Displaying or Storing Your Stamps

By Jim Watson

The following information is provided to educate and inform. eBay™ is not liable or responsible for any type of damage or loss caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, by the information below.

Albums are a key element of stamp collecting. Albums range from simple notebooks with home-made pages to complex hingeless albums. Preprinted albums have the advantage of organising the collection, but creativity is constrained by the album designer's approach. There are albums for most countries with pages for all the stamps of the country. Supplements are printed periodically to bring the album up to date. There are also less expensive world-wide albums which provide space only for those stamps that a new collector is most likely to encounter. There are also some very fine, pre-printed general albums that are divided by either alphabet or by time period. The complete world-wide general albums are quite expensive. Even the single country albums are not cheap.

Many collectors prefer to make their own albums. This can be accomplished in a couple of ways. First, there are some quality suppliers who provide very nice albums with blank stamp pages and fine binders.

Second, collectors can make albums from scratch. To make an album, select the paper (a stiff ledger paper is recommended) and arrange the stamps to be mounted. Write in the text with a pencil or pen, as desired. If you have a printer as well as a computer, you can print some very nice personalised albums. Layout software is available from AlbumPro at http://www.albumpro.com. Alternatively, there are some very fine album pages already laid out at StampAlbums at http://www.stampalbums.com. These can be downloaded free. They are especially nice printed on ledger paper (archival quality is suggested). Desktop publishing software or high-end word processing can also be used to make fine pages. Ordinary 3-ring binders can be used to hold such pages.

One of the decisions that collectors must make is whether or not to hinge mint stamps. Hinging involves attaching the stamp to the page using a small, gummed glassine rectangle. The hinge permits easy examination of the back of a stamp while still holding it firmly in its place on the page. Quality hinges, when properly applied, can be peelled from the stamp with little likelihood of damage. While hinges involve little problem for used stamps, their use will affect the gum of mint stamps. Careful examination will reveal a mark on the gum of mint stamps. If the hinge is not properly applied or not carefully removed, there is the likelihood of creating a hinge thin on the stamp. Original gum is of major concern to collectors and it can add significant value to a stamp. Hinging will reduce that value. To avoid the possible disturbance of the gum, many collectors use plastic mounts. There are many varieties from which to choose. All are comparatively expensive when compared to hinges. Hinges, when properly selected and properly used, can be quite satisfactory for most stamps.

Proper use of a hinge starts by folding the hinge across the narrow dimension about one third of the distance from top to bottom. Be sure the gum side of the hinge is on the outside of the folded hinge. Next, using tongs, pick up the hinge and moisten the short end very lightly with your tongue. Too much moisture will soften the gum of a mint stamp and lead to problems. Do not moisten the whole short end. Just a small portion is all that is necessary. Then, apply this moistened short end to the upper back of the stamp, with the fold of the hinge toward the top of the stamp. Then, press the hinge down to complete the attachment of the hinge to the stamp. Next, pick up the stamp from the side with the tongs leaving the long portion of the hinge free. Moisten the bottom end of the free end of the hinge with your tongue and place the stamp in the selected spot in your album. Hinges are not peelable until after they are completely dry. If the hinged stamp is misplaced, it must dry completely before being moved.

The preceding material was written by Jim Watson. These are the opinions of the author, not the opinions of eBay, and therefore eBay does not validate the accuracy of or endorse these opinions.