100j The Summit - Stamp Grading Newsletter

I recently wrote a short article in this newsletter about the PSE Certificate search feature on StampSmarter, and I thought this forum would be a good way to spread the word about it. I'm also interested to hear what other members' feelings are about the newsletter in general. If you haven't heard of the newsletter, the Founder/Editor is Ray Lieberman. The newsletter if free, contains no advertising, and you can receive a copy by just sending an email to Ray.

Ray is a strong advocate for grading, and he is very interested in how it has affected the stamp market. I am a bit more ambivalent about grading, at least in its present state, but I still enjoy looking through Ray's newsletter. In the last issue, he presented extensive data (74 pages!!) on prices realized relative to grade at 39 auctions.

I'm always interested in discussions about grading, and I'm wondering how many members read the 100J newsletter and think it has value. Ray would like me to write an article or two more, so I like to hear suggestions from this forum.

Lorrie, thanks for this info. I just sent him an email.

Never have read the newsletter or have even heard of it. If I didn't think stamp grading was a cancer on the hobby, I suppose I would be more interested.

sinclair2010 - Thanks for your input. I fully understand your feelings about grading, especially in regards to the impact it has had on classic multiples that have been broken up to produce very unnatural "jumbos". I feel, however, that I can't just stick my head in the sand. The market, whether we like it or not, seems to demand a graded certificate for a certain segment of US stamps. The really rare or unusual items can be sold without grades, but auction prices for more easily collectable US stamps correlate highly with the SMQ for the grade. For those of us who spend quite a bit of money on our collections, we have to be prepared to face reality if we ever plan to sell.

While I'm not happy with grading as it is done today, I definitely see the need for expert certification, and I'd like to explore ways to make it better. Collectors and dealers are the only ones who can bring about a change. We are the ones who pay for these certificates and can pressure the grading entities to give us what we want. I would suggest transparency would be a good start. For example, why do we accept an unpublished algorithm for centering assessment with the excuse that it is "proprietary"?

I was told that the PF once considered a more complete, non-numeric opinion on their certificates, but that feedback they got from collectors was largely opposed to the idea.

I'll preface this by saying I'm very new here and relatively new to collecting stamps,...I'm trying to learn more about the hobby so I read a couple of the 100J newsletters front to back...and it seems like there are some strong opinions on both sides regarding grading of stamps. Perhaps not surprisingly, the newsletter says that grading is the savior of stamp collecting, and above in this thread it was called a 'cancer on the hobby'. Can anyone explain why there are such divergent views on grading?

Thanks, I'll listen off the air...

KCMO

Big money is involved in high grade stamps - big money involves big emotions