Mint Or Used

Does "mint unused no gum" exist. If a stamp hasn't been cancelled but has no gum what is it classified as for Catalogue value. Is it considered to be mint or used? Thanks in advance for your comments.

I believe mint no gum is the proper designation, at least for older & classic era stamps.

There is generally no catalogue designation for it. Personally as a collector of used I find these undesirable because they have no town cancel. Mint collectors will no doubt find them undesirable as well as they have no gum. Most will probably have the greatest value as postage.

I think of a mint stamp as one that, to borrow a German term, is "post office fresh." It is in the same condition as it was when it left the post office.

Some stamps, e.g. "Farley's Follies" (US SC 752 - 765) were issued without gum. Stamps like that with no cancellation I consider "mint no gum"

A stamp that has no cancellation and no gum but was issued with gum I consider used. These stamps are usually the result of a missed cancellation during postal usage (therefore IMO, used) or they may have been subject to an accident, e.g. stuck together and soaked. Since they aren't post office fresh, I consider them used as well.

Dan

The is an exception for early Canadian stamps (pre-1870's) which may not have Original Gum (OG) and still be considered mint. For some, soaking the gum was done to better preserve stamps in the early days, from moisture and damage. Some have been expertly regummed, but those with original gum, and never hinged are rare and command a premium (sometimes 100% +)

Since you can technically still attach a stamp that was unused, but had to be soaked to save it from being stuck to other stamps, It is Unused-no gum.
It's worth no more than a used one except for actual postage.

I agree with danstamps54 on this. And if we are going to be precise about this, a stamp can only be mint if it is in the state in which it left the printer. If a stamp has lost gum which it had when printed, then it can no longer be considered mint. If it has lost its gum from being used but not cancelled, and subsequently soaked from the cover, then it is a used stamp, not mint. Personally I prefer nicely cancelled used stamps to mint stamps so the dilemma doesn't arise for me.

Terry

I like nice clear cancels on pre 1930, then mint up to the switch to the self adhesives. I have a ton of them but not sure if Im gonna keep them.