Hawid Mount Problem With Keeping Stamps In Position

I have bought a few collections over the years where the previous owner's 'solution' to stamps slipping in the open-top mounts is to use Scotch-Tape to hold the sides of the mount down. This is very similar to the idea of using tape on Crystal Mounts to hold things in place. FWIW (granted, not much, except to me), I have been using the split-back Showgard mounts for many decades - I decided upon them in the 1970's-80's because I saw stamps slipping around in the top-load mounts. I have never had a problem with moisture leaking onto the stamp through the split, but then I don't moisten the glue - I use a tiny amount from a Glue-Stick on the top half of the split-back. It is simply second-nature for me to mount stamps the way I do. After discovering the potential problems of the split-back mounts (in the 1970's), I chalked that up to a lesson learned, and tweaked the way I use them. After that, I have had no problem.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each mount type. Essentially, pick your poison and do your best to overcome/prevent the problems that have been discussed here. If the split-back mounts were shown to be superior to the top-load mounts (or vice-a-versa), the market forces would have probably caused the 'offending' mount to go away by now. In the end, some people like chocolate and some like vanilla. Pick your flavor and go with it.

ETA: One advantage of the open-top mounts is that you can make a 'custom' size from a larger mount, if you have a stamp 'in between mount sizes'. The split-back mounts cannot be trimmed along the top or bottom without risking losing half of the back.

Noting that stamps in albums that use open-top mounts sometimes slide out of those mounts in shipping is the more extreme example of a not uncommon problem with open-top mounts. It shouldn't be ignored because it's not the most common problem. Collectors shouldn't decide what kind of mount to use based merely on the extremes of shipping, of course, but it's one useful way to judge mounts. That decision should be made based primarily on common usage in albums stored on shelves and handled in the normal way. But they should also test the mounts to see if they can take some rough handling. If stamps come out of mounts in normal usage and REALLY come out of mounts when they're shipped (or God forbid, an album is dropped), you do have a big problem.

I suggest you try out a few of whatever mounts you plan to use to see how well the stamps stay in the mounts before you buy a lot of those mounts. To see how well they work, don't baby the album. Go ahead and hit it more than a few times in the same way shippers might do and then see how well the stamps stay in place. If they're mostly fine, you're good to go with those mounts. If some hard usage dislodges a lot of stamps, I'd avoid those mounts as too delicate.

Assuming that the life of a stamp collection is always going to be delicate from shelf to desk and back to shelf again probably isn't a good idea.

One of my pet peeves is collectors who mix different types of mounts (clear and black, for example) or who mount some of their stamps in mounts and others not in mounts-- for no apparent reason. It seems sloppy and makes the pages look bad -- to me, anyway. Clear mounts for some stamps along with hinges for others looks fine to me, but black mounts for some but no mounts for others always looks like the collector just ran out of mounts. Your sense of design may be different from mine, of course. Maybe I'll get used to this. Maybe I need to relax more . . . ?

But what drives me completely up the wall is when rows of mounts are not in a straight line. When some mounts are half an inch above or below other mounts, I cringe at how awful that page looks. Is it lack of fine motor control or just carelessness? Black-backed mounts really emphasize positioning errors like this. Clear mounts don't seem to since their edges are not as noticeable. In short, black mounts require more precise mounting to look good. Not that I want to introduce stress into the hobby or anything!

YES!!!!! 100% agree. I catch myself being in a quandary when I buy, say, a plate # single and try to mount it in the 'space' that is sized for a stamp, alone. It drives me nuts when that stamp is part of a set and the others that I have are without selvage. I collect early USA, and the idea of getting rid of the PL# would affect the value. AND, I like plate # (and imprint) singles. I realize I am doing this to myself, but I cannot help it. In the end, I usually don't mount the Pl# single on the same page with singles - I either keep it, unmounted, or I put it on a blank page presumably with other Pl# singles of the same set.

I will add a few more comments on using open top/side mounts.

First. open them only enough so slip in stamps. Over extension that cause a permanent set so the mount does not hold the stamp. Do not shove the stamp to the very bottom. This can wedge the mount open. Stamps that are not flat can be a challenge. You can always keep a few split backs for special occasions.

Doesn't bother me, I do not care how other folks organize their pages, it is their material and they can do what they want. If I am buying a collection, then I take it into account that I will be remounting and factor it into what I am willing to pay.

Split back mounts, on the other hand, can damage the stamp no matter how you adhere the mount. The damage comes from the way the album is stored; if the pages are under pressure (squeezed) the split will become pressed into the gum. I used some split mounts but am careful about how the albums are stored on the shelf.
Don

"One of my pet peeves is collectors.....who mount some of their stamps in mounts and others not in mounts, for no apparent reason. It seems sloppy and makes the the pages look bad....." In DrewM's defense, someone else also mentioned this in the thread.

As I noted above, that's how I do it. Example is mounting a set of stamps with most of the values cataloging from $.75 to up around $20-30. Then I get to the high value that catalogs $200. Guess what?

For those that tape their mounts to the page, what kind of tape are you using?

One of the nicest Hungary collections I've ever seen has the sides of the mounts taped to hold the stamps in. The vast majority had bits of the lovely tape residue now embedded into the stamp perfs and the stamps are essentially damaged goods.

I do also agree with someone else who commented about mount thickness. Some mounts seem really thin and flimsy. Others seem more sturdy.

Rodg, perhaps you could purchase every type of mount out there and do some test runs and reviews for your YouTube video ;) thanks in advance haha

Putting any kind of adhesive tape on, or in close proximity to stamps or philatelic material is a prescription for disaster.

I guess what this thread really points out is that some people really don't care what the page looks like, it is a matter of housing/mounting a stamp based on catalogue value. A mixture of hinges, clear mounts, black mounts, mounts on angles, etc. doesn't matter to them and that is fine since it is their hobby. However, for me that would drive me nuts and I take great pride using my black top opening mounts to make sure they are aligned and as straight as possible for all stamps on that page regardless of value, hinged, not hinged, used or unused.

For those that are questioning comments made that people are not having problems with stamps falling out, I can repeat that I have been using Hawid, Lighthouse, Scott and Unitrade mounts over a long period since the late 1960s and I have never had a single stamp fall out of its mount. I cannot say the same for hinged stamps in my worldwide albums. I even had my albums packed, moved, stored, and returned by moving companies during long term overseas employment and upon return not a single mounted stamp had fallen out. Some where shifted within their mounts after these events, but that was very minor and corrected quickly.

I also use clear Hawid or Prinz top loading mounts for nearly 40 years and I have the same experience as PMStamp.
During my multiple overseas assignments and subsequent overseas shipping of my belongings and stamps. I never had a single stamp falling out. Yes, sometimes stamps are shifted but its easy to correct. I use thick paper and when I select the hinge, I always take 1 size bigger than I need and then cut the excess at the top. This cutting kind of makes the top front and back stick together and there is no shifting. Shifting can happen with mounts I recycle or when I take the stamps out to study the backside and the slight sealing at the top is broken.

I bought recently a large collection from my friend who used split black mounts. In spite of him being very meticulous and trying to select the mounts fitting with the stamp, I found still several stamps slightly wrinkled or difficult to get out of the split mount. This mainly with older stamps which have slightly different sizes in a set due to perforation shifting.. For me split mount is a big no no and black is a big no no no, too difficult to let the page look nice and organized and lined up.

My experience with top load mounts hasn't been "flawless", but nearly so. The other night I was flipping through an album (literally) and with this discussion I decided to try something. In the Vatican section I have 5 nearly full pages of mint stamps in top load mounts on both sides of the page. This is a Harris Citation 2 post binder and the paper is the blank with border refill pages (9" x 12") that I ordered from Whitman ~ very light weight, to say 20 lb. would be generous, and I now buy 65 lb. ledger (11" x 17") stock and cut it down, but this experiment involved light paper, so I'm not sure that makes a difference. With the binder open on the table I held the 5 pages upright and flipped them back and forth several times. No stamp fell out of its mount, and in fact the stamps did not move at all. By contrast, there are stamps in Lighthouse Grande pages (I trim the Grande on the right edge and at the top and so they measure 9" x 12", and punch 2 new holes to fit the post spacing of the binder) ~ these stamps are frequently askew.

Most of the Vatican stamps are 3mm wide x 4 mm tall (or 4 x 3). My general observation is that stamps with a decent footprint such as these and most commemoratives are "position stable" in top load mounts while the smaller "definitive size" stamps maybe move some, once in a while.

For myself, the advantages of top load mounts far outweigh any inconvenience and I'll never return to split backs, except that the U.S. Commemorative annual stamp packet comes with split back mounts and I do use those. The big advantage isn't the quick and easy load (though I appreciate that), but I don't have to keep multiple sizes of mounts around, or have the frustration of not having the right size for that one stamp and having to wait until I order, or having a bunch of money tied up in sizes that aren't used often. I keep strips of one or two strategic heights (63mm at the moment) and trim a mount with a Fiskars paper trimmer to fit each stamp. I have learned to not trim to the stamp edge but to leave a border (1/8" is about the height of the sealed edge at the bottom), both for the aesthetics and I think it helps the stamp be more "position stable", especially smaller ones.

Did you really mean 3mm x 4mm? Maybe 3cm x 4cm?

Update: I purchased a dozen nice looking pre-punched spacers for 75 cents each from Palo and installed them every 12 pages or so. Worked like a charm! Most of the bulge is gone AND the stamps are sitting pretty.

Nice that you found a solution. I have noticed in albums that have decent bulges in them that the stamps mounted on strips tend to not stay put and the strips have come off in some cases. I think that you should be good now if the pages are more flat as that would help the mount stay flat.