Pushing 330,000 All Different Worldwide Stamps In One Collection .

Just for the record ,today someone purchased a group of stamp hinge packages for close to $1,000 . That is 44 packs, not even a full box . The bid price was $800.00 then add $160.00 commission and sales tax and shipping will be close to $1,000.00.

There also earlier in the week at Rasdale Auction a box of 50 early Dennnison Hinges sold for $750.00 ,these were better green package hinges .

So welcome to a new world of Hinges at higher prices .

Quality hinges become more expensive every day...they should only be used for some valuable stamps ($5.00+). For used and very common stamps, cheaper hinges will have to be used ?

I have no idea why some entrepreneurs cannot invent or even copy the chemistry of a good hinge. The second crime with WW collecting is why SCOTT does not make every country available as a print-on-demand for the specialty series.

STAMPDRAGON ....
A couple of stamp people who wanted to reproduce the Dennison Hinges went to the firm Dennison Manufacturing Co. in Framingham Mass. . They had no records on file,They are owned by another company ,so they went to former employees who couldn't remember how it was done but do remember filling packets with hinges and loading them for pickup .

So they wrote in articles that the formula was lost . End of story .
The piece of the story missing was HINGES were not made at Dennison ,yes they were cut there and put into little packages but asked the employee at Dennison they don't know nothing but their job . You have to talk to management not some shop worker who punches a clock at 8 am and punchs it again at 5 p.m.

If you and me decided to make stamp hinges , where do we start ? we first go to the DOLLAR STORE by your house and buy a box of WAX PAPER for $1.25 . Now we got something thin cheap and is covered with wax . First you and me will notice that cheap box is telling us it is manufactured in Canada at DTSC IMPORTS at Burnaby B.C. V5G 4P3 .

Now we get plane tickets , we will meet experts on thin glassine paper , plus meet and watch experts on apply very thin wax which is the same method as applying glue ,same machines same amount of work , and guess what they will enjoy the lunch you buy as they explain the problems of working with the equipment .

Guess what your out the cost of a plane ride ,a hotel and lunch for a bunch of workers but guess what your a EXPERT on making hinges for that first $1.25 you spend at the Dollar Store .

See if you had College degee in journialism you would be trying to written a article about Dennison Hinges while standing next to a empty brick building in Framingham Mass. all you could do is take a Pee against the brick wall .

The old Fold-O-Hinges made in Chicago back in the day (before 1985 or so) were almost as good as Dennison. Subway gave it a shot and came up with Dennis' Hinges and I gave then a try but they did not quite work right. I did hear that one of the tricks was two layers of gummed adhesive to provide a natural separation point when the hinge was removed. The folks at 3M gave it a shot too and there are some benign adhesives similar to post-it-note adhesive that could have worked. I still have fun when someone approaches me with a stamp collection for sale and the first thing I ask is: Got any hinges? ;) I have seen people use wax paper as interleaving and it works pretty well, even over long periods of time.

I do find the stamp hinge conversation quite fascinating. Seems like something that should have been easily replicated, but no...

The two main theories I've come across are 1) the ingredients used on the Dennison hinges (or one of the processes by which they were made) were found to be carcinogenic, and therefore discontinued, or 2) the Dennison hinges included some horse by-products that were phased out of production.

Lots of rumors, still no confirmed facts! The mystery would be more fun if modern-day hinges didn't suck so much...

Common sense is telling me that Dennison didn't make hinges , Dennison Manf. was a paper product company ,stuff like office supplies and school products ,they were not a paper mill . They bought rolls or skids of paper . maybe from Canada . They cut and produced printed paper supplies .

So glassine sheets or rolls were made somewhere else ,who also applied glue to these clear sheets . What dennison had was cutters and people who knew how to add these rolls or sheets into a machine that cut them into 1/2 inch squares after the cutting machine first folded them then chopped them .That is part of the mystery that employees couldn't answer "what kind of glue or how was the glue made " because they came from the paper mill in Canada or Maine with the glue all ready applied in huge rolls or flat sheets and was just loaded on to the cutting machines .

Floortrader, I'll respectfully disagree - I'm not sure your assumption that Dennison didn't make hinges is correct.

In the early 50s (same time they were making hinges) they made other labels, seals, cellophane tapes, etc. So they did have some expertise/knowledge of adhesives specifically. I would argue it's more likely that they were involved before the cutting process.

GVOL21---Ok ,now think your right . Paper mills don't apply glue to what they sell , plus you say Dennison had other adhesives/glue products . So they had experts and crews to apply them .

You have to wonder how many more box lots of 50 packets of Dennison Hinges or Fold-o-Hinges are still out there . We had those two lots over the past week , but how many more are out there .
If those two lots are resold with a price over 30 dollars each package of 1,000 . to collectors We have to be near that day where no boxes exist intact .

If you go back to previous posting on the Community Chatboard ,this same question was asked in 2018 by a member here . That we are close to running out of good hinges and the price can't get higher and now 7 years later same question and prices gone higher .

I collect Sweden. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one.

I collect Sweden too, JRockne. You're not alone. Their modern engraved stamps (by Slania but others as well) is what got me back into collecting as an adult. Later, I came to really enjoy the Oscar II definitives too.

Alas, Sweden doesn't seem to be very popular. Even Iceland and Denmark seem more popular of the Scandinavian countries. Maybe it's because there aren't lots of rarities or varieties compared to other countries? I'm not sure.

Definitely not alone. I love Swedish stamps. I especially love the postmarks on the early issues.