing mounts.

laceupboots

I have actually used hinges in the past. I perfer preprinted pages and using mounts now because it decreases the value of stamp when it's hinged.

DJC

<< <i>Since I only collect early, all I needed was their volume I. >>



That's more or less where I stand. I cut my US collection off at the end of Scott's National Part I (Up to the 1934 issues ending with 751, I think). I used to try and keep up with modern US, but realized a few years ago that that's all I was doing, keeping up. I wasn't enjoying it. As for my 'other' issues, a stock book seems to work fine. I occasionally buy classic era foreign that interests me, but I have half of my 16 page stock book still empty after close to ten years, so storage isn't an issue there!

wmerlin

I use hingeless as well--- a Platinum Scott Album. I still have my old Minuteman from when I was a kid hanging around with the old Dennison hinges. But, as soon as you start spending more "serious" money to buy stamps, it pays to protect them.

I was with a very serious collector a couple months ago. He has all his stamps in Scott Nationals with Hingless mounts and in a fire/water resistant vault. The bottom line is that the more money you have tied up in this hobby, the more you should spend to protect what you collect.

The better albums can also make for a better presentation.

1977topps

I print pages from Stamp Albums Web. I bought 500 sheets of cream colored 70 weight paper, and printed out 1847-1997 so far. I also use Scott mounts (black).

DJC

I used SAW when I collected worldwide, and always thought somebody should give him some kind of award. Even Scott and Minkus don't cover as much ground as his pages.

Speaking of, does anyone know what Scott is doing with the International album? Most of part one and all of part two have been out of print for about a year now. Are they revamping it, or dropping the International?

dougwtx

DJC,

I haven't heard if the blues are being dropped. Not sure if they are continuing supplements either. Maybe Subway took the market. Subway (Vintage) got the rights to reproduce the Browns. For any serious world-wide collector, I would recommend them to stay away from the blues as they are missing too many stamps. The original Browns or the Ne Plus Ultras would be the way to go for early stuff, if you can find a set or possibly the newly reprinted Browns if you can afford to spend that much on albums. After 1930, you are pretty much stuck with the blues.

Doug

DJC

Doug~
I love the old Browns!!! I had 3 of the original volumes (1840-1930ish, I think) that I had picked up on eBay, several years ago. Unfortunately, the pages in 60+ year old albums is pretty fragile, and since they're book bound, you're stuck with hinges over mounts. I've thought about the Vintage reprints for quite a while now, but it is quite expensive. I'd love to do Classic Era worldwide, but I already collect too much stuff as it is, and even that first 100 years is a LOT of ground to cover.

UncleWiggly

This time around I'm going to put them in glassine envelopes and then into cover albums. I might be overdoing it though because it won't take long to fill up one album. I voted collector cards, but I don't even know what they are. Subway didn't have any pictures.



Jerry

dougwtx

Jerry,

You may want to reconsider putting your collection in glassines. They are meant for short term storage and can damage your stamps after years of being in them. It would be safer to put them in the small 102/104 cards (they make pages to hold the cards for the 102s) or 104 dealer sheets, both which can be put in the mini binder. Another way would be to use stocksheets such as from Vario which will fit into any 3 ring binder.

Doug

UncleWiggly

Thanks Doug, thanks what I needed to hear.



Jerry

DJC

I did get a new Schaubek album for my US collection (Just part 1 from 1845-1934) and am in the process of moving everything over. Only when you reorganize does it change from "I have so many left to get" to "I didn't know I had this much!"

Gotta admit, expensive or not, it is AWESOME not having to cut mounts. Definitely glad I did it.

dougwtx

You've been spoiled now; never again back to regular pages.