Love Or Hate Slabbed Stamps

May I clear one thing up please,
If a stamp is slabbed, it's not forever surely

You can break open the slab and retrieve the stamp?

it's like locking your keys in your car. if you are really good, you can get them out harmlessly, otherwise something/someone is going to get damaged.

I am sure stamp slabs are similar in style and composition as coin slabs, and the last coin I broke out of a slab cost me 3 stitches in my knuckle.

if I cant accidentally ruin the stamp then its not a real stamp, er I mean I need to be able to put it in my book... unless its an inverted jenny and I wanted to wall frame it in its own sun shielded room. even then I would "slab" it...

I wouldn't collect them in slabs.

If I were giving a stamp to a non-collector because of its subject, topical, or sentimental reasons, I could see the logic of protecting it in a slab.

While at the New York Mega Event Stamp Show 2 years ago PSE was giving out slabbed 1 cent stamps in XF-99 Slabbed. They handed one to my Daughter. After we were 2 tables away She turned to me and asked "Why would anyone want this you can't even put it in a mount or hinge it".

Out of the mouths of babes!

The only apparent advantage I can see is that PSE guarantees the grade of the encapsulated stamp, provided that the holder hasn't been tampered with.

There may be potential value in that related to the sale/purchase of a high-value item--with a certificate, there is no assurance that something hasn't happened to the stamp to alter its condition since the issuance of the certificate.

From a collector's perspective, I think the plastic holders should remain as packaging for the retail sale of items like lip balm, small childrens' toys, and the like.

I'll come out on the "LOVE" side.

If I buy an expensive early US Classic (or an expesive early Classic from another country), I'll probably want it "expertized" if it's over a certain $$$$ value.

First thing - I have a few stamps that are "expertized" without being in the plastic "tomb".

I think everyone agrees that there need to be expertizing services, but not necessarly locking the stamp into a plastic tomb.

I think part of the problem is that the OP threw up a really common stamp. If it were really an early US or whatever stamp, there might have been a different response.

I'm not a big fan of encasing stamps, but I can see when it might be desireable. (See recent thread on SCF about humidity destroying MNH stamps - I think Edwin posted it).

That is good, thanks for finding that Rod. Multiple things to learn from one fable.

Do we have the other stories and I can read them tonight before bedtime? Always good to go to sleep with good thoughts. Knowing the story behind the stamp helps me appreciate it more and want to collect it more than one I don't know anything about.

Those stamps could be in the black and white category too.

There are only a few, very rare instances where a full PSE certification is warranted. In all other situations it is a complete waste of money, in my opinion.

I read an article about the "Slabbing" and apparently it is driven by the coin collectors trying to muscle in on the Stamp world. Coins need some type of singular mount as where Stamps can be mounted by hinge or Hagnar style. Encapsulated / slabbed Stamps is about as useful as Stamp grading plus it's a way to take a 20¢ well centered Stamp, add a .40¢ plastic case, add in a .08¢ Printed adhesive label and wham! you now have a $300.00 Stamp ? I've gotta get some of this action...

http://reviews.ebay.com/Stamp-Gradi...000007277339

The ebay guide discusses slabbing. Bottom line is a 20c stamp of which there are 400,000,000 available is no place for a slab and a 10,000 percent mark up. However as a gem 100 it is worth slabbing. Most slabbers aren't sending in stamps to get a 90 grade or 95, 98 slab. They are targeting the 100 and think the stamp has a shot. Slabs of modern stamps below 100 and in some cases 98 grade are technically defects and are about worthless. Those stamps go to linger at market and yes, like the Sam Gompers stamp, they are a bit non-sensical to collectors. Also there is a huge supply of 1940 and newer material still out there that can be searched, so even the 100 grade stamps could be rather plentiful, but aren't showing up due to soft demand.

On the other hand, if you have a 20c stamp from the 1800's that happens to grade very high, say 98 and is the single highest graded example, or even is a solid VF or XF, then it could be very foolish not to slab it. Same for any stamp that commands top dollar (in its present condition). Stamps in slabs are much safer from accidental faults and attrition, as the Guide I wrote indicates. And the very well supplied market of nice, but faulty, stamps that sell for very small fractions of catalog value (if the damage is disclosed by a scrupulous dealer or the buyer knowedgeable enough to notice and not overpay) supports there is value to slabbing in many instances (those faulty stamps all were full catalog stamps prior to mishandling). The Sam Gompers stamp kicking off the discussion is probably not one of them.

Any suggestions to enhance my Guide are appreciated. Thanks!

A person encased in a glass bubble would be safer too.

But would it be anyway to live?

Crap, all crap! I wouldn't do this no-matter what the advantages are. Just plain stupid in my eyes and a fool hardy waste of time and money.

I don't care for slabbed stamps and it definitely is not worth the premium to me.

It's not worth a premium to me, either. As mentioned earlier, you can't fill an album space with a slabbed stamp and you can't display it properly whether in an album on other presentation page, so it's not only overpriced, but not good for much else either. In fact, some of the common material that I've seen expertized and slabbed seems to be open to much interpretation, as many differing opinions are out there in the philatelic community on what sort of stamp really qualifies for a perfect or near-perfect grade.