Remove Stamp From A PSE Slab?

There is a graded stamp for sale on ebay that I might be interested in but it is encapsulated. I want it for my album. How hard is it to remove a stamp from a slab? Does PSE provide a certificate with slabbed stamps or by breaking it out will I effectively void the certification? Should I just forget it? What do people think?

This is an excellent question. I cannot answer it from personal experience, but I note that all of the certification information for encapsulated stamps is contained in a bar-coded paper insert within the slab, so once the slab is broken nothing (such as a photo) connects the stamp to the certification. In addition, PSE offers a service to "convert" an item from slab to certificate (for $20). All of this tells me that breaking the slab voids its certification. I'd just call them and ask--the PSE website gives contact info.

Thanks. That $20 service might be worth it to keep the grading.

It's hard to mount slabs in an album I suspect.

Probably need a much larger album for the slabbed stamps!

We should all only live long enough, with health & wealth, to need whole albums for our encapsulated stamps.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

No one is going to live that long.

Can anyone explain the advantage of encapsulating a postage, beside the obvious financial advantage to the encapsulator? Isn't a photo certificate a much better option?

I'd mash it with a hammer then remove stamp.

You do not have to worry about fingerprints....
creasing it while handling...or other damage.



There is NO financial advantage.
This was modeled after the coin form of certification



They are both the same....

YES...by breaking you VOID all warranties.

If it is a LOWER grade....who cares??
Break and display in you album....
A HIGHER grade is worth more....probably worth
returning to PSE for a paper graded cert.

What is the GRADE???

While it is true that encapsulation protects the stamp inside, it also prevents anyone from actually proving the condition listed on it. And don't think that plenty of trickery has not taken place with classic stamps that are encapsulated, they can be carefully opened and all kinds of tricks are possible. That's why some auction houses will not sell high catalog encapsulated stamps without removing them.
As for the stamp being discussed, it really depends on what stamp it is. The modern issues left over from the grading craze of a few years back generally have very little value, they tend to get dumped into remainder lots in the hope that they will disappear.

A few uears back (they may still do it), PSE was passing out cheap US stamps that had been slabbed to promotethe idea. Since I am not a fan of the concept, and since I was curious how hard it would be to open the slab, I tried, and found it to be rather easy.