Gum condition can be described in many ways. A mint, never hinged stamp is one that has full, undisturbed, original gum with no hinge mark.
The use of gum was part of the original proposal by Rowland Hill, and most stamps have been gummed.
Gum: The mucilage applied to the backs of adhesive postage stamps, revenue stamps or envelope flaps. Gum is an area of concern for stamp collectors. It may crack and harm the paper of the stamp itself.
Gum Breakers - the horizontal or slightly diagonal impressions created on the gum of rotary sheet stamps by physically "breaking" the gum. Breakers look something like speed-bumps, and were created as part of the perforating process.
GUM BREAKERS: Colorless ridges across the adhesive on the backs of stamps. "Breaks" the adhesive so stamps won’t curl.
GUM SKIPS: A portion of a stamp, usually near the edge of a pane, where the gum has not been applied.
Gum:
Imperforate:
Stamps withour perforations. They must be separated with scissors and are usually collected in pairs to prove their authenticity.
Gum. The substance applied to the reverse of stamps to help them adhere to a mailing item.
Gutter. The selvage, with or without plate numbers or controls numbers/letters between the panes of a sheet of stamps.
GUM - Hinging - Gum Condition
It surprises many people initially when they learn that the condition of the gum on a stamp affects its value to a collector, but it's true.
Gum - See "Adhesive."
Gutter - The selvage separating panes on a sheet of stamps. The gutter is usually discarded during processing.
Gum Breakers
Ridges or impressions that appear across the back of sheets or panes of stamps. They are created by special rollers that impress the stamp paper.
gum May be disturbed slightly, due to heavy, multiple or improper hinging.
colour Not as fresh as VF, but no fading
paper No tears, thins, creases, etc. in the paper ...
Gum - Adhesive that is used to attach a stamp to an envelope.
Hinges - Small pieces of gummed paper that are used to affix stamps to an album page. Hinges allow for stamps to be removed from an album page without damaging the stamp.
Gum
Hinges
Small gummed, glassine strips used to affix stamps to album pages.
MINT, no gum, 2 highest values in set of 9, 1921 Rila Monastery, death of James D. Bourchier, Balkan correspondent of the London Times
VF
0.40 ...
Original gum: gum that is present in mint stamps & not tampered with.
Oxidation: Darkening of the ink stamps when they come in contact with air and sunlight.
P ...
Acacia gum: gum from the acacia plant, shrub or tree, named after the places or countries (arabic, senegal and syriac) in which the gum is collected.
Acambaro: bogus; Mexican District revolutionary provisional; 1914: simulating 1867 issue.
LH --- Minor gum disturbance but no hinge remnant.
HR --- Hinge remnant more than normally would be found for this issue.
CTO --- Cancelled to order by issuing post office and has original gum but cancelled to "appear" Postally cancelled.
Potato starch, wheat starch and acacia gum were the ingredients of the gum used on the back of the Penny Black.
(ii) The gum used to affix a postage stamp.
Admirals - Philatelic term for for three British Commonwealth definitive series stamps; Canada 1912-25, New Zealand 1926 and Rhodesia 1913-19. All of which show King George V in his naval uniform.
As a rule, used stamps with clean backs are much easier to read than mint stamps with full original gum.
Turn the stamp over, gum side up. With a small amount of saliva, wet the brush and keep "painting" over and over the hinge on the back of the stamp. Do not over wet the hinge, be patient.
This designation normally pertains to mint stamps since hinging will disturb some of the gum on a mint stamp. Remember that hinging is normal and expected for stamps prior to 1937 (approximately).
Heavy Hinge (HH).
Two of the major considerations are the type of paper to be used and the gum. In a sense gummed paper is spoken of as an entity, because it is rare indeed for the stamps to be gummed after printing.
Make sure the gum is on the outside and moisten the short side of the hinge. Fix it as close to the centre of the top edge of the stamp as possible.
Adhesive Usually refers to a stamp with gum on the back to enable it to be pasted on a letter, etc..
Water-Activated Adhesive: Stamp gum designed to adhere to envelope paper only if the gum is moistened. All gummed stamps before 1963 used water-activated adhesive.
There may be minor defects such as disturbed gum, thin areas, heavy hinge marks. Stamps which fall below these standards should be ignored and are not worth acquiring by the serious collector; however beginners sometimes collect them as starters.
A stamp affixed to envelopes by means of gum on the reverse. Some stamps are printed directly onto postcards, envelopes or wrappers. See Postal Stationery.
Aerogrammes ...
Unused -- An uncanceled stamp that has not been used but has a hinge mark or some other disturbance that keeps it from being mint. Uncanceled stamps without gum may have been used and missed being canceled, or they may have lost their gum by accident.
Paper (wove, laid, etc, and including watermarks)
Printing methods (engraving, typography, etc)
Gum
Separation (perforation, rouletting)
Overprints on existing stamps
Forensic philately, especially the identification of forgeries ...
Unlike water, this chemical fluid will evaporate and is safe to use on mint stamps without washing the gum away. You must be sure not to use this fluid on photoengraved stamps (see the next article).
An imitation might differ from the originals in paper, gum, size, color, and design detail. Imitations are produced to fill gaps in official collections and exhibitions as well as for sale to collectors.
They are often distinguishable in some way from the originals: different colors, perforations, paper or gum. Private reprints, on the other hand, are usually produced strictly for sale to collectors and often closely resemble the original stamps.
Included are discussions on Proofs, Printing Periods, Plates, Colour, Perforations, Paper, Gum, Imprints, Imperforates, Varieties, Postal History and more. Here is a good introduction by one of the leading authorities on the issue.
 See also: Stamp, Used, Cover, Catalog, Perforation
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