Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I've seen this consistently running across the whole width horizontally (never vertically) of singles and (in this case strips) most often with 1-3 such wrinkles fairly evenly spaced. It looks almost as if the stamps were laid on small rods and gently pressed - and for the most part they are not noticeable on the face of the stamps.
Is this a fairly common gum artifact for U.S. stamps of this era or just in the ones I have (probably 100-200? When being offered for sale I assume this should be described as a "defect" of sort, but what terminology would be appropriate? My thought is "slight gum wrinkle running horizontally across the width of the stamp". Is that reasonable? Would the additional descriptor "natural" be applicable or does this sound like the result of a poor storage strategy?
Thanks. Dave.
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David,
I believe what you see are called gum breakers. They appear on rotary pressed stamps. It helped to keep the stamps from curling since they were printed on paper that was in coils and they had a tendency to curl. They were used from about 1920 to 1970.
The Kansas/Nebraska over prints were on stamps with gum breakers so that is one way to help identify those particular stamps.
It's not a defect.
Vince
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Thanks Vince. You're a wealth of knowledge to me tonight!
Unfortunately, my Nebr/Kans overprints are all used so no gum and I couldn't see anything.
Similarly, when I check the same stamps MNH/MH or Used I only notice any type of gum breaker only on the gum, not appreciably (if at all) on the face of the stamp or if the gum is removed.
Thanks again, Dave.
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It's only visible on the gum. Once the gum is removed there is no evidence of the gum breakers.
What I was saying about the Kansas/Nebraska overprints meant that some were faked but the fakers used the wrong stamp with no gum breakers (this series comes with both kinds of gum)so that is one way to tell real from fake on mint Kansas/Nebraska overprints. Here is a scan on my lower values Kansas/Nebraska overprints. Gum breakers on the back but no evidence of the breakers on the front.
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This is what "gum breakers" look like.
If this is not similar, look up "gum creases" which are caused by uneven drying.
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Thanks Sean, I think that my stamps have the gum-breakers. Your scan with the colouring highlights this much better than mine. Hard to tell in 2-D, but I assume they have a concave appearance like a "channel" running across the paper?
Dave.
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It's just an image I pulled off the internet, but on the stamps in my collection, they almost look like two ridges with a dip between them. I have noticed that they are never, or almost never parallel to the stamp. They always seem to be at a slight angle. There are I believe 3 different widths between the ridges. As Vince said, the real Kansas/Nebraska stamps were only printed with the wide breakers and many fakers did not catch on to that.
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Thanks again Sean.
General Question: I assume if I sell something as MNH from that era, applying the descriptor "gum breaker" is unnecessary. Thoughts anyone? I need to get tight on this before I put up anything on my US Divestiture Program.
Many Thanks.
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I would say as long as they are gum breakers on the Rotary stamps of that era, including that in the description is unnecessary as they are all that way. There are some Liberty series stamps that are rare due to the omission of breakers and some experimental "waffle" breakers that are similarly rare.
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I've noticed a lot of mint mid-1940s to mid-1960s stamps have concave gum wrinkles that become more or less noticeable as you tilt the stamp to catch the proper light. It's not really clear, but the scan shows a line running parallel to such a wrinkle with the arrows pointing to the top and bottom, and you can make it out looking closely. They are usually about 0.4cm from side-to-side.
I've seen this consistently running across the whole width horizontally (never vertically) of singles and (in this case strips) most often with 1-3 such wrinkles fairly evenly spaced. It looks almost as if the stamps were laid on small rods and gently pressed - and for the most part they are not noticeable on the face of the stamps.
Is this a fairly common gum artifact for U.S. stamps of this era or just in the ones I have (probably 100-200? When being offered for sale I assume this should be described as a "defect" of sort, but what terminology would be appropriate? My thought is "slight gum wrinkle running horizontally across the width of the stamp". Is that reasonable? Would the additional descriptor "natural" be applicable or does this sound like the result of a poor storage strategy?
Thanks. Dave.
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re: Gum "wrinkles" in U.S. (MNH) stamps
David,
I believe what you see are called gum breakers. They appear on rotary pressed stamps. It helped to keep the stamps from curling since they were printed on paper that was in coils and they had a tendency to curl. They were used from about 1920 to 1970.
The Kansas/Nebraska over prints were on stamps with gum breakers so that is one way to help identify those particular stamps.
It's not a defect.
Vince
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this post
re: Gum "wrinkles" in U.S. (MNH) stamps
Thanks Vince. You're a wealth of knowledge to me tonight!
Unfortunately, my Nebr/Kans overprints are all used so no gum and I couldn't see anything.
Similarly, when I check the same stamps MNH/MH or Used I only notice any type of gum breaker only on the gum, not appreciably (if at all) on the face of the stamp or if the gum is removed.
Thanks again, Dave.
Login to Like
this post
re: Gum "wrinkles" in U.S. (MNH) stamps
It's only visible on the gum. Once the gum is removed there is no evidence of the gum breakers.
What I was saying about the Kansas/Nebraska overprints meant that some were faked but the fakers used the wrong stamp with no gum breakers (this series comes with both kinds of gum)so that is one way to tell real from fake on mint Kansas/Nebraska overprints. Here is a scan on my lower values Kansas/Nebraska overprints. Gum breakers on the back but no evidence of the breakers on the front.
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this post
re: Gum "wrinkles" in U.S. (MNH) stamps
This is what "gum breakers" look like.
If this is not similar, look up "gum creases" which are caused by uneven drying.
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re: Gum "wrinkles" in U.S. (MNH) stamps
Thanks Sean, I think that my stamps have the gum-breakers. Your scan with the colouring highlights this much better than mine. Hard to tell in 2-D, but I assume they have a concave appearance like a "channel" running across the paper?
Dave.
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this post
re: Gum "wrinkles" in U.S. (MNH) stamps
It's just an image I pulled off the internet, but on the stamps in my collection, they almost look like two ridges with a dip between them. I have noticed that they are never, or almost never parallel to the stamp. They always seem to be at a slight angle. There are I believe 3 different widths between the ridges. As Vince said, the real Kansas/Nebraska stamps were only printed with the wide breakers and many fakers did not catch on to that.
Login to Like
this post
re: Gum "wrinkles" in U.S. (MNH) stamps
Thanks again Sean.
General Question: I assume if I sell something as MNH from that era, applying the descriptor "gum breaker" is unnecessary. Thoughts anyone? I need to get tight on this before I put up anything on my US Divestiture Program.
Many Thanks.
Login to Like
this post
re: Gum "wrinkles" in U.S. (MNH) stamps
I would say as long as they are gum breakers on the Rotary stamps of that era, including that in the description is unnecessary as they are all that way. There are some Liberty series stamps that are rare due to the omission of breakers and some experimental "waffle" breakers that are similarly rare.
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