Where To Expertly Repair Stamp?

I'd like to think that most of us in the philatelic community have nothing but the best intentions when it comes to keeping philately, and along with that, history, alive, - albeit we may have different points of view as to how this be best achieved.

One thing is certain in my mind, regardless of whether or not a collector wants to have an item repaired or restored and regardless if it is for his/her own private use or to resell the item, the reality is that at some time in the future all these items will either be lost or sold and none of us will be around to protect them or to police the activity.

Items get lost, damaged or destroyed altogether. That can happen through any number of means, i.e. fire, flood or someone just throwing things into a dump because they have no idea what they are looking at and perhaps plain just don't care.

So it is my humble opinion that it is in our collective interest to keep as many of these items in circulation for as long as possible in order to keep this hobby alive. As someone much smarted than I once said - half a loaf of bread is better than no bread!
Hans

re.

" So it is my humble opinion that it is in our collective interest to keep as many of these items in circulation for as long as possible in order to keep this hobby alive ".

So your doing philately a favor by producing faked covers, what a lot of BS,

Pagoda

I'm sorry if you have such difficulty in determining that an obvious cosmetic improvement is just that - cosmetic. Next time you visit the sistine Chapel you can look at the FAKE ceiling of Michelangelo. I guess the saving grace would be that it is unlikely to be put up for sale for you to buy.

H

Hans,

re.

" obvious cosmetic improvement ".

replacing a stamp on a cover is not a cosmetic improvement, it is fraud,

Pagoda

As a stamp seller......I believe that the buyer receiving an empty signed for registered envelop and buyer saying item not signed for as not received are our biggest ebay fraud issues.

In time...... all repaired stamps..... will be sold..... as frauds!

Pagoda

I would certainly agree with you IF we replaced the whole stamp or the major portion of a stamp. It seems to me that you have misread what we'd have to do IF the person wanted to have this look better and that was to replace a small strip of the stamp along the right side, which by the way would be a relatively tall order and require us to touch things up by hand. Since my hand isn't a printing press, it would be quite apparent what was done, - with or without a certificate or some expertising service.

I said at the outset of this whole discussion that I'm not here to try to change anyone's mind - because I can't. This is one of these topics, like religion or politics, where, if one wants to stay friends, it's best not to engage in. As I also said at the outset, that we normally do not get into these kinds of discussions, precisely for this reason. I did however make an exception this time around as you all can see, mostly to present perhaps a different point of view and to educate some people who may not have made up their mind on the issue, one way or the other.

KGV... I don't doubt for a minute that you may be correct in some instances. There is certainly an opportunity for stamps to be sold as such. I only have to read some of the posts in this forum where collectors are trying to figure out whether or not an item is real etc to see your point. For the most part, we couldn't verify an item's authenticity as we do not have that expertise and as such, we would not even think about advising someone on these matters. And I also see everyone here who knows anything about the specific item is eager to help, which is great. Our interest is specifically geared toward the physical restoration of the items, i.e. paper, gum, rips, tears, creases, perfs and the like.

Once again, a gun shop owner can't be held responsible for what happens when a firearm leaves his/her shop. The difference is that I have not yet heard of some unsuspecting person getting their brains blown out by a repaired postage stamp.

Hans

Keep in mind there are multiple people who specialize in certain types of repairs and restorations and typically they can be located by word of mouth. Postal historians, as an example, often have items restored in part to make their exhibits more competitive and appealing to spectators.

Keep in mind whatever your item, to be sure to get multiple opinions before contracting for a restoration or repair. Nothing against FCI, as I am glad to know of them myself, but just an FYI. Every firm or person doing service has their unique areas of strength (and weakness).

Comments welcome.

Hans,

re.

Our interest is specifically geared toward the physical restoration of the items, i.e. paper, gum, rips, tears, creases, perfs and the like.

I have nothing against repairs to rips, tears, creases, perfs. but 100% against repairs or restorations to gum and adding parts of a another stamp.

Pagoda

I believe the restoration of gum has gotten so good that the experts now can't tell what is what . Putting a MNH stamp in any kind of mount , plastic stock page or confining grip will change the look and color of the gum due to heat and humidity . I was amazed to watch someone remove the gum from a low value stamp and apply it to the high value of the same set ,would this still be considered original gum,yes it would .
I don't need to teach someone how to regum a stamp but all the tools can be found at the grocery store and the local hardware store with everything costing under $50.00.

First of all, I hope that "Our" is the royal our because it doesn't apply to me. I think restoration performed by anyone to anything they own is perfectly legitimate.

Second, restoration of parts of stamps on cover happens for expensive rare items. Just go to any auction site, e.g., Siegel, and search for restoration. There was a recent sale of a rare Hawaiian stamp on cover that was restored.

It only sold for $140,000.

http://stampauctionnetwork.com/y/y9741.cfm

"the 2c has been extensively restored and repainted, the 13c less so"

Hungary,

apart from an Hawaiian Missionary could you show a reference for any other stamp that has been restored that realised a high price,

Pagoda

Restored, repaired, or rejuvenated are all just fine if the buyer knows the facts before the purchase. Folks by "space fillers" all the time just to fill in a missing item. These folks would probably be willing to buy any of the above at an appreciation of price vice a wounded article if they had the choice.

Restoration is a perfectly appropriate practice if you are dealing with scarce availability and demand from aware buyers. I had an heirloom vase that my kids knocked over and broke. I could have bought a replacement for a fraction of the price, but it then would not have been my vase, but someone else's.

Same with stamps. If I have a stamp it want to display and it is "broken" but all I can afford, then feasible restoration is what I want. By restoration I have made it more presentable to me, and probably more desirable to someone who would want that item knowing it was restored. To them its a "new" item for their collection, not a repaired item from mine.

Pagoda,

I don't have time to search for completed auctions to prove a point I am probably not qualified to make outside of the example I happened to read about recently. Nor do I particularly have the ability to search the auction sites for which I have no membership. I see there are plenty of restored stamps and covers for sale at Siegel and elsewhere, and some appear to have been sold. So one thing is for sure, there is a market for the items and folks don't seem to mind buying and selling in cases where the restorations are disclosed.

Even if I could find the prices, I have no idea what the artifact would have sold for had it not been restored. I can only assume the artifacts are being restored to realize a higher price. Possibly some were originally restored for others purposes. Perhaps someone with experience in this area can respond.

Maybe Hans could volunteer some specific examples where a damaged, relatively rare stamp was restored and realized a decent price.

Go to the Siegel power search page (should default to US stamps) and simply enter "restored" in the keyword text box and submit. There are several examples of realized sales in the first couple of pages, some where large portions of the stamp have been restored.

http://www.siegelauctiongalleries.u...sionvars=yes