Stamp Grading

Grading and Abbreviations – What they stand for:

MNH

Mint Never Hinged. Stamps as issued with full original gum and never mounted

VLMM  

Very Lightly Mounted Mint. Stamps with a small trace of being hinged with near full original gum

LMM 

Lightly Mounted Mint. As above but the stamps have slightly more evidence of being hinged

MM

Mounted Mint. Stamps which have been more heavily hinged with possible hinge remnants

VFU

Very Fine Used. Used Stamps with a light cancel or Circular Date Stamp (CDS) or equivalent

FU

Fine Used. As above but these stamps are with slightly heavier or smudged cancel

Good Used/Ave Used

Good Used. Nice collectable stamps with perhaps heavier cancel and minor faults, crease, short perfs etc

SG

This stands for Stanley Gibbons. The SG is either followed by a number or a letter. This reference can then be used to look up the stamp in the Stanley Gibbons catalogue. Each country’s first issue is normally SG1, however there are some exceptions

SG Catalogue Values

Catalogue values are taken from Stanley Gibbons current catalogue. This is for information purposes only and is not intended to imply the stamps retail value, this is simply the value that Stanley Gibbons puts on the stamp

We title all stamps with the Country, year of issue, denomination, colour, SG number and grading (as above). In the descriptions, where appropriate we will give more information about the stamps. We provide high resolution images, and as such the images will form part of the description