The Framers Forum

Hi guys, what would you recommend as the best reversible method for mounting postage stamps?
I’ll be cutting a multi aperture mount, the stamps will be of mixed values.

Dave

The Hedgehog method might be fun to try on this? You might need a magnifying glass for the hinging!!

Thanks Justin....” Hedgehog” is that where you tape from the back of the stamp for example and lap it over the cutout then put the cut out back in the hole?...

Dave

First of all, it is normal to display the stamps, in such a way that the perforation around the stamp can be clearly seen. The perferations around the stamp are very much part of the stamp and the condition of those perferations is part of the condition of the stamp and is important when assessing the vales of the stamp.

I would not for one moment consider, any posibilty of hinging directly onto the stamp at all. It's not only not necessary, but it's debatable when this is a proper conservation procedure. A stamp should remain in exactly the same condition in which it was supplied to be framed. I would lencapulate the stamp between two pieces of Mylar film with the residual curvature from the mylar having been rolled on a roll curving inwards both sides of the stamp and a little way from the stamp sticking the two pieces of Mylar together some strips of suiable self adhesive tape.

The cut out in the window mount needs to be larger than the area of the perforation, by something like about double the area of the perforations and if the area of the stamps perforations is white coloured paper, that I would probably make the under mount from black, dark grey, or a dark blue mount board to give a solid contrast to make the perforations fully visible. Needless to say, the adhesive tape required to fix the two piece of mylar film together would be hidden by the window mount and if necessary the width of this self adhesive tape can be trimmed to avoid excess spacing for the windows in the mount.

A wide border between the display are and the inside edges of the frame, generally looks much better than one which unnecessarily narrow.

That sounfs a lot more sensible!

I've never done it with stamps, but i works with other things quite well. There's nothing all that clever about it, just basic text book stuff.

Thanks very much Mark, great info for displaying too. Mylar sounds the best bet...never actually thought about doing it that way....learning all the time

Dave.

Would you use double sided tape like 6mm archival fillet tape for sticking the two pieces of Mylar together or single sided?

Dave.

I would use Scotch Magic Tape. Happy to be corrected.

Lion sell a special double sided tape that is specially for sticking two pieces of Mylar to each other. It is not particularly cheap, but at least you know that it won't be falling apart for a very long time, if at all.

Any chance of a product code for that Mark?

It's the 3M's 415 tape (Lion coode 1462). Lion also have a tape for polyester which is probably o.k. and this in lion code 9682. I have used the 415 tape myself, but not the other one.

I looked on Lion, I’ve noted the 3m 415 too, the only reason I asked about the fillet tape one is its only 6mm wide, the others that I saw on there were 15mm wide so it would save cutting down as I was making a pocket or sandwich for each for each one, thought 6mm wide would be enough? The extra Mylar/ Melinex on the roll I can use to put over papercuts in mounts etc so it will still get used up?
Lion use Melinex, is that about the same spec or same stuff as Mylar?

Dave.

Mylar and Melinex are trade names for polyester. They are not necessarily the same formulation. Mylar is the trade name for do pont which is a US based company alease be aware that different thicknesses of polyester will be different to handle and that thinner stuff can be a bit prone to being a bit too easy to tear. I bought a huge roll from my local packaging supplier, I've no idea which brand it is, but it's polyester and that's what I needed.

Polyester is quite a lot stronger that polypropylene. At a molecular level, polyprpylene contains an oily ingredient, but I don't know what the oily ingredient is there for. Please be aware that different formulations for most manufacturers may be formulated for different properties. Polypropylene that is intended for use by florists tears very easily, if handled badly as it's really thin stuff.

Lions Is “Conservation quality, optically clear polyester film, semi stiff, 95u....archival quality, many uses etc....” sound right?

Dave.

Sounds great!

Great, thanks very much for the input guys

Dave.

Hi Dave

Did you do this successfully? Have a pic by any chance?

I have a customer who wants a stamp fan sheet like this one https://shop.royalmail.com/queen-a-nigh ... -fan-sheet framed and I am thinking along similar lines - no hinges, just suspended in mylex

Will the mylex be enough to hold it in place as this is a bigger overall piece?

If anyone has done anything similar, a photo would be really appreciated as I'm having trouble visualising

Thanks
Megan

Mark is absolutely right - condition of stamps is everything and as soon as the gum is compromised the value plummets. Try looking up Hawid stamp mounts - they're a ready made folder style mount used by collectors that encapsulates the stamps and enables you to place a mount around them.