Great Grandfather's US Stamp Collection

Fantastic! Keep us posted about any other submissions.

Got the stamps and certs back this afternoon! A few of them had some surprising results. The 27 had some big repairs done to it and the 396 had a crease I missed, but otherwise I'm satisfied with the results.

One question I had is I often notice certs are folded when I see them, but it appears they are unfolded when first created. Is there a preference to keep them unfolded?

The 3c cert should say "rather is is Scott No. 64b, rose pink"

oh that's interesting, you're right. I was already thinking in my head it was a 64b and didn't see the b omission. I'll poke PF about that.

Oiman,

Love the collection and the progress to date with it. Thank you for keeping us apprised.

As to your question:

Certificates are generated unfolded by the several expertising agencies, aresometimes folded when mailed back to you, but oftentimes not. They can be kept flat/unfolded and can be kept flat/unfolded if you want.*
But when stamps are auctioned, the accompanying cert will almost certainly be folded in half and tucked into a half-sheet sized plastic holder affixed to the auctioneers lot card. So most in the marketplace have been folded.

*I store mine unfolded in 81/2x11 sheet protectors in notebooks, whether they came to me folded or unfolded, following a suggestion Rogdcam made a couple years ago. Works very well indeed.

If you do fold, do not fold thru the embossing

I think I will keep the certs unfolded. When I have enough of them I will have them sorted in a separate binder from the collection (but close by).

I went to the First Sunday Coin and Stamp Show in Dedham MA today and walked away with some more holes filled. Just the $4 Columbian remains and I now have a complete 1869 pictorial set after getting a Scott 245 $5 Columbian and Scott 118 Type I 15c. The dealers there were nice all around. I also found a cover with the town I live in, which I've been looking for a while which is nice.

The first 6 pix show the circular certification stamp (?) partly imprinted on the stamp. Doesn't this change and wreck the certification of the stamp?

The certification seal is on an enlarged image of the stamp; not on the stamp itself. Nice certs all around!

So if I understand correctly, the seal is not on the stamp itself, but only on the certificate so that it can be matched to the clean stamp.
On pix 7 to the end, the seals aren't on the certificate pix. Is this because they are pairs?
Obviously, I don't have any certifications.

All I can say is 'Wow!' Although I don't collect U.S. I can appreciate any collection which contains multiples of classic issues.

Thanks!

I figured out that the certificates are all printed on a standard size, 5.5 x 8.5 inch sheets. Turns out those can be housed in Mini Binders, which I first saw in some big auction lots but didn't know what they were until today. I ran over to Staples and got myself one with sheet protectors made for this size. I am very happy to have it sorted now, and the binder can hold over a 100 certs easily.

I plan on going to Walpex this Saturday, so I hope to see people there!

Today was my one day at WALPEX. I did lots of talking to collectors and dealers there, and in the process I pulled the trigger on a Scott 39 NG from the same dealer I got my 245. It does not have pristine centering, but the stamp itself is impressively fresh.



With this 39 purchase, I am now ready for my second batch of stamps to be sent in for certing. They are a mix of coils that looked good enough to cert, two color specific stamps, and the new 245 and 39 purchase. The dealer I got the latter two stamps from will honor my cert results, but they looked pretty good when inspecting them.

The PF got my stamps last Wednesday and I got the receipt letter from them today that contains the original dealer cards I sent the stamps in. I am hoping I can get them back in a similar period as the prior set, but we'll just have to wait and see! They will be numbered 617440-617449.

Also, I got another stamp for the 1851 imperforate series, a nice Type I/Scott 13 Washington 10 cent with a PF cert (499684). I just need a Type IV/Scott 16 to complete the 10c imperfs, and I am hoping it will be the double recut (top and bottom) 64L1.

The certs came back super quick. They were received on the 29th of October and the certs were dated from 15 November, and I got them in the mail yesterday. A 3 week turnaround is super quick!

Two stamps came back as bad, one was a faked 353 and the other was an incorrect color hue (63 instead of 63b). It's all a learning experience, so I have no issues with the results and I now have certed references for a color and faked stamp!

The other WF coils came back as genuine. A few had faults but they look nice enough, and for my main album I plan to use as many of my great grandfather's stamps as possible. The Steel Blue 70b was genuine, but PF is calling it Slate Blue. I was hoping they only gave a grade number if it was above 80 per the instructions form, but it was graded anyways.

The 39 and 245 were also sound which is great. I found the 39 in Siegel auction 1359, Lot 185 earlier this year that was described as re-perfed on the right, but apparently it's real.

I think I have most of the stamps I wanted from my great grandfather's collection certed. There are a few WF I will consider in the future, but otherwise I am satisfied with the important ones from a color and genuine perspective.