How Would You Grade The Centering Of This E12

Thanks NewbyStamper, typo's are nothing new to his one finger hunt and picker.

By the way I looked very carefully at your stamp, both front and reverse sides. I cannot see a crease, but having the stamp in person is the best way to determine whether or not it has a crease. Would you consider using the water marking process, that way you might be able to tell for sure and then determine whether or not to send it in for the experts.

Stampmaster

If the stamp is MNH and sound.... we now come full circle and ask if 180 bucks is good price.

Well, Grade 98 could go as high as 700, and 95 perhaps lowest 140$ at auction.

Does the pencil notation make a difference and knock it down a grade notch?
You would have to gamble 30$ with PSE to see if would grade out 95 or 98.
If graded 90, you get ripped off at 180$, if you get 95, break even at 180$, if you get 98... jackpot!

But the owner probably doesn't think it would make 98, so he priced it as a 95.

Thus, it is priced at market

sub95, nice stamp, hate pencil marks on stamps, hate them, ah..um..85.00.

Thanks again stampmaster. When I had the stamp in hand I did not see a crease so I scanned it looking for one as one as the top left and right corners. Saw nothing there. Did not think to water mark it as I didn't see anything but will ask seller if he cares if I dip it.

rgstamp thank you again. I was thinking the same at 98g. I measured the stamp on all sides and it was almost perfect. But then again I was measuring and not PSE or other.

91stang thanks for your reply as well. I'm not really thrilled about the mark either but it is there. I read a post that the late Bill Weiss chimmed in on about pencil marks and stated that you could use a pencil eraser and litely go in one direction and the mark would come off without gum disturbance.

What do you think about someone trying this? Sounds spooky to me to try.
Maybe you and other knowledgeable people here would chim in on it or maybe someone here has tried this and succeeded or failed at this? I would be grateful if they chimmed in.

Thanks again everyone for your replies.

Just my two cents:

I went to an art supply store some time ago and picked up several erasers. There are many different types, made out of many different materials. Some are more effective on pencil marks on certain types of papers than others. Almost all of them were very inexpensive.

Once you have a collection of erasers, take a cheap gummed stamp, make a pencil mark, and experiment to see which eraser does the best job. You will almost certainly find one that is nearly 100% effective: pencil marks disappear and the gum is unchanged.

Or, you could be a bit of a jerk I guess and just take your gummed stamps into the art store and experiment right there in the eraser aisle...

Jim

"Hey Ron, another nutter. We've got a bloke sitting on the floor in the crafts aisle erasing the backs of stamps. Call the guys with giant butterfly nets..."

Hey, Dan, I usually try only to post things of substance, but how can I resist? I've got my butterfly net and I'm on my way!

Yikes, I'm being hunted down as a looney.

Glad I didn't bring up experimenting with regumming in the glue aisle.

Jim

I'm not here for fun and games and to be made fun of boys! I don't have to spell out your names you know who you are.I'm here to ask question and hopefully learn things but it's the smart butts like y'all that drive good stamping people away from this site. If you don't want to help then keep your remarks to yourselves! You don't have to reply!

You know I'm sure when you started out you didn't know diddly about stamps either and I'm real sure you don't know everything about stamps as well. So the way I see if you can't reply without being jerks then keep it to yourself.

I think it is very rude. Now if you don't mind I have other stamps and other questions to ask. I just don't know if I'll ask here. Brother! I thought this was a place to come to for answers as we want the younger generation of stampers to keep stamping going and not to fade away...well that's what I've read here on other post. I know there are people here that like to help and I'm very appreciative of that. No one likes smart butts and no one likes to be made fun of!!

Sorry about the rant but sometimes a nerve get hit. And if admin so thinks of blocking me so be it. This isn't the first time on here that some of the community makes fun of others without regard. Maybe admin should look in on that. I'm done!

In my opinion it would grade very high for centering, but the pencil mark downgrades it fro NH to the same as LH to me. While you MIGHT be able to erase it, there is a real risk of damaging the stamp, and also even if you can remove the darkness, there still might be an impression left in the gum.

Newby,

What specifically was written that makes you feel like you were being made fun of? I've read this entire post several times and don't see any personal comments whatsoever.

You asked a group of fellow stamp collectors for their free analysis of your stamp, for not only a specific numerical grade but for a retail or catalog value, and you received a variety of responses.

The issue then evolved down to the small pencil marking on the back, and my suggestion was 100% serious. If you are careful, you can remove all signs of the pencil marking from most stamps, with the right eraser, and moving it in one direction only. My point was to practice first (and repeatedly) on cheap mint stamps, with a variety of different types of erasers. That is how you get the experience and knowledge and technique, not by asking others via messages on chat boards. You have to physically do it, yourself, sometimes.

Once you get some comfort with this, the issue of a pencil mark on the back of a stamp will either detract your ultimate value of the stamp, or it won't.

Then a few jokes were made, at no one's expense but perhaps mine. This is how people on the Internet occasionally interact with each other.

Finally, despite what others may or may not tell you about the centering of a particular stamp, it is ultimately up to you alone to decide if what you see is what you like. It's always nice to have a consensus of opinion, but, in the end, everyone has different tastes.

Jim

Hi all, the remarks "Call the guys with giant butterfly nets" would make some people upset. I myself do not see anything wrong with it.

Why not just say something like, sorry, or I really did not mean it.

We should all be friends, and help each other here.

If someone gets upset, then be the first to say, sorry.

Stampmaster,

Honestly, I found the mental image of some lonely guy sitting cross-legged in the middle of the art section of Joann's Fabric Store, pulling one eraser at a time from the bins above him and seeing if it would finally erase his little pencil mark on the back of his stamp, to be pretty funny.

Then, what would normally be a common reaction to witnessing such an event was satirically embellished.

I believe that this is commonly considered to be a "joke."

I really doubt that anything personal was intended, by anyone.

Jim

Jim, I fully agree with what you say.

All I'm suggesting, to make things better now and in future. Maybe things can be made better by just saying "sorry if I offended you in someway it was meant".

The unkind remark "call the guys with giant butterfly nets" could be looked upon as an unkind remark. I don't think it myself, but the person who made it needs to step up to the plate and make an effort!