Unused?

Hi All

I know what unused means to me, but how about other members, exactly what does unused mean to you and why?

Dave

Discussed before on here.

Unused is used not cancelled to me.

Now-a-days some people may collect unused because they do not have a heavy cancel on the stamps. Stamps are menat to be seen when not having a nice readable cancel on them.

Price would be less than mint and more than cancelled ordinarilt wavey lined used.

To me, unused is a philatelic "stink word" that creates confusion among the listeners/readers.

I think most people who use it are saying "no gum, but no evidence of a cancel." Others would use MNG for the same item. Better? Worse?

Don't like either one, frankly. (Or is it Unfrankly, in this case?)

My 2d.

When I'm buying stamps, unused to me means used but not cancelled. Of course there are other reasons a stamp may have no gum, but I value them as used. In fact I'd rather have a stamp with a nice cancel than an uncancelled stamp with no gum.

Lets be careful how we used the word ""unused"" when it comes to stamps...It can also mean "Not used" as in never used as in mint...Example:..If I buy a TV in a box and the guy said it was unused, I would assume he means new as in mint..So be careful what words you associate with when it comes to stamps.

Myself, I would stick with MINT and USED.

Even the forum we are on has titles like..US Classic Stamps Mint and Used

Robert

I agree.

I collect cancels. Even a stamp-on-piece with a nice cancel is preferable to me.

Well said Puzzler..Can you imagine if everyone just collected MINT stamps..How boring, every ones collection would be exactly the same..I collect used cancel or no cancel first then mint if I have the opportunity later...My collection includes MINT, USED (no cancel) and USED with cancel.

Robert

I've always considered "unused" to be "uncancelled, without gum".

To me 'unused' means no sign of a cancel and no remaining gum, so these could either be stamps that were actually used and escaped getting cancelled and then were soaked from their envelope, or, stamps that were truly never used but had the gum removed for whatever reason (such as mint stamps saved in the tropics where the humidity would have caused problems for the gum and as a result, the stamp). Its really a gray area when you think about it.
Generally speaking, I won't collect these because of this "grayness." My collections are broken up into either MNH or used with 'socked on the nose' cancels.

docgfd...If they were on a cover and went through the post office process, cancel or no cancel...to me they are USED.

Robert

In philately "unused" is NEVER used as a synonym for mint. But it sometimes does appear an equivalent to MNG. I bought an auction lot of several thousand plate blocks that were stuck together. I soaked the lot and used them for postage. They were clearly unused.

In the '60s, "unused" was, I think, still widely used by collectors as a synonym for "mint". I suspect its shift to an "ungummed, but no sign of frank" meaning was part of the expansion of "mint" categories to encompass the dreaded "UMM", or "MNH".

ebay used to use (pun!) the term Mint and Unused but now I see they have changed to New, Used or Unspecified.