What's The Meaning Of: "Unused, No Gum"

Not strictly a Canada question, but I see many stamps offered for sale that are listed as "Unused, No Gum" and it may be a dumb question but I wonder what the story is behind such stamps?

The gum must have been removed by someone at some point - why would someone soak the gum off a mint stamp? Or was the stamp actually used in postal service but not cancelled and then soaked off the cover? Have any stamps (other than possibly very early ones) been issued without gum?

The stamp may: (a) have been mint, but soaked to prevent damage to the front of the stamp from the gum; (b) soaked from an old album in which the stamps were stuck down; (c) have gone through the mail, but nit been cancelled; or (d) issued without gum (usually termed "unused, no gum, as issued"). "Unused" in the UK would cover the first three of these.

Thanks - so generally, there is a significant difference between "mint" and "unused, no gum" (unless originally issued without gum).

stampfiddler..Here is another post about what you are concerned with..
Robert


https://goscf.com/t/56676

Thanks, Robert - interesting post.

In the future, one may have to think about "unused, no gum" differently, at least in regards to stamps issued with self-adhesive gum. The long term degradation of the self-adhesive material will very likely compromise the condition of both "mint" and used stamps on which it remains.

I obtained a collection that was a victim of flooding. As you can imagine, everything that was previously "mint" was now unused, no gum. Many people define "mint" as essentially being in the same quality as if it was just bought from the post office. It's not completely agreed upon terminology so often people write more to be very clear.

In my humble view, and I believe a standard : Mint is a higher grade telegraphing a stamp as close to day of issue as possible--including the back (eg the gum).

(Separately, I believe all postal stamps are issued with gums (excepting modern stamps)--at least 99% of the time related to Newfoundland anyways.

Unused no gum is a lower level, as the back (eg the gum) in some way is gone--who knows why but factually is different.

Just my viewpoint, no disrespect intended

With the plethora of single stamps, I personally would only buy a Mint stamp and steer clear of unused no gum stamps

Tommy - if you buy a stamp described as "mint" from a GB auction house, it will have a decent amount of original gum, but is likely to have been hinged. If you want full gum, you need to look for "unmounted mint". That still doesn't necessarily mean "post office fresh" - you can have unmounted mint/mint never hinged that's toned etc. The key is always understanding what the seller means by his/her terms.

The Philatelic Foundation calls out a stamp as first "unused" and then will specify either "og" or "no gum". Mint is mint. What happens in the rear is just a state of condition.

Hello.
In my case I sell many of Spain without rubber and without using below face value, are for use in shipments.
I had on the table a box with many MNH blocks and a glass of rum-cola .............. I had to wash them all.
Regards.

Oh, Robert, at least you could have been drinking an almacenista.

Good info

Robert