How Did Early Collectors Keep Stamps Mnh??

OK folks, a thought just popped into my mind.

We, the modern collector, put a premium on MNH stamps. Some people won't even SMELL a MH stamp.

BUT, what about the original stamp collectors? They didn't have Vario sheets and Scott mounts.

How is it possible for today's collectors to have ANY MNH classic-era stamps to purchase??? How did the original collectors store their stamp collections without disturbing the gum with hinges??

JD

Some countries, particularly in humid or tropical regions, issued stamps without gum. So, no worries about disturbed gum as glue was applied at time of use.

Some early stamps were not mounted, multiples which only one stamp was hinged, or hinge was in selvage. But most all are very rare, always look very closely at any early US stamps which are offered at NH.
Don

Most were likely parts of blocks or sheets that survived into the NH era, which were then broken up for their NH singles.

Maybe they kept them in the family bible.

I believe stock books were used by philatelists - while "collectors" used albums / hinges. Yes, that's a gross generalization but just thinking......

Well that's actually the whole point - it was hard to maintain MNH - which is why finding actual MNH stamps is tough! There aren't many of them, because it was considered normal to use hinges...

I also thought that MNH didn't really become "a thing" until the 1980s when investors got into stamps. Or at least it was a thing before mounts were developed. Before then, hinges were just the normal way everyone mounted stamps.

Of course, I could always be wrong

My grandfather would wrap up stamps in cellophane and a small piece of paper to keep it flat. It was a kind of home made mount. I was extremely lucky he did so since my father inherited his collection and sold it to pay for college education for all three of his children. I'm sure he was not alone in this though it must have been very time consuming.

And THAT is one of the causes of the serious decline in stamp collecting as a hobby. The big stamp houses colluded to convince dealers to trick collectors into buying so called mint never hinged stamps which could be sold at increased prices. Many who had enjoyed the hobby did not buy into what they considered a sizable increase in the cost of maintaining their hobby and dealers refusing to buy hinged stamps from their customers, so many of the local stamp hobby shops didn't make it as investment advisors and went belly up.

I have a sizable collection of classic stamps almost all hinged in albums. I hate mounts.

its funny how I was just recently reading article about Swiss stamps (Strubels) and basically catalog prices are exactly same for no gum versus original gum stamps. Collectors of 19th century Swiss stamps apparently feel gum is damaging and removal of the gum is important for preservation of the stamp.

Its seems to be an American obsession with original gum! I still can't tell difference between good regum job and original gum so I don't collect OG stamps. Too easy to get ripped off and an expensive endeavor. In addition, sending off these stamps to PF or APS can get very expensive as well.

I would also like to point out a recent collection of classic US stamps sold at auction (Alan Collection sept. 2016)

https://siegelauctions.com/sales.php?sale_no=1134

Apparently this collector preferred the front of stamps versus the back. Absolutely stunning collection. Most of the classic 19th century stamps are unused, no gum or regum. You can see that prices realized thru Siegel, although relatively high, do not approach the original gum or mnh prices found for equivalent Scott numbers in other auctions (i.e. Hanover). However, you will also find that most or all of the items sold, versus other mnh or OG collections where I have noticed many unsold lots likely because there are few buyers in the 2000$ per stamp and up level.

This discussion about NH collecting just circles endlessly. You might as well argue about religion. In my view, the idea that the premium value put on NH mint stamps is the result of some grand plot or collusion is preposterous. It is a natural market-driven demand, one that was kicked into high gear when stamps became viewed by investors as one of many commodities that could be hoarded as a hedge against the inflation of the 1970's. As a result, the axioms that applied to other collectible commodities were applied to stamps, one being that the most desirable and valuable specimens are those that are found in the same pristine condition as they were when they rolled off the assembly line (uncirculated coins, toys in their original boxes, unrepaired antique furniture, post-office fresh--i.e., NH OG--stamps, etc.). Once the stamp market incorporated this the premium status of NH mint stamps was assured, even after the investors left.

Nells250, I've read some collectors and dealers, following your logic, suggest that there are far more higher catalog regummed stamps out there than one might think.

I am not knowing. The back of a stamp is absolutely of no interest to me, but to each their own.

Before everyone gets all huffy, keep in mind I am not looking for a discussion on MNH vs. MH... I'm looking to learn about the storage methods of our first collectors.

I imagine that many of the unmounted mint Victorian low values that survive owe their gum to not having been owned by stamp collectors, but by people who put them in pockets in writing cases or boxes in writing slopes and didn't get around to using them. Early collectors were more likely to have licked the gum and put them in the album, perhaps pausing to cut around the design. Fashions change.