The Philatelic Foundation Grading Upgrade

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PF Announces $10 Grading Special

With the growing market for graded stamps, the PF is offering a special limited time discount rate of $10 for each stamp submitted for grading which the PF has previously certified as genuine at any time from 2006 to date.

http://www.philatelicfoundation.org...pf-may-2019/

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who has no dog in the grading fights)

Growing market?

Absolutely.

An accompanying grading cert is good at the point the stamp is with the grader, when the stamp returns to the owner, the stamp could anytime be downgraded through mishandling.

Stamps are not being collected today as objects of study so much as symbols of wealth. Yesterday in the Siegel auction the essay-proof lots had a rough time attracting any buyers, and what did sell went for bargain prices. Meanwhile we have things like this:

Lot 236 with a catalog value of a little over $3000 was an o.g. plate number and imprint block of 12 of the 6c small banknote with some hinge reinforcing of perfs in two places otherwise nh. It fetched $600 (hammer).

The next lot (237) was a used 10c small banknote with Scott value $5 but graded and certified as Superb 98 Jumbo with an SMQ value of $875. It brought $650.

Which was more philatelically significant? Which offered better bragging rights?

There is a perverse logic that says the more I pay for something the more I can crow about it - whether others shake their heads about it or not. That perverse spirit has always been a factor in the stamp game, but since the incursion of formal grading it is taking over. It is part of being post-enlightenment.

It is not unusual that basic things are often repackaged in a way for people with money to buy. You can slap a brand logo on it and now it is more expensive.

There sure are a lot of grading haters out there. I don't get it. Grading is one of the best things to happen to philately in the last 20 years. If you don't want to pay for a 98 or whatever, then don't. But it is a fantastic thing that there are consistent standards on quality. Isn't it great that you can find a high-quality stamp, have it confirmed as a high-quality stamp by getting it graded, and be proud of the deal you found and be able to eventually sell the stamp for what it's worth? I think that the grading-haters likely collect penny stamps in which case grading is kinda silly, (but if collecting gem 100 3-cent commemoratives is your thing, good for you). If you collect $500 or $1000 or higher stamps, you want to have cert not only to make sure you have what you think you have, but if the stamp is particularly attractive, you also want a grade on it so you know if you should pay (or should sell for) $200 or $2000. Nobody else is going to pay a premium on your self-described gems without a graded cert saying so. And you should not pay a huge premium based on the quality a dealer claims, particularly if you buy over the Internet - not without a graded cert.

As far as I know, PSE snake-oil is unavailable here. Perhaps you could explain why the rest of the world manages to get along without this "best thing"?

Grading has several drawbacks.
1. It encourages the breaking up of larger, often historically significant, multiples.
2. There is no hobby-wide standard. Each entity (publisher, organization, piece of software, individual) is free to assigning a numeric grade based upon their own standard. Without a hobby-wide standard the 'value' of a grade has to be considered based upon the entity which has assigned it.
3. A graded stamp is ephemeral; improperly stored or handled can easily change the grade. Due to this, some entities use 'encasing' the stamp in a plastic case. These are eschewed by many collectors as being hard to display.

I think the grading entities in this hobby needs to figure out how to address these drawbacks if it is to become more widely accepted.
Don

It encourages the breaking up of larger, often historically significant, multiples.

Including in some cases the largest known, of which there was only one. And other similar desecration that usually produce one jumbo stamp and the rest is garbage.
In many cases there would be more similar examples if anyone bothered to look for them. They are all found on an "as I come across it" idea. No dealer is sitting around with thousands of used .50 catalog stamps looking for graded examples, it's not worth the time. So it always seems like they are scarcer then they actually are.

Collecting graded stamps is just a big ego massage for those who can afford to collect certificates. And it's a BIG mistake to think that everyone who hates grading collects penny stamps. For sure that is not true.

I have become a grading convert. It offers consistency. In no way am I chasing the grading number. I pay for a mnh grade 90 and I get a certain level of stamp. The only difference from a regular cert is the grading number. You would have paid for the other opinion information anyway. It gives me an excellent ROM of what the market value is when buying and most importantly when I am selling dealers and auction houses do not argue the centering and/or condition. Not at all. The selling process is painless. As far as handling issues subsequent to the grade it is no different than a stamp without the grade. You need to practice due diligence when purchasing. PSE and PF are the only real grading entities recognized by the dealers and houses that I deal with (Siegel, Rupp etc.) This is a change of heart for me and I detest the multiples being destroyed but let us be honest here, multiples worth breaking up have been broken up before grading. Where do you think that the singles come from? They were not printed by themselves one at a time. I love grading.

Edit: I might add that grading is most useful for stamps that are in the "75" to "85" range for the most part because this is the grade equivalent that Scott uses in their regular catalog values. It makes it easy for all types/levels of collectors to determine if the price is fair or appropriate. ebay is chock full of listings that are described as VF, XF, Superb and so on and most of it is wishful thinking at best. A certificate with a grade of 80 removes the subjectivity.

Although there have always been some multiples broken up for singles, the number broken up in the last 30 years is many times the number broken up before then. And many were done at a time when the stamps involved were more commonly available then they might be now. And no one was breaking up really scarce or rare multiples because there was a stronger market for them then, so it was not an issue.

I have collected graded stamps since the 1970s but the grading system I use is my eyeball. I buy and collect stamps that appeal to my eye and have never felt the need to pay or have others grade my stamps. I can see value in a standardize graded stamp at an investor level, I assume that if a person who was not really a collector but was interested in high end stamps strictly as an investment would find value in standardized graded stamp(s).
Don

Those investors will sure be sorry later.

Try buying a really nice stamp at auction now that has an ungraded cert. Unless you are willing to exceed the catalog value, and a lot of people will not cross that psychological barrier, you will not acquire that stamp. It is the new reality, it is gaining momentum year after year and it is not going away.