Stamp Hinges

In most cases they are sold pre-folded. About a quarter of the slip is folded over, sticky side out, and creased to form the hinge so that the stamp will lay flat on the page.

Older hinges were flat and unfolded. Some were sold in long thin sheets, and the collector had to cut the hinge from the sheet to the correct width.

Many older albums also sport homemade hinges of various pedigree and value. In most cases the gum or glue used is less than desireable, and if possible soak these stamps and try to remove the old hinge.

We’ve encountered homemades that were as thick and strong as trees, and under examination found that the hinge was actually spot welded to the stamp with an acetylene torch. The glues used on these makeshift hinges run the gamut from white glues like Elmers to Superfast Bondo-Max used to glue boats together in severe weather.

If you encounter these stamps, remove the hinge from the album and try to soak off the stamp-side hinge. Though lamentable, if the stamp hadn't been hinged in the first place, it probably would have been forever lost.

Today's "modern" hinges are generally considered peelable. Their gum will stick just enough to hold the stamp to the album, but will peel away when gently tugged by a pair of tongs without actually pulling away any of the stamp's fibers.

However, many older stamps show the remains of older unpeelable hinges, gum residue and staining. If you find an old stamp, you can try soaking off the debris. Success sometimes rears its smiling face in the direst of causes.

The creased, peelable hinge is your friend and will serve you long after you've closed your album. The short sticky outside part of the hinge is the stamp-side. The long sticky outside tail is the album-side.

All the shiny gum needs is a little moisture, water or saliva, to start the process. Be sure to use tongs to hold the hinge or you may wind up with sticky fingers.

1. Moisten the stamp-side and press it flat against the upper-third of the back of the stamp in the center.

2. Then dampen a similar small spot on the album-side down toward the end of the tail.

3. Don't wet the top of the album-side.

4. Then press the hinge onto the album, while holding the stamp away at a 90 degree angle.

5. If you wet and stick the top of the hinge's album-side, then after you paste the hinge down in the album, you won't be able to flip up the stamp to see the reverse without jamming the top perforations into the album paper.

6. Don't drench the hinge: Less is better. All you need to do is moisten the gum just enough to activate it and to make it sticky just long enough to adhere to the stamp or the album. It's better to re-stick a stamp than chisel it out later.

Should you lick the hinge or not? They don't taste bad and aren't very fattening, but on the other hand, your eye-hand coordination is probably better than your tongue dexterity, so you might get better results with a dampened cotton swab type of applicator (Q-Tip).

Someday you may find yourself with a table of modern definitive stamps to mount. You can opt for a mass production method and stick down rows of hinges in the blank album spaces and attach the stamps to them afterward.

Use a shallow tea cup saucer, a small piece of clean kitchen sponge, wet and moist. Using tongs, grab a hinge, gently press the bottom of the album-side into the sponge and tap off the excess water. Then press it onto the page.

When you have a mass of hinges in place, just wipe a damp Q-Tip onto the stamp-sides and place the stamps down with your tongs.

Hinges are used for the common used, cancelled stamps. They should not be used to display mint, gummed stamps, or any especially valuable stamps, mint or used. As in all things, play it safe.

Mounts should be used to place mint stamps on album pages and for any special items that deserve the extra added protection for their face and perfs that can come from an enclosed plastic mount. But that's a story for another day.

The stamp hinge may not seem like much, but all good stamp collections are built upon them and hinge sticking is the essential craft of all stamp collectors.

- Mrs. Nagalakshmi Tadakaluri, Philatelist.

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