Dull Gum Postage Dues

Do the dull gums look alot like no gum ? seems like every mint looking J104 ( 17 cents) I get looks to have no gum.

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Yes, the dull gum sort of looks like no gum. But you can tell a stamp with no gum from a mint dull gum stamp. Hold the back of the stamp at an angle to a bright light source. You should see diagonal striations ... which means the gum is still present. And the reason every J104 looks like it has no gum is that it was issued only with dry/dull gum.

When I heard they were taking the postage due stamps off the market, I went to the main post office in St. Louis to buy some. The teller looked at me real funny when I asked to look at the postage dues stamps. She went to the back for a few moments and came back empty handed. She said she asked the postmaster there and he told her that those could only be sold to collectors. So I had to explain that I was a collector so she would go and get the stamps (why else would anyone want to buy postage due stamps?). The 1/2c was no longer available but I got all the rest from 1c to $1 in full sheets. If they had wet and dry gum, I bought both sheets. I still have those today.

I've been collecting postage due plate blocks since 1974 and have been working on completing a complete match set {all plate numbers and positions). I now only need 8 positions to be complete (1 - 8 cent, 6 - 30 cent, and 1 - $5). When the postage dues when off sale on 1986 I didn't even notice that the had shiny or dull gum. I didn't find out until the started listing them in Durland's Standard plate number catalog (now put out by the US Stamps Society). So when through my due plates (dull gums only exist on plate numbers 34283, 35282, 35306, 35307, 37876, and 37877) and picked out the dull gums (only a couple of 100 out of 10,000 plate blocks). So which denominations of your sheets are dull gums? Also, the 1/2 cent was withdrawn in 1962.

Depending on your eyesight you may need a magnifier to see the diagonal striations.

Actually the easiest way to tell would be the lack of gum breaker impressions in the paper (and having one of the plate numbers mentioned in my last post).

Some clarification please. Are all sheets in all denominations with the plate numbers mentioned supposed to be dull gum? Or are those the only plate number that COULD have dull gum? I ask because I have a J98 with p#35307 that appears to have shiny albeit pebbled gum. Thank you.

J98 is known only with shiny gum. Although, considering the recent discovery of J92 with dull gum, a dull gum J98 is not impossible. But none have been found to date.
Oops! It is J96 that is not known with dull gum. J98 can be dull gum for plates 37876 & 37877. But these plate #s were also used for shiny gum J98s.

Thanks for the info.

http://www.usstamps.org/digital-spe...st-archives/ <-- Check out the September Issue - Vol 87 [Not yet posted on line]. Features "Postage Due Dull Gum Discovery" ... see page 399

The article in the United States Specialist was mine!

I do think J96 dull gum exists or did exist on the past. I am looking.