PF Vs PSE Grading Experience

I agree with jaxom100 on this one. I would not get it graded. As he says, the color is weak and there are too many ink voids. Additionally, the top-bottom centering does not look anywhere near a 90 to me.

"I'm 98% sure it is not a regum".

stallzer, most original gum Pan-Am's show rows of perf hole "outlines"/"impressions" on the gum. If the gum on your stamp has that characteristic, it's almost certainly genuine.

I wonder if the ink voids are a result of a bit of a dry print. We all know where dry prints happen... at the margins. A margin copy can produce a large stamp with ample opportunity to reperforate to improve centering or remove some sort of defect. I was thinking the top perfs were the worst looking but it would be quite simple to check the perfs with an experts gauge or to use another stamp to compare. All I am saying is check it because they look suspect to me.

Here is a picture of the back. A scan wasn't showing the perf impressions. Hopefully this picture helps.

Those are the perf impressions.

Yes, almost certainly genuine original gum. I say send it off!

Out of curiosity I did a quick search on ebay for 297's that have been sold. The big dollar fetcher for never hinged was $135.00 with a PSE cert. The PSE site online pricing guide (which I assume is basically the same as SMQ) lists a NH XF90 valued at $475.00, a VFXF 85 @ $250.00, VF80 @ $175.00. PSE charges $30 minimum or 5% of scott catalog value for this stamp getting a grade / cert. Scott specialized has a CV of $180.00.

So assuming we use the PSE grade 85 VF/XF 85 as a base line then pray it sells for 50% of catalog as penalty for the weak color and it brings in $125.00. Subtract the minimum $30 + Shipping (Have to use some type of service to ensure safe passage) I might make $80. Now minus the amount I paid for it and if I remember correctly it was between $20-$25 Im net profit of $55. Not sure it would even be worth it versus keeping it.


Found this one on ebay with similar centering & margins. Graded 90J that sold for $150.00 by a seller that some on this board have said is one of the better ebay sellers.




https://www.ebay.com/itm/295-2c-Pan...047675.l2557

Stallzer,

I definitely think your 297 stamp is a 90J or better. If it gets a 90J, you will get prices probably $500 or greater. If you get 95J it will sell in the 1000$+ range at a major auction house.

I think perfs look good and so does gum. I think its worth the risk of a cert. The margins are of jumbo greatness for this particular stamp and jumbo will add to value significantly. Very nice. 90J versus 95J is crapshoot. I favor 90J.

Either it's an optical illusion, my eyes are wonky, or I simply don't understand how "professionally graded" numeric centering is determined when J is factored in, but the vertical centering on that 2c Pan American doesn't look like a 90 to me.

I'm not sure how the 295 above received a 90J either. It is obviously centered low.

PSE published a guide that shows various grades for various issues, and the 295 above is IMO consistent with 90J. FWIW, stamps graded 90 (or 90J) are far from perfect -- the centering will be (obviously) visibly shifted.

You guys are perfectionists! or perhaps picky is better term.
if stamp was "perfect" it would be in 95-100 grade range.

I agree with srail... take a look at graded Siegel sales of this issue. Stallzer example is premium stamp with jumbo margins. Margins are so large side to side it worries me there is a reperforation but I don't see it with my eyes or when I overlay stamp against it

The larger area of concern for the Pan-American issue are the top and bottom perforations and not the side perforations. A guide/center line at top or bottom will mostly likely mean that it is reperfed at top or bottom. The same line at the sides can be perfectly normal. That is not to say that a Pan-Am stamp cannot be reperfed at the sides, just less likely.
If you are unsure as to whether a guide/center line means reperfing, check the Scott US Specialized Catalogue to see what arrow blocks exist. If only horizontal arrow blocks are priced, then a vertical line is bad and vice versa for vertical line blocks.
IMO the color on the 5c stamp is perfectly normal and not faded.