When To Certify Your Stamp

What determines when a collector should get a stamp certified?
1. When in doubt that a stamp could be a high dollar stamp
2. You can't tell the difference between the stamp and another
3. You have a high dollar stamp and want to see how good it is
4. You plan on selling the stamp and want to include the cert
5. You paid high dollar for a stamp and want it verified
6. When the value of your stamp is much more than the cert fee
7. When you want to insure you heirs don't toss a valued stamp

What are your opinions?

Art

I agree with your signature -- it's my hobby, not my investment. As a general rule, if I am not knowledgable enough about a stamp to make an intelligent judgment about it, it doesn't go into my collection. I am not making an investment; I am having fun. Learning about a stamp is part of the fun for me. Of course there are exceptions. If I simply do not have the technology available (ink analysis etc.) then I would consider a cert. I have some certified stamps but I purchased them based on my evaluation, not the certification.

When my stamp albums are permanently closed, I'm sure my kids will put my collection up for sale. Will they make money? Yes, because their cost is virtually zero. Will they get what I paid for my stamps? Highly unlikely. Maybe they will get 30% of what I actually paid. The lost 70% is the "price" of enjoying my hobby. If they want to spend money to certify a stamp, that's their decision.

If I planned to sell a "hi-value" stamp (unlikely for me! ) I might consider a cert to calm a nervous buyer.

Dan

I don't, ever. This is a hobby. I buy things to enjoy my hobby. I do not intend to make a profit, I will never sell a single stamp, nor do I give a damn if my family makes any money off of it when I die. It exists for my personal enjoyment. I'll never own a single certified stamp either, I can't stand them.

It is my opinion that if you are going to buy a valuable stamp which could be forged/faked, then for my own peace of mind I want it certified by a recognized committee. I certainly would not want to spend hundreds of dollars for a stamp if it were not the real thing.

At the other end, selling, most buyers I would think want to know that what they are getting is genuine.

I agree to all your reasons.

It depends on what kind of collector you are.

I don't get into the whole "graded" game, not to mention that the same grading rules used for postal issues really don't apply to early revenues. The criteria that the PF, PSE, and PSAG use for grading would make low grades out of superb early revenues, simply because they:

(1) Don't take into consideration what the "norm" was for a given issue, e.g. certain part perfs are only found off center; they don't exist well centered, and

(2) Stamps with excess margins on one or more sides are penalized rather than rewarded under the standard grading systems.

I get things certified for one of two reasons:

(1) Most frequently, I want to verify the authenticity of a stamp. Fakery runs rampant with 1st issue imperfs and part perfs.

(2) If I'm buying an expensive stamp as sound, I'll want to verify that it truly is sound.