Can Someone Please Explain

Hello there. I recently came into possession of a number of 1948 Gandhi stamps of different values, some 10 Rupees and some blocks of the lower values. Some of the larger blocks have been mounted on to what looks like glassine, or a large sheet of hinge material. I don't know what it is. It is shiny and thin and has been cut up to the edge of the perfs.

I am considering putting these on the auction site, but do not know how to describe the condition or whether this mounting process has removed all of the value. Is this common? Thanks in advance.

Hello Herb, welcome to Stamp Community.

The glassine (hinge material) that the stamps are mounted on does indeed reduce the value of the stamps.

It may remove by freezing the stamps in a freezer and the gum May shrink and 'pop off' the galssine paper (something like wax paper).


If not then the stamps are considered to be Mint No Gum, at the same valuation as Used stamps. Any bends, rips, creases, thins, tears or bends also reduce the value.

They do look nce on the top side.


I do not know if these stamps came with gum or not. If not, due to the tropical wet climate in India usually, then the glassine paper may have been appled to help keep some value in the stamps, rather than have them stick to a paper album page or whatever else would gave been used to store or mount the stamps.

I think that those stamps were stored in a glassine interleave files . It is and old style way of storing stamps . When humidity rises the stamps gum softens and adheres to the glassine. I heard of old time stamp collectors placing the stamps in a zip lock bag and putting the package in a freezer . The intent is to harden the gum and peel away the glassine . I HAVE NEVER DONE THIS AS THERE IS A HIGH RISK OF A NEGATIVE OUT COME. I do store my stamp hinges in a zip lock bag in the freezer.This keeps them from adhering to each other. As it stands you have a stamp with no gum or at best if not fully adhered to the glassine ... disturbed gum. In my opinion not very collectible. ( And of course that is only my opinion.)

Sorry Puzzler ... I was writing a response while you answered this question . Not trying to upstage .

No worries petrucellij, you have good knowledge and friendly advice, and this is always welcomed and welcome.

Thanks. I think I will leave them as is

Hi

Some Colombia SCADTA issues, especially the gold issue, has "paper" adhered to the back of the stamp(s). The reason was that interleaving was inserted between the sheets of stamps to prevent the stamps from sticking to each other in the South America climate. However, the interleaving stuck to the stamp gum instead. The value is not significantly reduced because it was a common occurence. In all the years I have only been able to replace 2 of the set with no stuck interleaving.

Maybe the "paper" stuck to the back of the India stamps is the same problem. In fact, by the looks of the back in the scan it seems to be identical to what I have described. It is a good idea to leave them as they are.

Jerry B