Another Great Classic Multiple Bites The Dust

We need to start a petition or a boycott or something to the major grading companies to stop grading any imperforate stamps. They will not grade straight edge stamps, which is a shame. Imperforates should be added to the no-grade group.

Seeing the 'before' and 'after' pictures of this block of nine actually creates a queasy feeling in my gut. Private property rights and greed aside, what the hell is the matter with these people? They need to be flogged !

Jaxom100 +1

What happened
1. destroying of 7 stamps, reducing supply.
2. creating a 2 stamp perceived "gem".
I guess the only saving grace is they saved 2 stamps, and not just the center.

The incentives in this hobby, are all wrong. There should be no market to do this. In fact, I'd argue in the case of imperfs, if a stamp contains images from neighboring stamps their value diminishes proportionally. There should be a maximum amount of whitespace that shall not exceed 50% of the distance between it and its' neighbor else the grading goes way down in accordance. This should be documented and graded as such. Unfortunately in the case of destroying limited quantity items, supply goes down, causing increased prices under demand conditions.

While in the case of private property, you can do whatever you want - this is not about that. I'd be ok with them just destroying the whole block in a firepit if folks wanted to. I just think the market should not encourage it, and rather put other actions in place that facilitate protecting assets. You should not want to destroy 7 stamps. But alas, having 2/2 of something, is somehow superior to having 9/9. Apparently having short term supply control is not enough, greed must prevail and destroy supply.

I still try to wrap my head around MNHOG and how we got there from just Used/Unused. Then put grading on top, and it's the ideal recipe for profiteering off perception misrepresentation, perfect for dealer and auctions everywhere. My 80 is inferior to your 90, so I should take a 20% valuation ding, from stamps on the same sheet 140 years ago? Seriously?

People are nuts and greed only contributes. This is yet another reason new folks don't gravitate to the hobby.

Competitive exhibiting drives some of this. Not all. Changes to exhibit rules about condition might have a small effect. I certainly wouldn't want to penalize someone for having nice material, however, so that's a fine line.

Part of the problem here is not enough people collect multiples. thus the "market" has more demand for nice singles than nice blocks.

Another issue is albums that only have room for a single. I would really rather that Scott design their pages with the understanding that some people would like to put pairs, margin copies, etc, of stamps in many of the spaces.

Personally, I just add a page when I get a nice multiple. But it is not as satisfying to have a blank space on a page and a multiple (or on cover) on the next.

Since the opening bid is now $75,000 we will find out what the market is. Assuming that is an actual bid.

This is not about more demand for multiples vs blocks or album layout, this is about somebody doing whatever it takes to turn a profit. I am looking at some zeppelin plate blocks that have the potential to yield high grade singles. Not quite the same level of destruction but every plate block broken is one less. I could do it but it is bothering me quite a bit. When all is said and done I will probably refrain but it is tempting when the ROI has the potential to be so good.

If destroying rarities is the only way they can turn a profit, perhaps they are in the wrong business.

This sickens me.

A unique (Meaning, the ONLY one in existence - or, at least the best of the very few that exist), or close to it, museum quality piece destroyed for the sake of money. I am always amazed that someone can take a common, early 20th century block of 9 imperf W-F, REDUCE the size of the block of 9 (so it only includes the center stamp, surrounded by 1/3 of the 4 adjacent stamps, plus 1/9 of the adjacent corner stamps) and end up with something MORE valuable, at least as the market works now. These large blocks aren't rare, at least now, but the principle is the same as with the #17. The market is broken. I don't have a solution, but I thank you for letting me vent!!

As long as there are buyers there will be folks cutting up multiples and the trophy buyers are not going away. The only thing that would stop it is the graded stamp market taking a gigantic prolonged dump and that just may happen the next time the economy repeats the year 2008. Or not. It may be seen as a buying opportunity. Collectors come in all shapes and sizes. Some appreciate the beauty, some the history, some the thrill of high value/rarity, some having the only one and others any combination thereof. As has already been said the only way to preserve special things is for them to be placed in an institution of some sort.

Responsible ownership, when possible, can also be a factor. When I sold my 1c collection, I kept an item (strip of 3) one of two known for what it was. The top stamp has a crease, so I was quite sure that strip would become single stamps - or one giant single. Over a decade later, I still have the strip - which I've now had for over 20 years, thus keeping it intact.

So from an ownership point of view - one can either hold something, or find a buyer privately, who appreciates it as much as you do, and sell it privately. Of course all of this can be difficult to do in a general case, but it is one way of keeping these items off of the free market.

It seems like we are placing blame on everyone but ourselves. We (anyone who has ever purchased a nicely centered stamp over a poorly centered stamp) have just as much responsibility as anyone else. Is anyone willing to publicly pledge to stop buying nicely centered stamps? If someone posted images of their collection which was full of poorly centered stamps would they get compliments and respect of our community?
Don

There is an enormous difference between collecting nicely centered stamps and destroying a rare large multiple to get an artificially created jumbo pair.

Is there any market other than the US that sees the creation of these freak singles from blocks? I can't say I've seen this horror on UK auction sites.