Grading Used Stamps.

Hello Tom! Hang in there mate! Where are getting a lot of very good info!

Thanks Puzzler your info is great stuff!

I will give a better reply when I have reread and thought about your treasured info!

I am really starting to think that a description that says good solid stamps with good perfs and free of any damage could be the best way to deal with this issue!

As long as you are aware of it John,
I suppose the classification can remain open.

I have them as Cinderellas, but they are still a valid collecting
issue.

I guess they are very closely related to the "specimen"
opts, the press image remains the same in all respects,
it just has an extra "pass" over the press on completion.

Rod without your information I would of been doing the totally wrong thing in the description of my decimal stamps and I believe by being on the wrong track, even though in innocence, would of totally destroyed my credibility in the stamping arena which means a great deal to me. I can not express how much your information means to me. It just highlights how important the wisdom on SCF is to us all.

To give just a little of an idea what all this means to us as a family!
I am a collector first but our youngest daughter is very gifted in singing and musical instruments. The singing part now means that her ensemble needs to travel to many different parts of the world, as you can imagine this is very expensive and we are trying to set up Australian Decimal as her little job to help her pay her own way. She is just in her teens. This all seems to be the only way at present. We are just trying to have a go! John and Family.

What can I say Puzzler? Wisdom! Wisdom! Wisdom!

You have really got me thinking!
I have always said to my children in difficult times! Go back to the power point and start again.

I am very happy calling my KGVs, Superb, Very fine, Fine, Very good and Good used. Below this is sad to me!

Australian Decimal I am not happy grading them this way. I have not got the passion to go to this extreme but I can appreciate people that do.

Your suggestions on grading, other than the Very fine used way is growing on me and a more truthful method it is for us, as a top end buyer would see this and know that the product is not in the totally top end arena! Complete sets are not my first target area and feel I would see a very small amount of sales in it. So why should I stress so much about it so long as I am truthful in it all.

Packets for us is what it is all about and you have been very helpful in this area as well. I know that my grading in this area is about 2 grades above my competitors. We have been very blessed in this area and have a lot of room to move. We discard a lot of stamps that they include in there packets. We can easily match there prices.

ebay looks like it might be the area for my daughter but I know little at present. You have been helpful in this area as well. I think it was Tina that had a lot of ebay help, I will search it when I get some time.

I am feeling more comfortable about it all now and I thank you very much for your help. You have spent a lot of your time to get the message across and it has not been missed. You certainly know how to get back to the power point! John

Thanks for your kind words about my meanderings John.

Here is a part of the poem Desiderata (Latin for 'The Decision' or something along those lines) which I have liked since a young fellow.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Link to a full version and the history of the poem.
http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm

I think everyone is a hero at sometime or other.

It happens here in the US, and in Europe as well. In fact, it happens far more often than people realize. Among some of the old time dealers, it used to be a running joke (except that some of us don't find it so funny). It has happened in the past, and it happens today. And yes, it is fraud because they are selling them as genuine cancels or allowing the buyer to assume they are genuine. Some would argue about whether it is actual fraud, but it is certainly unethical.

I hate working with sorted bulk-packaged stamps (not talking about soaked off-paper bundled stamps). However, there is one benefit -- you get to pick up very fast on fake cancels and CTOs. There were some that I would never have guessed were fake cancels until I saw a whole mess of them. Really an eye-opener for me. Some turn out to be well-documented, especially the official favor-canceled stamps. But some, you are simply getting a taste of some late-night back-room dealer antics.

In certain specialty areas, some collectors will be willing to pay a decent premium for collections that were ASSEMBLED before a certain time period, where most (if not all) the cancels will likely be genuine. Of course, the dealer could still be "doing certain things" to that collection. That's when you have to be able to ascertain which dealers can be trusted and which cannot; that is often a skill that is harder than telling forged/altered stamps from genuine stamps!

What happened to the days when the good people wore white hats and the bad people wore black hats!

When we moved to where we live now some 20+ years ago we left society behind us and stepped 30 years back in time and it has been a great life!

I have become very naive and far to trusting.

Why is it that mankind finds it easier to do what is wrong and so hard to do what is right?

Well it is honestly time. I do not know enough about Australian Decimal stamps to put together complete sets of top quality used stamps for sale and it is as simple as that! I do not have the same expertise behind them as what I can put together with my Aust KGVs. So there is no point in trying to pretend differently. As a hobbyist I have a lot to learn with Aust dec and that is very exciting thing as a collector. I will keep working on my complete sets and searching at auctions for stamps and maybe in 5 years things should be a lot different. I have gained so much knowledge from this thread. Thank you to all!

The pressure of this issue is finally been lifted from my shoulders and that is so nice.

This is not a loss at all. I believe that the experience I have in grading used stamps fits perfectly as a packet maker of many different stamps and this I have proven to myself by looking at what is available in the current market place.The change to packets making only makes this area a lot more dynamic in what we can offer to the collector! With the change of attitude it can be summed up very easily by saying we could offer a packet of Aust dec that has 2,700 different stamps. It might not be what really happens but a set of 2,300 is a very real option. It is a big difference to a packet of 1,800 stamps and on top of this there are about 200 pre dec stamps, perfins, postmarks of both eras and why not top it off with a simplified set of KGVs, some different watermarks, a bundle of a 100 unchecked penny greens and two penny reds with perfins, a few roos and possibly a state stamp from each state. I really like this packet making concept. It does suit me! I am finding it very exciting. KGV