Price For Mint Hinged Stamps Vs Mint Non Hinged

"Mint" means whatever it means to an individual or an organisation or a market. One can assert a meaning of the term, but, if a large chunk if the globe doesn't agree
with that meaning, it doesn't amount to anything. Take care if you're bidding in European auctions!

I understand wanting to define "mint" and "never hinged" as the same thing. After all, a car that's considered to be in mint condition wouldn't have dents in it, for example. "Mint" condition should mean pristine, original condition, with no blemishes or defects. In practice, however, the term "mint" without an accompanying "NH" or "never hinged", will connote a hinged stamp to most buyers. I, for one, would never assume a stamp is NH just from seeing the term "mint" by itself. The "NH" is clearly the important part of the "MNH" descriptor, whether we prefer it that way or not.

Mint is a flavor. Thanks Ikey. I ignore the term when mentioned with stamps unless defined. MNH,MLH,MVLH,MHH,MHR,MOG,MNG,MRG,MDG,UNUSED,UMM,MM...

Definition is one thing, common usage is another. Whatever the codifed definition of "mint" (by whomever) is, the only thing the term unequivocally means across its various colloquial philatelic usages is "uncanceled."

I've seen used stamps in nice shape referred to as "mint condition" being sold by "un-knowledgeable about stamps" sellers.

In all fairness, I have guitars, CDs, DVDs and even my TV are in "mint" condition. So why wouldn't a great condition stamp be called "mint" too?

We know better but not everyone else does :)

In this hobby mint is a relative term. Therefore modifiers have been created to further describe a given stamp such as NH, H, HH, VLH, etc. All of these mean the same thing to MOST collectors and that is unused with gum condition described by modifier. The big debate I see is in describing an unused stamp with no gum, many say unused and others MNG. I know some were issued with no gum which of course is MNGAI. Unfortunately I have also seen used hinged, and used never hinged. So basically Mint describes the front of the stamp and the modifiers describe the condition of the back of the stamp or the gum, which is it?

I side with "51"and "rg" - Mint means OG NH; OG NH means mint.
Perhaps I am in a minority. I'll stay there.

There are some terrible designations. I've seen sellers say used, never hinged. Just no. Also Mint with Gum - somewhat infamous for meaning regummed. There oughta be a law.

I once tried to point out to one of these sellers that "never hinged" is not an appropriate modifier for used stamps, and got a rather huffy reply to the effect of "screw you, I'm just telling people what they want to know."

As time goes on, I am seeing more misdescribed items. They appear in circuit books, auction lots, and dealers' sales books. I think most of it is carelessness.

What's wrong with "used, never hinged?" If "mint" means "just as it came from the post office," why can't UNH mean "just as it came off the envelope."

Don

In theory I suppose that could be its meaning, and if you're a collector who will pay extra for a "UNH" stamp, I'm not going to tell you what to do with your money. But NH is probably not the right term to use for a used stamp, simply because there's no way to verify the "never" part of the hinging. If one doesn't like hinge marks or remnants on their used stamps, they can simply soak the stamp to remove it. This is not an option with gummed stamps, at least not if one wants to preserve the gum.

I think some less-than-expert sellers use the term "used NH" to mean "used, not hinged", i.e. without any hinge mark or remnant. Again, irrelevant for a used stamp.

I personally use "mint" only to describe stamps that are post office fresh. This is not quite the same as OG NH -- by this definition, a previously hinged unused stamp could still be "mint" if it was orginally issued without gum, and the hinge was removed without leaving any remnant or residue.

As others in the thread have noted, some people are more loose with the term "mint", so it's wise not to assume anything besides "unused". In some contexts (auction catalogs, dealer lists) there will usually be a definition provided for the terms used to describe condition.

There are people who are fanatical about gum condition to the point that they insist even their CTO stamps be never hinged. That may be what some sellers refer to when they say "used, never hinged".

As far as how to price hinged stamps: There are many collectors who only accept modern unused stamps for their collection if they are never hinged. Hinged unused stamps tend to trade among collectors at a percentage of face value, unless they're "key" stamps. (And selling to a dealer or at auction, modern unused stamps, hinged or not, tend to sell at a low percentage of face value.)

To come back to the OP question, hinged or not is not the only thing to considerate, I will give more value to a well centered hinged stamp than a NH with OG not well centered. After all what is important for me it's how they look in my album.

As for the Mint debate, every where on ebay you will see Mint LH,disturbed gum...... even of Eastern Auction, so like it or not it's widely used and accepted by a lot of peoples.