Vatican Stamp Question

I am being offered from a dealer I have worked with for many years and I trust a lot a set of Vatican stamps 35-40. They were hinged at one time and the two high values have Certification from the Royal Philatelic Society in London. They are V E R Y expensive to say the least and I am wondering as much as I trust this dealer would it be wise for me to send them to the APS and get the whole set certified before I lay out almost a thousand dollars? This is like my stamp budget for the year so it is a super major purchase for me. Another question I Have is I have an almost complete set of Vatican Mint NEVER hinged from Stamp 1 up to about 2005 or so with a very few holes for these hugely expensive expensive sets, as such this set would be the hinged exception. Good idea? Bad Idea?

Thoughts, suggestions, ideas??? Most appreciated.

Nick

At the moment, there are over half a dozen hinged sets on eBay, some much less than $1000. If you can work out an expertizing agreement with a seller, you might save 1/3. Search for "Vatican 35", all words, any order.

If I were looking for this set, and I wasn't in any hurry, I'd buy them one or two at a time (hinged OR unhinged, still with an expertizing agreement to protect you), which should yield a substantial discount overall. In the best case, you may eventually end up with a never-hinged set for the price of a complete hinged set bought all at one time.

As for the wisdom of buying hinged, I have no opinion.

"I used to be confused, but now I'm not so sure".

I'll jump in and say that reading between the lines, you do not think it a good idea.

Am I right ?

First you have asked for help, a sure sign that all is not well in the decision department. Then you tell us that although there is a certificate [from the Royal no less] you would still think about sending it to the APS !
Then you tell us that your collection is totally MNH and this would be an exception. An exception I think will not sit well in the months or years to come should you purchase.

So my advice is turn down the offer whilst keeping good relations with your friendly dealer and save some of your stamp budget for 'clean copies'.

Is this your most coveted collection or your main one? If it is then my opinion stands strong !

Nick, that's my advice and I'm sticking to it. Good luck and welcome to the SCF.

Londonbus1......knows nothing about Vatican stamps !

So if he agrees to let me send them to the APS and get them expertizied and they come back with an answer and I decide NOT to keep them and send them back is there any understanding I should share the answer with the seller? If I am going to pay for the service which I can guess will not be cheap then is the information mine to share with whomever I want to or do I owe and explanation to the sellar?
Nick

Thanks for the reply Londonbus.....

Well the two highest values are certified the rest are not that is why I was thinking about sending the whole set to the APS to see if the whole set is genuine. Scott does mention there are lots of fakes of this set. I have paid plenty for some sets but this is the top price I have ever paid for a set of stamps. So for those two reasons sending them off came to mind. I am not crazy about some of the hinge marks on the backs on some of the lower values. There are no thins that I see as I hold them up to the light but they are very strong hinge marks.

I hate being considered a snob or a purist about MNH but I have spent a fair amount of time and money building this collection as MNH so spending 850.00 for a hinged set....well I am in a bit of doubt.

This is ONE of my most complete collections I have a complete BAT FSAT and nearly complete BIOT. Then I have a World wide collection of everything you can think of. So this is one of my most complete collections and I am on the fence.

From your answer I would think you are saying don't even bother to send them for experitaization. Correct?

Thanks for your thoughts and your welcome.

Nick

I agree with the Bus's intuitive reading of the situation. I say give them a pass. What you are experiencing is a temptation which people who are close to completing a set suffer from.

I say no go. Don't bother getting APS certification. If you do that, and they come back as legit, you will experience more pressure to buy something that does not fit your guiding principles for a collection you have no doubt been working on for quite some time.

Nick

I don't think you should send them for expertization simply because I belive you have doubts. Now that you tell us the hinges are quite heavy, then I am even more sure.

I would never consider you a snob for completing a MNH collection that started out that way.
Maybe other collections are a mix and to add an expensive Mint Hinged item to it would be OK. I know some of my GB collection is like that.
I have been collecting British Philatelic Exhibition Labels and sheets for some years now, and while it will never be complete, I only look for MNH copies....simply because it started out that way. If an imperfect example lands in the collection then it only sits there temporarily !

But don't take my word for it.........

Londonbus1....MNH,MNH,MNH,MNH,MNH,MNH,MNH......

Thanks everyone who has replied. I believe I have made my decision to send them back and be done with it. The more I look at the back side of the stamps the less I like them. I think I could tolerate hinged stamps that maybe had the old Dennison peelable hinges on them and just left a little distributance. But on a couple of these stamps the back side is actually rough to the touch. So again I appreciate all the input, thoughts and suggestions.
Nick