What Is All This About Grading Stamps?

I have this stash from 50+ years ago and wonder.. should I have these graded so that I can realize a premium $$?? If I use ebay to sell graded items, would I be taking advantage of the unknowing by pricing at say cost + $5?? I think that is what the discussion is about.. not whether to grade and certify rare items>>

The Professonal Stamp Experts (PSE) "A Guide to Grading and Expertizing United State Stamps" can be downloaded as a .pdf file at:
http://www.psestamp.com/intro.chtml

I'm new here and still wandering around, but this thread caught my eye. I'm curious about a grading company which would grade a minimum value stamp. Does this grading company also grade minimum value sports cards or coins (which like minimum value stamps are worth a few cents)?

They will grade what ever you pay them to grade. Coins, Paper money, Comic books and sport cards also have grading and it's in the coin world where the grading started.

In my humble opinion, PSE should not accept (reject) common stamps for expertisation. PSE will lower her reputation as expert in philately. Try to send that "SUPERB" 4C STAMP to Alex Randon for his signature.

"Do large dealers get a bulk rate from institutions like PSE ? "
I think so, but am not certain.
"If everyone submitted all their well centered common material for grading the market for graded common stamps would fall off dramatically."
It already has.

I'm sure glad I don't collect coins. Here's a graded 2008 penny on sale right now on ebay for $220

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2008-LINCOL...360766060248

Personally I'll stick to eye appeal to decide if I want a stamp or not.

It looks like PSE doesn't have too many fans here.
And I'm not surprised.

The way I understand it PSE which stands for Professional Stamp Experts grades stamps by comparing
them to known copies and assigns them a number (please correct me if I'm wrong)
Apparently they also do expertizing but here they seem to have problems even getting the Scott numbers right for some
classic US stamps.

But from what I can see all their "grading" is about
centering never mind for instance how lousy the perforations look.

This is the stamp in question as mentioned in my first post.

Just look at the perforations, bottom especially.
For a modern stamp they look plain awful.



Who really cares whether its centered to the 1 one thousandth of a milliliter or to 1 one hundredth.
My eye knows if the centering of a stamp is up to my standards,
I don't need some so called "experts" like PSE

This whole thing reminds me of the premiss of the the Seinfeld TV
series which was that the show was about nothing.

Well this grading racket is trying to make something out of
nothing.

You are incorrect....


All look long and crisp....what do you see??


Noboby said you have to use them....but expensive items need certificates....they dont have to be graded certs.

Enjoy....

Please explain to me, how am I incorrect ?




You've got to be kidding.The whole bottom row of
perforations are uneven, some high, some low, some
look like they were cut with scissors or torn off one by one
with finger nails.




Cripes I wouldnt use them if they were free. My main problem with
PSE is their so called grading.

As far as PSE certificates go, I guess you haven't seen this post
here in the forum.

https://goscf.com/t/36384&whichpage=1

OK, a couple of more questions from someone who has never had a stamp graded and likely never will.

What does grading cost? And, if you send a stamp off to get graded, I assume you pay some kind of insurance and certified mail fee to make sure the item arrives safely. And then do you have to pay that same fee for the return mail?

And, at what basic monetary level do you choose to get a stamp graded/certified. A $50 stamp? $100? $500?

Mostly curious at this point as I don't own any such pricey stamps.

http://gradingmatters.com/images/PS...ng_Guide.pdf
This is the link to determine how PSE grades stamps.

YES...I have seen the post on the US #20/24 cert.....
Everyone makes mistakes....last person who I heard of
that did not make mistakes died on the cross.

centerstage98......you can go to www.psestamp.com
Everything about grading, certs, costs, shipping insurance....everything is there.
My guess for certification is $200.....everyone is different. I also guess it depends on the item.
Naturally a c15 Zepp does not really need a cert.....
KL

There's a few things driving this...

First, much like coins, PSE is pushing "Registry sets" where collectors compete for the best graded sets of coins/stamps/etc. Want to be #1? You need 100s.

Second? collectors themselves. People that used to be called "Condition cranks" can now claim to have a truly perfectly centered stamp. If that floats your boat then Mazel Tov to you.

As far as certification goes, for what I collect the PF is, IMO, the gold standard for valuable items. I also believe that Bill Weiss does just as good a job as anyone and am pleased to see much broader market acceptance of his certs. PSE also has people working for them that I absolutely trust, I do remember seeing a cert of theirs for a cover that both Richard Frajola and Stanley Piller looked at and those are guys who flat out know their stuff.

That being said, EVERYONE screws up on occasion, period.

All kinds of sellers do this. Remember, a large statistical grouping of humans will yield that the average intelligence of the human is...average. For this to be true, some humans have to have below average intelligence. Below average intelligence and deep pockets make a dangerous combination.

Someone is going to buy those stamps, and the seller knows it.


-IBFS