Help With Scott Catalog Values

Hello,
I need some advice on using the Scott Catalog to understand stamp values. I inherited a stamp collection with a large wold stamp component. I check out some Scott catalogs from the library and am slowly cataloging what I have. I have dozens of stamps from the Republic of China (Taiwan) and from the Peoples' Republic of China that are in mint-hinged condition. They are from the 1960's on, so I should not use the MNH value in the Scott Catalog. Should I just assume they are the same as used stamps? Or somewhere between the used and unused values? Any insight would be helpful.

Thanks
,
John Paul

Do you mean they have a hinge or that they do not have a hinge. Are the mint with gum or used with no gum?

Sorry if I wasn't' clear:

The stamps have never been used and have full gum. At least for the ones I have checked, I have not peaked under all of them. None of this particular group have any postmark or cancellation. They all look brand new, at least to my uneducated eyes.

They have been hinged to put into a stamp album. In some cases I have a block of 3 or 4 stamps, in which 1 stamp or the selvage has a hinge, but the other stamps are not hinged.

John Paul

Well, in short, use the used valve, that will be close.
There are at least 3 gradings of mint hinged;
1) Lightly hinged less the 20% gum damage
2) Heavily hinged (part gum) greater 20-80% gum damage
3) Remnants of hinge remain on stamps
All reduce from mint values, of course there are other condition factors
that effects value.

Thanks for the information - very helpful, as usual.
JP

When you have a hinged stamp and only the MNH catalog value is given, by far the usual practice I see is that the catalog value for the MNH stamp is given and the stamp is clearly listed by the seller as being hinged (Warrehouse has already posted the usual classifications for levels of hinging). It's up to the buyer to decide how much they want to pay for a previously hinged stamp. Of course, if the hinged price if given in the catalog, you should cite the hinged price and again state the hinging level (because the Scott catalog value for hinged stamps is for LH=lightly hinged).

If you examine the MNH and MLH prices when given in Scott for the older issues, you will see that the LH price is typically 1/3 to 1/2 the NH price. So that will give you a rough idea for older stamps and modern PREMIUM stamps.

The modern COMMON mint stamps will have a MUCH larger drop in value. Typically what I see for modern common mint LH is 10%-25% of MNH catalog value or 75%-100% of face value, whichever is higher. Those are my general observations and it's easy to find exceptions. Others may have a different experience.