How To Remove A Stamp From Stupid PSE Slab

On stamps and coins in slabs you hear of both not liking the slab and wanting to put them in albums. But I think that is more for collector grade and up to XF/AU (coins have a near mint grade called About Uncirculated) material.

When it comes to common material, or supposedly common material, such as 1940-1960 commemoratives being graded to rack up prices it is the market that decides prices with winners and losers usually neck and neck. Some collectors see a stamp only worth 20 cents and that may be true for even some graded and slabbed material asking $20+ (Especially Grades 90-95). But those same stamps that do get the grade of 98 and 100 in reality are 1,000-10,000 or more times less plentiful than a VF copy (and perhaps several million times less plentiful for a classic stamp). And so the market behaves accordingly and voila, the Scott 1000 that has sold for 20 cents in the past is now a $100 stamp. Of course this irks stamp collectors, but coin collectors do the same with modern coins. A $25 box of 2015 Lincoln Cents fresh from the bank might yield only 3/2500 coins worth grading and encapsulating. The cent then trades at a much higher price, and with such a coin sight unseen is reasonable. Ridiculous, but if a collector wants they can buy a $25 box and carefully mine out an MS68 maybe too. I don't want to get too much into coins as I am a stamp guy, but bottom line there is a market for graded and encapsulated material even if it is (supposedly) common.

The stamp pictured by the OP has no reason to be in a slab. If it was the highest known conditions example then I would be cautioning the OP to leave it in the slab. Stamps are far more easily mishandled than coins. As far as the stamps moving about inside a PSE slab and becoming damaged, I don't think so, but if it is a concern they can be stored flat rather then upright. PF and PSAG cannot encapsulate... only PSE can at least for now.

PCGS created PSE and then sold it off. They had the same vision for stamps as with coins, except they would also offer paper certificates. I think graded and encapsulated stamps will eventually become more accepted. There is still a good amount of volatility and uncertainty with stamps tracked in a population database as grading is newer with stamps than with coins. Coins have matured and slabs are more the norm for nice problem free material. I am a buyer of collector grade XF coins in PCGS slabs and I break them out (using screwdrivers and crescent wrench) and like putting them in my coin books. I am not experienced enough on coins to avoid getting taken so the third party grading (TPG) is a form of protection. I handle the broken out coins carefully with coin gloves and only by the edges. If I could afford an MS68 Pogue coin, which will only come in a slab, I don't think I would dare remove its protective case and risk damaging it. Same should be given and widely accepted for an ultra high grade stamp that is equivalent to a Pogue coin.

For those who read posts looking to identify a tidbit for counter argument, if I haven't already done so, I will go out on a limb here for you. I think most, but especially not all, high graded stamps are greatly undervalued today and those that are kept in slabs will appreciate in value the most. A stamp does not have to be graded or slabbed to appreciate as I am aware of how high quality raw and simply certified material performs on the market. But with graded and slabbed material it might take 20-30 years for stamps to narrow the gap with coins (and the ungodly spread on coin prices depending on grade). This will serve a portion of the market. A portion will be burned as stamp populations become more of a population based on parameter and not statistic. A portion will do extremely well. And most in the middle will do ok. Quite possibly it may be the numismatists who most understand the value of slabbed philatelic material and make one of the biggest hobby arbitrage opportunities in the history of collecting.