Scott 1907, 18c Surrey Coil, Gum Type?

I just received a line pair of Scott 1907, 18c Surrey coil. It was advertised as MNH OG. The back of the stamp has no gloss at all, so I suppose it either has dull gum, or it has no gum at all! My Scott Specialized doesn't specify dull gum, and I can't tell from appearance if it is gummed or not. I wonder if I got what I paid for. Can anyone help?

Does it get sticky if you wet the back of the stamps?

Just couldn't help myself.

I think those have the dull gum r whatever you call it... I doubt that somebody tried to cheat you on part of the transportation series.

I am not an expert on US stamps but, it sounds like you may have "Dextrine" gum on it??.

Chimo

Bujutsu

You won't like this answer.

It does have dull finish gum -- which on most US stamps is not actually completely invisible to the naked eye. Most of the dull finish gum on US stamps has a very slight "yellowish" tinge. Unfortunately, for this particular stamp, the paper used is the exact same color as the dull gum. At least I can't tell the difference. I compared the back of my MNH to my used copy, and I cannot tell the difference (other than the slight waviness of the used stamp).

Since there are 2 paper types, the UV test doesn't work either.

I'm guessing you would rather not try the fingerprint test, so I'm afraid you will have to trust the seller. On the off chance that there might already be a fingerprint on the gum, hold it at a changing angle under a good light and see if you can spot any disturbances. Some people don't use stamp tongs and have "moist" fingers.

There are only a handful of US stamps that use completely invisible dull gum. One of them is the 20c fifty state birds/flowers pane. I used up a couple of panes with a gluestick thinking they were "no gum" until I finally remembered...

k

Does it get sticky if you wet the front of the stamp? Then you "had" a front-side gumming freak!

k

Scott 1907, like the other early Transportation Series issues uses a very dull gum, what some sellers on E-Bay and Bidstart are calling "dry gum". It is virtually invisible, especially for folks my age, but under a magnifying glass one can ( or should ) see diagonal gum ridges that run at about a 45 degree angle. There is the possibility that you have a gumming variety; a very limited amount of rolls of this issue has a smooth-textured gum used by the Nashua Corp. for a short period on a trial basis. This gum is found only on some rolls of plates 9, 10, 13 and 14.