Here are two ways to NOT collect mint, self-adhesive stamps. Both of these examples come from collections that were offered to me.

One collector used black Scott mounts. However, self adhesive stamps with the backing paper don’t fit as easily into the mounts. So he peeled the stamp off of the backing paper and carefully slipped the stamp into the mount. Then he closed the flaps and mounted the stamp in the album. Of course, the self-adhesive stuck to the mount, to the point where the mount could not be opened.

In another case, a collector who used hinges to mount his older, used stamps decided to save some money and not use hinges on mint, self-adhesive stamps. He removed the backing paper, and thanks to the self-adhesive on the stamp, he pasted the stamp right on his album pages.

In both cases, the value of this part of the collection was zero. Even with soaking, many self-adhesive stamps do not separate easily from other paper products. The amount of work to lift these stamps from the album pages or mounts is considerable. It would take many hours to remove the stamps. They’ll probably be damaged too. I’m not interested in buying them. Nor do I know anyone else who would buy them.

You may find these two situations funny. Trust me, the two collectors who did this thought they were doing the right thing. Now they are disappointed to learn that they have mint stamps that have absolutely no value.