Backing Paper And Modern Self-Adhesive Stamps

If I remove a modern self-adhesive stamp from it's original backing paper with tongues, put it on an old piece of backing paper from previously used stamps, cut and trim the backing paper to size, is the stamp still considered MNH?

I know some backing paper, especially for commemoratives has descriptive text, and that should go with the stamp. And those sheets are usually perforated for easy stamp separation.

But booklet stamps are not perforated, and rarely have any descriptive text on the back. It seems a waste to turn around and remove all the stamps around the stamp you are going to keep and then not be able to do anything other than use them for US postage. I would much rather give them to collectors who need them at face value on new backing paper.

That would make it a MRAPODB

Mint removed and put on different backing :)

you could avoid all that hassle by leaving it on it's original backing paper to begin with. I also don't believe it would be considered mint by many people simply because it's not it the original state that it came from the post office. Again just my opinion.

I do what you do and consider it to be MNH as both the stamp and backing are unaffected by the method. Canadian booklet stamps have descriptive text, but IMO it doesn't matter that it won't be exactly the same as if it was cut from the booklet in the proper position to have an accurate backing paper design.

If it's not on the original backing paper, I would not consider it valued as a mint (post office fresh) example would be. While you can make the case that backing paper is backing paper, the fact remains that once the stamp is removed from its ORIGINAL backing paper, it looses something in the transition. Further, there are different types of backing paper that are used by different printers and although they may serve the same purpose, they are not always the same as the original.

At one point, I tried to make the case that a self adhesive in an album would have the same value whether hinged or placed in a stamp mount, as the stamp itself is unaffected by the hinge since the backing paper is not part of the stamp. There, too, the majority pointed out that it would be considered damaged goods to most collectors.

The bottom line is that modern self adhesive stamps are not likely to be worth much more than face value anytime soon, so the argument can be made to just do as you please, irrespective of what others may think. However, if you have any idea that the stamp may become valuable in the future, I expect that most buyers on the secondary market would view the non-original backing paper as a negative condition that will devalue the item.

Over the long term, we've had previous commentary that no one really knows just how long a self adhesive stamp will retain its self stick qualities before the adhesive disintegrates over time. It has been suggested that printers have guaranteed survivability for 15-20 years or so, but no one really knows what the next generation of collectors will encounter. It could be that the backing paper will merely fall away when self adhesive stamps get to be 50 or 100 years old, which then would make this whole discussion a moot point.