| Term |
Description |
Alternative Term |
| MUH |
Mint Unhinged - the stamp has never been mounted. |
MUM (Mint Unmounted), MNH (Mint Never Hinged), Mint, ** |
| MVLH |
Mint Very Light Hinge - the stamp has been previously mounted but with a peelable hinge that has left only a trace upon removal. |
MLM (Mint Light Mount), Mint * |
| MLH |
Mint Light Hinge - the stamp has been previously mounted with only light hinging evidence visible upon removal. |
MM (Mint Mounted), Mint * |
| MH |
Mint Hinged - the stamp has a moderate size hinge remnant that may be faintly visible when viewing the front of the stamp. |
MM (Mint Mounted) Mint * |
| MHH |
Mint Heavy Hinge - the stamp has a heavy hinge remnant that has caused a kink to appear on the face of the stamp. |
Mint * |
|
MNG |
Mint No Gum - the gum has been removed from the stamp |
Unused, UN |
|
Special Note re the term Mint |
A grading term that can lead to confusion is the term Mint. All of the above gradings can be referred to as Mint by some reference sources. Due to its general nature and we tend to avoid the term for post Federation stamps. |
|
| CTO |
Cancelled To Order - a stamp issued by the Post Office in collector sets. They may or may not have gum and generally display a neat corner Circular Date Stamp (cds) cancellation. |
CPF - Cancelled Per Favour. PF - Per Favour |
| VFU |
Very Fine Used. Above average for issue, full perforations. Neat corner cds cancellation. |
|
| FU |
Fine Used. Average centring and perfs for issue, cds cancellation that covers a modest section of the stamp. Of general VF (Very Fine) appearance. |
|
| GU |
Good Used. Average to poor centring, smudgy cds cancel, or may be a machine cancel. Generally of F (Fine) appearance |
|
|
Descriptive Terms Used for Overall Condition & Appearance |
|
| Gem |
Gem - exceptional in all grading facets for the issue: Gum, Freshness, Colouring, Perforations, Centring and overall appearance & appeal. |
Superb, Premium Grade. |
| VF |
Very Fine - of mostly overall above average in grading elements for the issue. |
|
| F |
Fine - of mostly average in grading elements for the issue. |
|
| G |
Good - less than average, but not repaired and has no major faults such as: tears, thins, creases. Is still of collectable grade. |
|
| Repr |
Repaired - a repaired fault(s). Details of repair will be in item description. |
|
| Flts |
Faults - tears, thins, creasing etc. Details will be in item description. |
|
|
Other Abbreviations |
|
| AAMC |
Australian Airmail Catalogue |
|
| ACSC |
Australian Commonwealth Specialist Catalogue. Also known as BW |
|
| BW |
Brusden-White (see ACSC) |
|
| blk |
Block |
|
| bklt |
Booklet |
|
| b/s |
Backstamped |
|
| cds |
Circular Date Stamp (cancellation). Far more desirable than a machine or parcel type cancellation. |
|
| Cnr |
Corner |
|
| Exp |
Expertized |
|
| FDC |
First Day Cover |
|
| FV |
Face Value |
|
| h/s |
Handstamped |
|
| imp |
Imprint |
|
| m/c |
Machine Cancellation - cancellation applied by machine. |
|
| marg |
Margin(al) - refers to piece of magin or selvedge attached to the stamp or piece |
|
| Mi |
Michel catalogue |
|
| M/S |
Minature or or Souvenir Sheet |
|
| o/w |
Otherwise |
|
| photo-cert |
Certificate of authenticity with reproduction image of item embedded |
|
| pmk |
Postmark |
|
| PC |
Postcard |
|
| PPC |
Picture Postcard |
|
| SG |
Stanley Gibbons (reference catalogue) |
|
