Well This Is Fun -Hinged No More?

This is a MH stamp. It was removed from an album by me and had a heavy hinge remnant with a piece of the page it was hinged to stuck on it as well. I soaked it and put it in my Desert Magic drying book and it came out looking like this. The picture doesn't show the reality - the gum is as shiny as the day it came from the post office. I have looked under heavy magnification and there is no sign of previous hinging. Nothing valuable just interesting.
HUH!

How exactly did you "soak" it and not lose the gum?

If what he says is true, he should charge for the information.

Dark Magic

Obviously the result of self-replicating gum.

Probably nothing more than someone regumming or sticking it down at some time. I have soaked some older issues with the thick yellowish gum stuck on paper with hinge remanants and literally had to push gum off with finger while under warm water. Takes time as it was so tacky. Reminded me of the yellow Lepages glue we used back in the day when adhesives were primitive.

The only thing I can figure is when it soaked all the gum did not come completely off and when placed on the shiny side of the drying book page it redistributed what was still left. I wish I could get a better picture of the reverse side. I am tempted to send it in for a cert just to see if it comes back MNH.

I reported this situation in a previous thread on drying books in this forum. I have found that the majority of stamps that I soak and then place on the shiny side of the drying book as per the instructions then come off after drying looking like they are MNH. I was advised in that thread that it was essentially regumming the stamp with any left over gum residue that softened but did not dissolve while soaking. Somehow the shiny side of the drying book pages seem to propagate this regumming compared to drying on standard blotting paper, paper towels, etc.

Would / could a stamp be certified MNH, when there is the catalogue number pencilled on the back?

Yes - "unmounted mint, catalogue number in pencil on back".

"Mint, original gum very disturbed!"

Sounds like PM Stamps has solved it. Thanks all this was interesting.

Stamp gum from around the world, and in different eras, varies greatly. There are many gums out there that are stubborn and require a lot of work to get them off completely. When you encounter one of those and place it to dry on something very smooth/shiny, it will form to the surface finish - ie, smooth. NH and 'formed to the shiny side of a drying sheet' look very different. Sure, there is no more hinge mark, but the stamp is definitely not considered never hinged anymore.