A Painful Couple Of Weeks For Auction Purchase Cert Results

I wanted to share some recent difficulties with a few purchases from larger generally respected auction houses.

The first problem arose when a Scott 313 that I purchased from Kelleher came back as regummed with repaired perf tips. It had two certs when sold but PSE dinged the stamp. Not Kelleher's fault in my opinion and they are handling it well. A great and honest auction house.

Then second problem arose when a Scott 276 that I purchased from Schuyler Rumsey came back from PSE as having a repaired corner and reperforated on the top. Awaiting action on that one.

The last problem (as of right now) arose when Spink sold a Scott 460 which actually turned out to be a 478. That one was jarring to me. I can see not detecting a fault or alteration but this particular stamp could only have been one of two choices and they got it wrong. An international auction house that sold a C3a in the same sale blew this. The head of the philately department at Spink that I have always dealt with is suddenly "no longer with them". Awaiting action on this one as well.

I would add that none of these purchases were the result of bargain hunting and I paid up for these items. It did not matter. I can see one time every so often of one of these things happening but this trio of issues is quite striking. Finally, I most definitely see a pronounced uptick in new certs picking up problems not noted on older certs (10 years old in some cases).

From now on no matter how badly I may want a particular item it has to have a very recent cert or be placed on extension. No exceptions.

PS: I thought of Dan (RevenueCollector) the other day when I saw a Scott 287 with a PSE and a PF cert from 2008 one of which stated that the right side was reperforated and the other that stated the left side was reperforated. LOL

Perhaps this kind of mistake is caused by one person making the call from the front of the stamp and one person making the call from the back of the stamp?

I am too weary (dialysis day and I bled out all over the floor) to go look, but do PSE/PF define if the cert description is based upon the stamp orientation?
Don

That is a thought Don. I always assumed that it was from the front. I will see if I can find out. Or maybe somebody here knows.

Sorry that you had a rough day.

I agree with Rodcam that new certs are much more likely to mention very minor faults, and to identify any sign of alteration or repair. The general standard of grading also seems to have gone up a notch. I can give examples of lots of stamps that got 90 certs in the past, and yet are more poorly centered than examples that got an 85 in 2019. It's impossible to hold the grading entities to a consistent standard when they can always point to a "multiple factors" argument in determining the grade.
My question is, what do you do with a 2005-2008 PSE cert with a 95 grade? I'll ask for an extension, but I don't think many dealers would.

As of yesterday all three auction houses had accepted the stamps back for a full refund without an argument. Kelleher, Schuyler Rumsey and Spink all stepped up to the plate and I commend them for it.

Widglo46 - Indeed, I am not aware of one auction house or dealer that would even contemplate a return or extension for grading reasons. That my friend would be opening the proverbial can of worms.

Sounds a lot like shopping on eBay to me

Looking at perfs should always be done from both the front AND the back; I can't imagine either PSE or the PF not doing so.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Oh great- I just bought 3 bank notes from Harmer (all of which I "thought were upgrades), but only 1 has a recent PF Cert. I have had such a great track record with Siegel's stamps certing "as expected" or in one case, "better than expected", that I started getting complacent with other respected auction houses. It sounds like raw stamps, regardless of their origins, are still a proverbial "can of worms". You think that I would have learned my lesson from my Apfelbaum experiences.....