How Do You Rate This One?

For my 1200th post I thought we could have some fun.

On a scale of 60 to 100 how would you grade this stamp?




You tell me what you think, and in a day or two I'll tell you what PSE said. No fair looking it up and reporting it though.

I'm not too good with grading numbers...

Is *yummy* acceptable?

Yeah, the stains, perfs, and centering are noted, but I think it's a pretty attractive example. I would place it in my collection.

Well I think that everyone that intends to weigh in has done so. Now comes what might be the most controversial part.

Not too many were willing to risk trying their skills as a grader, but of the 22 voters who did, most put it in the middle range of 70-90. That is only slightly skewed toward the top from the kind of Gaussian distribution one might see in a random set of responses. All that says to me is that most of us are not comfortable grading material. Perhaps we are better at responding to the opinions of the professional graders.

So let me tell you how PSE graded this stamp. I have not seen the certificate, nor the actual stamp, but PSE gave this stamp one of the few perfect 100s they have given to any of the Bank Note Issues.

Only one in our survey rated it like that, which says that most of us would not agree. Recognizing that the available scan may not have captured all the charm of the original, or may have exaggerated distracting features, what would you want to point out to PSE about this stamp that you may think they overlooked?

Since a perfect grading score usually translates into a significant price/value increase (as a condition rarity) how many multiples of catalog value would you be willing to pay to have this stamp?

Here is the auction catalog description:




Current start bid is $500.
For those who want to follow it, the stamp will sell as lot 1097 in the Kelleher sale scheduled in about a week.

What do you think? Were they consistent with their own standard or did they bend the rules a bit?

I wouldn't even buy a stamp like this. The stains and the dry print make it not worth having, regardless of the centering (which I think is slightly to the left anyway). To me this is just a ripoff, and just one of the reasons I prefer to collect revenues and plate varieties with an emphasis on used stamps. I will always prefer an 85 with a great cancel to a 95 with an ugly cancel or a mint stamp with a stain.

And I didn't even mention the re-gumming (so how can it be 100?).

My personal approach has been to presume that PSE has looked solely at centering in arriving at its grades, and to resist the inflated premiums that auctions and some dealers impose with a grade as justification. This is a prime example, and even then, I agree with revcollector that the centering does not look mathematically perfect.

In my view grading is merely a form of aspirational marketing that seeks to separate ever-higher amounts of cash from buyers at the margins of the upper market. That is, if you're in the market for a suit and prepared to spend $1200, wouldn't you really have a Burberry for $2000--come on, bump it up a bit and pretend you're in the class that doesn't have to worry about dropping two grand on a suit. It's the same with stamps. Prepared to spend $500 on an item? Come on, bump it up a bit and spend $1200 on one that's PSE graded, so you can show your friends the grade and feel you're up there with the big spenders.

A valuable exercise. Thanks for this.

That PSE graded this at a perfect 100 simply reinforces my negative impression of them. This stamp in no way merits a perfect score. Less than perfect top perforations. The stain and "dry printing" make me ask...
"Has this been cleaned?"

I have seen similarly over-graded items from PSE, up until this item the worst was a US Scott #121 graded at 90, despite clearly having had a cancellation removed!

The real scourge (IMLTHO) is all the 1940-50s material out there with PSE grades at 98+ which is simply laughable drivel.

Part of their problem if that they seem to apply numismatic standards and criteria to stamps, without consideration as to the differences in the two products involved.

I voted this as a 70 but would add it to my collection. Just nowhere close to the estimate and slightly under the starting bid.

I've never quite understood the buzz about grading. To me, if the stamp looks sound to the naked eye, I don't care about tiny "defects" ... the same for centering, perfs, etc. I suppose if you looked at stamps purely from a financial investment perspective, grading might make sense. I don't own a single graded stamp and don't intend to ever go out of my way to pick one up. I'm with Revcollector, in that I prefer a good used stamp to an unused with visible blemishes like this one.

Funny, that's the first thing that caught my attention. I am very surprised that it received a 100 grade. I think it is slightly to the left as well. There are issues that had rare, if not any, well centered margins. Do we grade a stamp a 100 because it is the best of that issue, or do we give it the grade based on an ordinary issue known to have perfect margins.

I see that on ebay often, " well centered for this issue" and it looks horrible. Then a search reveals many other stamps with better centering. All that cert is a ploy to empty your wallet. I would pass on it. That is just my opinion, I am not an expert.

Graded stamps do have their place much like graded coins, but there are still occasional what were they thinking in both camps. This stamp is a clear example of it. According to PSE an inclusion lowers a grade when it is visibly noticeable. This appears noticeable even if the photo emphasized it.

There is an opportunity for a CAC version for graded stamps. For those who do not collect coins, CAC is a third party that assesses third party graded coins and applies their own CAC label to the holder for coins that are solid for the grade. Only about 10% of coins get the CAC label.

One drawback of overgrading is that any example of 98 and 98J tend to lose value once a higher grade shows up in the population statistics. People see a higher example exists, but don't realize the stamp may have been over graded.

Bummer.

A perfect score and the price that would go with it would just make this stamp not worth buying, it does have good eye appeal but the perfs are not perfect. I was one of the 90% voters.

The cert notes the no gum/regum, yet it still gets a 100J? (highest grade for gummed 145 is a 95).
Don

I did vote "Bow wow! Arrruff, nuff-nuff." before I read the thread. From what I have learned about the history and the founders of PSE I am not surprised. They are not a "philatelic" enterprise in my eyes.

I don't know a ton about stamp grading on the 0-100 scale, but there is no way that stamp is 100. Centering is awesome, but the stain and perfs create a degree of distraction compared to a truly perfect copy.