So They Tell Me The Stamp Market Is Crashing?

Maybe money in stamps is really in two places. Grading services and auction houses selling graded stamps. That's a lot of fee and commission dollars floating out there.

I think you are on to something, there.

Reality: A Scott #557 with centering VF-XF, XF or XF-S is commonplace and worth a few bucks. However a NH Scott 557 with Superb centering as shown earlier in thread is a rare stamp, total of 12 in existence graded by PSE. You can knock on this stamp all you want and think it crazy that someone would spend with buyers fee 1000$ for it, but truth is that you can spend eternity looking for one this nice, and never come close. People spend money on crazy stupid nice stuff... could be a pair of shoes, a purse, jewelry (biggest waste of money ever I tell my wife), a 250$ steak dinner, a 500$ bottle of wine at a restaurant, etc. A nicely centered stamp with only a dozen known this nice... we should all feel happy that there are collectors willing to spend this kind of money on these stamp rarities. Hopefully it trickles down to the rest of the hobby.

A dozen known; again, people only tend to look at the examples that pass through their hands. It's impossible to know how many are sitting in long held collections, or in boxes stuck on some dealers shelf that he hasn't looked in for the last 20 years. People are actually paying so that they don't have to be bothered looking. And given those left side perfs, it's not all that nice anyway. And no amount of rationalizing can justify spending $1800 plus 18% ($2124)on any 231.

There are more than 12 557's in existence. They just have not been blessed by PSE. When they are the value will plummet.

@ Jenny- that is the EXACT stamp I wanted to post about. I'll be the first to admit that you can fit in a thimble what I know about stamp grading, but how does that stamp get a 98??? It has a completely missing perf and 2 short perfs, all along the left side. If I tried to sell that to a dealer, they'd rag and complain and make an insulting, low-ball offer.

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that even fabulously wealthy people don't like to plunk down six figures for a tiny piece of paper without knowing exactly what they're getting. There might be some "bragging rights" going on with the highest grades, but, given the price difference between, say, an 80 and a 90 grade, they'd rather just have it spelled out than to have to guess the grade on their own. I have no intention of ever buying a graded stamp myself, but I can understand the appeal at a certain level. At least a graded cert removes a little bit of uncertainty. I'll take a chance on nickel and dime items all day long, but I don't like to gamble on big ticket items, in any aspect of life.

A bit of a paradox; we embrace and seek exceptionally well centered stamps but have distain for the same exceptionally well centered stamps when they come with a piece of paper with a grade?
Don

By the same token, most of us (myself included) wouldn't hesitate to send our $5 stamps off for graded certs if we knew they would come back with a 98J and would sell for $1000.

It would appear so Don. I thought about this for awhile. I asked myself why don't I like graded stamps. I guess the bottom line is I don't and I do. Lol. What that means is I do appreciate better quality stamps. However I don't appreciate paying for what I already know. Call me cheap. I mean with respect to those that actual do the grading I come up with the same grade myself.

I will pay more for a better quality stamp. I just don't need someone to point out the grading for me. Thus is the problem without the paper my grading is meaningless and the value of the perceived value of the stamp is less.

Certification makes sense because even I have made mistakes and I don't have every possible resource to help me out.

I just don't see the need for grading when I feel I can positively do this on my own. However having some standards on the other hand would take some but not all of the subjectivity out of it.

Or maybe I'm just jealous I didn't think of charging for a grading service first. Who knows. Just my feeble opinion in the world of stamps. Just don't ever get me started on encapsulating.

Nutty stuff huh? I had targeted 3 lots 413.424 and 440 not expensive stamps even here in Canada otherwise known as BNA land. I wanted 423 for the cert., I got the stamp already, 424 & 440 because I don't own them and that's what I collect. would have paid $200. U.S for 3 lots. I watched the whole thing as I tend to do to see if something falls through cracks waiting for my lots. The early stuff of course went large I was not buying that. Happy to see it though. But the afternoon session was just COO-COO. When my Scott 424 valued at $3.00 opened at $275.00 I laughed. If this wasn't a respected auction house I would suspect some sort of scam.

The main problem I have with this kind of grading is that it is only a matter of centring and borders. The obvious flaws are ignored.

This artificially inflates the price of the stamp (with poor perforations no less - as already mentioned). It becomes a commodity that will quickly lose value once more are graded.

Anyone with a little bit of common sense can tell the difference between a well-centered stamp and one that is not well centered - what looks nice and what doesn't.

I couldn't fall into this game if I had a stamp like this, for the simple reason that I think it is dishonest in principle. It creates an artificial value that will certainly fall in time. I can't see how that is good for the hobby when the disappointed collectors ultimately realize they will never get a fraction of their money back.

Actually, looking at the results, they're not as good as I was expecting. The scarce wine items did very well, but many of the beer stamps brought less than I would have expected, and overall an INCREDIBLY large number of unsold items, including some of the highest profile lots in the sale. Either the opens were set too aggressively or many of the items without certs needed them...

First of all. people do look for them. Secondly, they are not as easily found that well centered and fault free as you think. Third, if one values their time, it is reasonable to pay someone for finding one (how much is a different question).

The crazy, depending on your point of view, prices do create a lot of buzz amongst collectors. The Siegel name and auction has been talked about relentlessly in this topic with good reason. Everything is cyclical and I do wonder when grading will have its turn in the tank.