Hinges or stamp mounts can be used to mount your stamps. Stamps can also be put into stock cards, which have sleeves. Folded hinges have a short and a long side. The short side is put on the back of the stamp very close to the top edge of the stamp, and the long side is mounted to your album page. This allows for examining the back side of a stamp for quality. If you can afford to purchase stamp mounts, which are like pockets, these should be used for unused mint stamps.

Magnifiers are useful to examine stamp details, spot errors, detect flaws and tears, or identify printing methods. Magnifiers come in many sizes and types. You may even use a microscope to examine stamps. A 10-power magnifying lens, however, should be adequate.

As you become more expert, you will need a perforation gauge to measure the teeth of a stamp. Stamps have many different perforations, and knowing which one you have could result in the gain or loss of a sizeable amount of money. Stamp gauges are sold in metal, plastic, and even paper formats.

To use the stamp gauge, you align the perf holes of the gauge with the perf holes or teeth of the stamp. When they match, the stamp perf is identified. Many gauges measure down to half-perfs or less. It is also possible to use a stamp with a known gauge to identify other stamps by comparing the stamps.