A Few Questions About US Official Executive Stamps

This appears to be a complete set of US Official Executive Department specimen stamps. They have large hinges on each, and appear to be gummed. I believe they are Scott #O10s - O14s.

Should I try to remove the hinges or just leave them as is? I really don't know how to and don't want to hurt the stamps.

Have these been gummed? I see examples that say no gum as issued.

Any other input about these would be much appreciated. My catalogue does not include the special issue. Thanks.

You can take the hinges off if you so desire. But only by soaking them in water, please do not pull them off. You do not want to damage the stamps,

peter

If there is original gum on the stamps, DO NOT SOAK them.

In that case, I would use your tongs to cut across the point where the hinge is folded to remove the excess and leave it at that.

These stamps should not be gummed, they were issued without gum.

Yes, that is the compete set of the Special Printing. They were issued without gum. I'd soak any gum and the hinges off.

For much more detailed information I suggest a visit to the U. S. Philatelic Classics Society's web and search the Chronicle for William Mooz's articles on Special Printings. Click the "Authored by" drop down Here's the search page;

https://www.uspcs.org/resource-cent...e-chronicle/

If these were known to be issued without gum, why would someone go to the trouble of re-gumming?

Someone didn't know, and just assumed that they were gummed originally. I have seen revenues that were issued with one or two straight edges with added perforations on sides that never had them for the same reason.

The hinges in your image appear to be the very best in hinges - Dennison. Are they a light green and have rounded corners? If so try peeling one very carefully. It should come off without leaving a hinge mark. If they have sharp square corners and are a translucent yellow-orange color, peel at your own risk.

On hinged stamps that do not have Dennison hinges, I generally just trim off the hinge tab and leave the remnant.

In my opinion, nothing good can happen by trying to peel the hinges off of these stamps.

Since the gum is fake they can be soaked off.

Update: As recommended, these have now been soaked and all hinges and glue have been removed. I have to say, it was quite easy and I think they look great. Now I have a question; how are these stamps now described? Unused, no gum?

Now they can be described as No Gum as Issued.Besides added gum where it never was, these stamps can also be found with fake manuscript cancels obliterationg the overprint, sometimes the person who applied that "cancel" dodn't look closely enough at the overprint, as in the case below, a "canceled" Small dotted I!

Back in the day, collectors didn't much care for these special printings, but used examples were always uncommon to scarce. So a lot of fakes were created using a fake cancel to cover the specimen overprint.

Some of the fake cancels where artistic and convincing.
Except for a few minor mistakes. The 1c Executive was only used from two post offices, Long Island, where President Hayes had his summer home and Washington, DC. Neither used blue ink in between 1873 and 1884.
The issued stamp was carmine, not violet rose. It was printed on thin hard paper, not soft porous paper. Although they tried the eliminate the uncovered purplish brown overprint, it still is visible.