The characteristics of the Gum used

Did you ever try to lick the gum portion of any stamp with an intention to affix the stamp on your mail cover? You would have experienced an unpleasant taste and an odd flavour, which was due to the various characteristics of the gum used in stamps. You may be even surprised to know that the gum on the reverse of the stamps plays a vital role in deciding the value of the stamps.

The condition and characteristics of the gum are denoted by means of letters printed on them. Let us see few of them now:

* NH

NH stands for Never Hinged. The symbol or the letters also denotes that the stamp has no hinge applied to it and the gum is in a uniform condition without any marks.

* H

H stands for Hinged and denotes that the gum has had a hinge applied to it.

* LH

LH stands for Lightly Hinged and denotes that the mark is small or minor after the gum has had a hinge applied to it.

* HH

This Heavily Hinged conspicuous marking is made after the gum has been hinged.

* HR

Hinge Remnant: As the name goes, a portion of applied hinge will remain attached to the stamp due to the difficulty in removing the hinge totally.

* DG

Disturbed Gum: This denotes that the applied gum has been damaged by some means of other than hinging. The reason for damage may be due to factors such as bubbling, glazing or even applied fingerprints over the gum.

* NG

No gum: This indicates that the stamp is unused and has no gum in it.

What you have seen are commonly used symbols and there are other symbols that are used to denote or indicate other meanings. You may also come across a word ?centering? and this concept further increases the stamp?s value.

 

Disclosure - Privacy Policy- Contact