Question About Old US Stamps.

Those old US stamps issued without gum, were they used for postage. How would you determine a used stamp if it was soaked of the paper whether it was issued with or without gum. Learning! Thanks.

Hi!
By no means am I an expert, but I do know that my Scotts National album and the Scotts cataloge indicate if a stamp was issued without gum. That makes me "assume" that a stamp without gum - and not indicated as such by the Scotts material - tells me that is was soaked off at one point or another.

Hi Mobilman. Thanks for the reply. But my question is, 1) Those stamps that were issued without gum, were they used for postage purpose or were they meant for collection and keeps.2)If they were used for postage how would one identify that the stamp was issued without gum. Thanks.

All US postage stamps issued after 1861 were and are valid for postage, regardless of whether they had gum or not. The various special printings and the Farleys were the only postage stamps issued without gum that come to mind, although there were numerous 20th century revenue stamps issued without gum.
Most of the Farleys without gum were imperfs; the few that were not are usually impossible to tell once they were used. Byrd stamps with guidelines were issued without gum, but without the line they are identical to the regular Byrd issue.

Selva,

Revcollector pretty much nailed it. It needs to pointed out, however, that US 3 & 4, which were reprints of 1 & 2 from 1847, were issued without gum in 1875 were not valid for postage.

To answer your question: How can you tell the re-issues from the originals if they both have no gum? the reprints have minor changes that are easily recognized. 3 & 4 have minor changes to their collars. The reprints of the 1869 pictorials were issued with gum but without grills. The one cent Franklin from that series had an additional reprint issued without different paper.

Let me ask ... do you have a Scott Specialized Catalogue of US stamps and covers? It's much have!

Brian

No Rileysan. I only have a standard scott cat 2008. Am on the look our for a 2nd hand or maybe 3 to 4 year old scott specialized. Know it is an important tool. Thanks for the replies all.Least I have understood something. It is just that I have some old used stamps and the paper seems soft. So just wondering if those special issued stamps which were issued without gum were postal used.

A picture is worth a thousand words :)

I'm certain we can identify whether your stamps are special issues with nothing more than a photo.

Cheers!

Brian