Stamp hinge

Stamp hinges are small, folded, rectangular pieces of paper coated with a mild gum, used to hold postage stamps onto the pages of a stamp album. The short end is moistened and affixed to the stamp, the long end is similarly affixed to the page. The hinge keeps the stamp on the page while still allowing it to be lifted to examine the back
Not all makes of hinge have this property, and the backs of many stamps have "hinge remnants", where the hinge has torn away rather than letting go of the stamp. This is particularly common for mint stamps, where the stamp's own gum adheres tightly to the hinge. Some old stamps may in fact have multiple hinge remnants layered on top of each other. equally, careless removal of a hinge may take away a layer of the stamp's paper, resulting in a type of stamp thin known as a "hinge thin". The best stamp hinges are also intended to be "peelable", meaning that the stamp may be removed from the page, and the hinge from the stamp, without any damage to either.