Scott #890 - Samuel F. B. Morse

I'm filling in gaps in my collection and was looking to buy a Scott #890. Scott Catalog value for this stamp is around US$0.30. As I'm scouring ebay I come across this stamp, and has been PSE graded and selling for $25!

That seems a tad insane. Is there anything that would actually make this stamp worth $25.00?

I'd link to the ebay auction, but I don't want to break any rules.

If you go to ebay and do a search on Scott 890, it's the fifth listing.

This is all I could find on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3723557435...372355743546

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GENUINE-SC...AOSwIWVY85eU

Maybe you're paying for the grading? But seriously, who is going to need a 35 cent valued stamp graded?

Harvard-MBA has been listings these forever. I believe that he acquired them from a dealer that had them done at minimal/no cost to himself. They are silly.

Need to buy a complete set of 889-893. Average ebay price is around $5.00 plus shipping. Called my local stamp store and he wants $15.00. Little too much for my wallet.

No, dealers don;e get that kind of big break from the cert services. Back when grading was really hot, there were lots of them sent in for grading - some were mistakes (hoping for a higher grade, but didn't get it), others could be sold back then for a profit. Fast forward to today, and they've already been certed, but not worth much.

What difference does it make if a stamp who's value is US$0.35 is graded or not? All the grading is going to show is that the stamp is worth the 35 cents it's valued at.

I will take a bit of a contrarion view on the value of graded stamps. If a Scott 890 is selling for $25, I would guess that it is graded at 95 or 98 with SMQ of $15 or $50. There are sufficient well-centered stamps from the Famous Americans series, that the SMQ values do seem to me to be more than a wee bit inflated. But I do believe the stamp should be worth somewhat more than 30 or 35 cents. How much more would depend on the opinion of the prospective buyer as well as the stated grade.
If very fine centering will satisfy you, then by all means spend no more than the catalogue value ... in fact, one could make a good case for buying below catalogue value for very fine. On the other hand, if you want extra fine or better, you should be prepared to spend more than catalogue value. But, to be sure, not $25 more.

Stamps2go has various ones for sale at reasonable prices. You should take a look there.

"But I do believe the stamp should be worth somewhat more than 30 or 35 cents"

Yeah, 40 cents.

There are good reasons to support local dealers, even when prices are somewhat higher.

There are reasons to support my local stamp dealer, and I often do. He wants to sell me 5 stamps from the Famous Americans series for $15. An ebay stamp dealer sold me a COMPLETE set of every single Famous Americans stamp from 1940 for only $15.00. If you figure there are 7 sets of 5, you're looking at $105.00 vs $15.00. That's just too huge of a price difference. If my local store is 25-50% above similar items on ebay, I will give him my business. But when he's 1000% higher, then I just can't do it.

Delcampe has some MNH sets pretty cheap.