Philatelists usually collect in reverse chronological order. As they begin their hobby, they acquire the more recently printed and easier to obtain stamps. Because modern stamps (when they are not self adhesives) always have perfect gum, collectors come to assume that it was always this way. But insistence on perfect gum is only a post-WWII phenomenon in our hobby.
Postage stamps had gum from the first—even the Penny Black was gummed—and the ability to easily attach a stamp to an envelope was intrinsic to Rowland Hill’s proposal that created stamps in 1840. Early gums were often animal based gums and were thickly applied. This created a problem for collectors of mint stamps from the first (and was much of the reason that early collectors preferred their stamps postally used). Paper expands and contracts slightly with temperature and humidity. With the thicker, more primitive gums in use before 1890, the rate of contraction and expansion between the stamp paper and the gum on the back of the stamp was greatly unequal. This caused cracking and creasing, and indeed the philatelic manuals from the period routinely called for collectors of mint stamps to soak the gum off their stamps in order to preserve them. That is why original gum on early stamps is so rare.
The question each collector needs to ask, if they collect mint stamps in this early period, is whether they need or want to pay the premium for original gum. Mint US stamps from the nineteenth century catalog for three times or more with OG compared with no gum or regummed (which is an attempt to imitate original gum that collectors should always be on the lookout for). Mint stamps from the nineteenth century from other countries show even more dramatic premiums for OG with many Italian stamps cataloging ten to fifteen times as much with original gum.
To show you what your money can buy for both original gum stamps and no gum stamps in this period, we’ve taken some stamps from our current inventory along with the selling price. You can see that you can buy a considerably better looking and higher quality stamp without gum for considerably less money than the same Scott number with gum.
 |
|
Scott #154, og. CV $7,500Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Scott #154, no gum. CV $2,750
 |
 |
Scott #116, og. CV $2,000 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Scott #116, no gum. CV $750
|
|
|
Scott #78, og. CV $2,750 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Scott #78, no gum. CV $950