Stamp Grading - Of Value To You Or A Marketing Ploy?

A little research I did few weeks ago on a Scott 182. 6$ stamp used. I was looking to add to my collection but generally don't buy stamps above grade 90 as too expensive. Regardless stamp looked crazy good. Would I splurge? I'm more of a VF, VF-XF collector of 19th century classics as prices get out of my range. But for the right price and right stamp and Christmas around the bend

My problem is not grading, it is the quality of the grading, the consistency.

I was interested in this stamp in Schuyler auction recently Gems of Philately. 95 J
. 95J

I researched it to see what the "higher graded" 98J look like by PSE. This is what I found:

. 95J
. 98J
. 98J
. 98J
. 98J
. 98J

My conclusion is that the 95J recently auctioned by Schuyler is better than all the 98J
Do the graders have a different opinion than me. Why should I let a grader determine what is nicest?

To conclude, the stamp 95J at Schuyler sold for 1000$. (not bad for a 6$ stamp!). My bid was embarrassingly low as I priced out 95J and they generally sell 300$. 98J generally sell 800$ range. Thus someone else realized this and bid up the 95J because they want perhaps one of the nicest stamps in existence for this issue despite the fact that there are 6 98Js out there that are supposedly better. Just not happy with the grading consistency. PSE has all of these images and when they grade, they need to compare to previous stamps. Too much opinion here, not enough science if you ask me

Pictures above are from Siegel auctions website except first image from Schuyler Rumsey

Some jumbos are more jumbo than others. Personally, of the above I think this one is the nicest (based on the images):

Most condition-conscious worldwide collectors, while appreciating the margins, would take issue with the perf faults / cosmetic perf improvements on above examples. 95J, 98J, really. Marketing ploy, unique to the US, and I hope a bubble...

That "bubble" has lasted well over 20 years now. Much as I despise it, it can not be thought of as a "bubble".

This whole Internet thing is a fad... it'll never last.

I'm aware of its staying power. I still hope it pops, and fades away. The market changes to slabbing/grading coins, cards and banknotes have probably sustained its legitimacy somewhat.

For as long as the hobby exists, there will always be wealthy collectors with big egos. So grading will not go away.

revenuecollector - until someone comes up with a new twist. Remember 8 Track Tapes, Cassette Tapes, VHS, CD's, DVD's, etc.

I agree with your choice of the 98J. All pretty stamps tho. Funny how what could be classified by some as a 'misperf' turns out to be a prized Jumbo!

revenue collector, caper123,

I'm curious why you chose that particular stamp as your favorite?
It's a very nice stamp but I would argue that from centering standpoint it is not the best.
However from impression standpoint I think it is #1!

And that brings me to the stupid grading systems that have been developed that I feel are biased towards centering. A strong impression, face free cancel, full perforations all around, brightness/cleanliness of the paper just seem to be ignored in all this and that is a sad fact.

The system is biased toward centering only.

Not all jumbos are created equal. The 98J's shown above prove this. They all have the same grade, yet some are more jumbo than others. This doesn't even take into account cancel, color, impression, etc. The single that revenuecollector points out is, in my opinion also, way better appearing than the others. (Tongue in cheek...) Perhaps another grading system would solve this dilemma - one where the first number indicates centering (like we have now) plus a second number indicating the 'jumboness' of the stamp. The 'ultimate' stamp would be a 100-100. Then another # for cancel quality (can you say 100-100-100?). Let's not forget impression (are you ready for 100-100-100-100??)

As for the 282 being shown here... I expect that there are probably many dozen, if not hundreds, of 282's that would grade 98+ in collections right now. Very few people would spend $30 on a $6 (SCV) stamp in the 'hope' that it would come back at 98. Some collectors can look at a stamp and accurately grade its centering, but the GREAT majority of collectors cannot. In the long term, I would expect this valuation to drop. Too bad, so sad, for the person that spent real money on this 282. According to PSE, they have only graded 18 of these above 50. I suspect the stamp in question is a 1 in a 1000 (exact 'rarity' is up for debate, of course), but I suspect there are also 10,000's out there, still in existence, in albums, in kiloware, in cigar boxes, in bundles of 100 tied neatly with thread, etc, etc.

Since none of them have a double transfer, I don't like any of them. :-)

I will play devil advocate and say that sending a 6$ stamp in for grading if you think it has a shot at greater or equal to 90 is very much worth it for early US stamps. In this case you have turned a 6$ stamp into s 500$ stamp with a 30$ expense

Sending a Scott 1 with catalog value of 600$ and it comes back a grade 90 is complete waste since it will only sell for 600$ with an expense much higher as they charge relative to catalog.

I also think that the numbers of jumbo 98s of scott 182 left in this world undiscovered or sitting in albums is much less than you estimate. I think you could find one but you would have to sort through 100,000 to find one

Certs have always had an important place in our hobby. Graded certs are a different animal. At a very real level, they are a marketing ploy. Be that as it may, though, there are some very desirable stamps with graded certs, so even a lot of the people that scorn them will have to play that game for as long as graded certs are around, if they want to obtain 'that' stamp that rounds out their collection. If you are bidding on a graded stamp, you are probably bidding against a larger pool of bidders, and probably paying more because of that, than for the same stamp without the graded cert. Case in point: how many of you would pay, say, $50 for the 282 (but without the cert)? $100?? Somebody, however, paid $700 (without premium) for it WITH the cert. For the sake of the argument, pretend that you are in the market for this stamp.

The latest collecting specialty: the best available stamp of each issue WITHOUT a graded cert (no disrespect intended, but: The Anti-Kirke??). It sounds like some have already started that, but without actually saying it that way.

rgstamp, I was estimating the 6c #282. There are a kazillion of the 1c #182, but jumbos of the kind shown here are truly scarce, relative to the normal. The 6c, however, is not jumbo, just well centered.

Edited to add: To my earlier point, which do you think is scarcer, the 282 6c (graded 98, but only 2 graded that high), or the 182 1c jumbo (graded 98J, with 4 of that grade shown - didn't look up how many others have been graded that high). My $$$ is on the 1c jumbo.