Hinge (H) Vs Non-Hinge (Nh)

NH gum only matters now. As time moves on the gum could aid in stamp degradation. It could be in the future that people prefer the gum removed before filmsy paper had a chance to deteriorate.

MNH is my preference because I want my stamps as close to as-issued as possible. For some issues, gum is interesting because of things the printers did to it; e.g., gum breaks, and grilling (Swiss).

The attention (and thus value) of the NH shows the hobby values it.

I won't put a hinge on a stamp in my collection because I hate the idea of someone in another 30 years having to take it off again. Stamps are approaching 200 years old, I think we need to treat them gently if we expect them to still exist in another 200.

The biggest testament to how coveted gum is to collectors is the effort made by shady people to regum stamps. Regumming has to be at the top of the alterations list.

My own experiences with US and Russian stamps in my collections eventually changed me from a MNH collector to a I don't want MNH collector because so many purchases turned out to be skillfully regummed, most likely with airbrush techniques.

Russian stamps from the 30's are particularly prone to regumming since the premiums for MNH are very high and the stamps were very popular back when people hinged everything leading to much less supply than demand for MNH.

I will usually take a lightly hinged stamp over NH if in better condition.

Agreed. All my stamps are mounted face up, I am not interested in the back so much as I only look at the front of my stamps once mounted, preferring fresh and well centered over NH.

Love good looking backside.

Here's the final bidding activity for the two stamps. Their bidding windows ended two minutes apart. Each went for $7.50. the NH stamp had 5 bidders and 7 bids. The H stamp had 6 bidders and 7 bids. There were no crossover bidders.

That's a good point. So did you end up collecting MH?

I did, unless the stamps I needed were minimum value "nobody would bother to regum" types. All of the desirable Russian sets from the teens through the 1940's and even some 1950's are mostly regummed including the best airmails. I bought from a dealer considered a trusted expert and I didn't find out they were regummed until I consigned them to Raritan for auction. The regumming is VERY well done. That got me to thinking, if the regummed stamps are so perfect than what is the point of paying a premium for an original gum stamp where the only difference may be the molecular makeup of the adhesive. It just dawned on me how stupid the whole thing was.

To prevent concerns about regumming and to avoid the hinged-vs-never-hinged dilemma, some collectors actually prefer no gum, especially on early stamps.

Kelleher has an auction next month, the William H. Harrison collection, which focuses on the eye appeal from the front of the stamp.

The owner's criteria was "Acquire the nicest, facially attractive example that one can find and afford." The stamps should be sound, but the quality of the gum was not a concern. The important attributes are centering, color, paper, and perforation.

Here is an example, a beautiful 1869 set, the majority have no gum.


You would have to spend more than twice as much to buy as nice of a set that still had a bit of the original adhesive on the reverse. This collector would rather save that money to buy more pretty stamps rather than investing in something on the back of the stamps that you will rarely look at.

That said, I do admire the amazing rarity of gleaming clean shiny NH gum on a classic stamp, but for the same money, I would prefer a better-looking lightly hinged copy rather than a not-as-nice never hinged one.

There is also the subject of how badly a stamp is hinged. It would be helpful for the catalogs to give prices for lightly hinged versus hinged versus a heavy hinge remnant. I have sent in some stamps to get graded that I was sure were NH but they came back as 'previously hinged'. The evidence of a hinge mark is so small and light it could easily be overlooked (as I did). A minuscule pinpoint gum skip of the same size would still allow the NH designation but because a hinge mark is alleged, the stamp has now lost half its value. Worse yet, my never-hinged-looking stamp is now valued at the same price as one with a big obvious hinge or a hinge remnant. That doesn't seem fair.

It is these experiences that have actually led me to appreciate lightly cancelled used stamps rather than mint.

Wow, visually stunning.

It was definitely a helpful factor in my decision to collect used only. (For me, it goes further: there's something inherently attractive about a stamp that's seen postal duty, and weeding out CTOs can be an interesting challenge.)



My thoughts exactly!

It seems to me to me a logical extension of the quest for "perfect" stamps. I point at Big Stamp for driving to perfect centering and perfs!