US Scott 245 And Scott 293 Dealers

After a fair amount of effort and expenditure, I am only missing the above stamps from the two series. Almost all of my stamps are mint but there's no way I'm going to able to afford anything more than a decent used copy. I would like to know if anyone would recommend any absolutely reliable dealers that would be able to deliver F-VF copies with no or minor flaws at a reasonable price with recent certificate essential. I tried to pick up one of the more expensive Columbians at an auction and got burned when the PF came back with flaws not described. Didn't do it fast enough to get much from the house so no more of that stuff.

Thanks for any advice.

If you live in an urban area I think a stamp show might be the way to go, or an auction with an existing certificate.

I would go with reputable auction houses and only bid on lots with recent certs. There are actually a great many of the dollar values that meet these parameters on a regular basis on SAN.

Try Clark Frazier or Ken Srail, though I agree with the preceding posts that these stamps appear regularly at auction with current certs.

Apparently the folks in this forum are ebay and auction house aficionados since no one except paperhistory (thank you) suggested any specific dealers. Unfortunately I checked their websites as well as a few others that have been mentioned in other contexts in SCF and found little of relevance. So I guess it's back to Siegel, Kelleher et al to wait for the right situation (I would not buy one of these on ebay, cert or not). Unless anyone else has a recommendation.

One thing I hope is that folks are not taking the attitude that I just represent competition for them as buyers and therefore they don't want to share their little secrets, as one poster recently stated. As another put it in so many words, we should promote the support of quality dealers. As yet another eloquent poster posited (paraphrase), why would anyone be concerned with sharing such info in an age where it seems we have a losing battle against the shady and downright fraudulent "dealers" out there trying to rip collectors off and give the hobby a bad name. Given the internet, there are a host of people freely sharing their opinion of service providers on macro sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp and small local sites such as my neighborhood site where everyone is constantly sharing info and opinions on all kinds of local businesses. No concern about "competition" from your nextdoor neighbor vying for the plumber's attention.

Thank you anyway.

Christopher Rupp of Rupp Brothers. It will not be cheap but it will be good.

I really don't think folks are withholding names to snake you out of a sale.

Ed Reiser at Century Stamps literally just updated his catalog this morning. He has several mint certed 245's & 293's in stock. I'm sure he will be more than happy to sell them to you right now. Let me know what you think, please.

century-stamps

May I ask why not? Regardless of what you read about ebay there are plenty of sellers that are very reputable and are trusted by many. If the stamp has a recent PF certificate why would you question either of these? Both the 245 & 293 are easily recognized so the cert you'd want would only be to disclose faults.

Without attempting to put words in Oracle's mouth, the key reason I've heard from others about avoiding ebay is the potential anonymity of sellers and the impossibility of directly contacting them. With ebay, it's possible for a dealer to use a fictitious business name and omit street address contact information, so if something goes awry, there's no one to phone and (in an extreme case) no one to sue. All you have is an account ID and a lot number. You're confined to clicking on links to use ebay's dispute resolution mechanisms, and to wait for response. Queues can be long, and in-app messages to the seller can be ignored. As well as ebay protects most buyers, with the price points of these stamps, some people simply prefer to know who is behind the sale and where they do business. The remedies for a breached sale feel more tangible.

I understand that aspect. As I mentioned above there are plenty of reputable APS / ASDA, etc. dealers that one can find by simply reading this forum.

Not sure what to say here. ebay offers the largest selection of dealers & material. The good/reputable sellers far outweigh the bad apples. Seems you don't like auction houses. So you're looking for a stand-alone dealer, who doesn't have auctions or use ebay??

But I'd ask a different question: you (apparently?) are happy with your 241-244 & your 292. My suggestion would be to buy the last couple from the folks you bought these from...what's the problem w/your prior dealers?

To followup on Chris's comment, the cartel/Philip Ryle lists plenty of stamps on ebay with PF certs. Problem is that the certs are oftentimes fake or doctored.

Vetting out shady dealers is a cinch these days, use the search forum here, go to stamp smarter, go to one of the other stamp forums and search. If a dealer / ebay seller has irked some collectors you can bet they've been exposed on a forum somewhere.

Michael Jaffe has two certed 245's. Momen has six 245's and two 293's certed. I know but one can look.
ebay and auction houses. Not much else exists anymore.
Myself and all the regulars on the forum keeping our sources confidential. I say not likely.

Ed Reiser Century Stamps good idea/source.
Gary Posner, Stanley Piller and Rupp Bros but none in stock. Contact.

As said earlier, ebay with RECENT certs should be ok. Need to do your research on older opinions, when possible, to avoid the "negative pitched cert". There are a number of those on ebay.

ebay is overpriced. Here are current listings for cert 245's:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/676/i.html...nkw=245+cert

Here are Siegel Powersearch results:

https://siegelauctions.com/lot_grd....ubmit=Search

If you ignore the ones with high grading and so forth and go apples and apples the auction house is the winner hands down. Two very nice examples for $800 and one for $1800. Add 20% commission and you are still ahead.