Victoria Sg5. Plnny Instead Of Penny. Anyone Heard Of This Error

Thanks Peter.

So it appears that this stamp is better purchased when there is an accompanying certificate documenting authenticity. Looking on a popular auction site there are 32 offerings, none with certificates.

Certificates are very important, especially stamps that are scarce, there are many counterfeiters around, and many forgeries can be very difficult to detect.

I have seen a "PLNNY" stamp sold a few years ago, but cannot recall the market value.

After reading all the helpful and erudite comments, as a new member I am both impressed and thankful. I threw the stamp up on ebay on the hope that a collector with more knowledge than myself can make use of it.

From what I recall it is a scarce stamp, It must be noted though that a scarce stamp can be $20, and there are scarce stamps worth $500+.

Let us know how you went.

Rob

Will do

Very interesting finding. Congratulations.
I think is a mistake in the printing or over inked and the orange cover part of the letter"e".
If is the only one known, has a very good value.
This one deserve a certificate.
Good luck and BRAVO.

I don't agree that certificates are required. I like the saying, "Give a man fish, feed him for one day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime".

Certificates are expert opinions but only opinions. They can be wrong, you can have out-of-control egos controlling the narrative.

I asked for a certificate on this one in my collection (I was a club member and did not have to pay an additional amount above my membership fee for the certificate):



The certificate states the cds part has been added to the original three-ringed GPO Sydney cto cancel so the stamp is genuine, the cancel is not.

Except the three-ringed cancel is not a GPO Sydney cto type but it does exactly match the type used for postal purposes on postage due stamps.

I do not believe the assessment for the certificate was correct. The certificate was sought from a collector body, not a commercial certificate provider.

How did I decide that I believed the certificate was in error? I used my own reference library (money spent on books, not certificates).


This certificate was provided for a stamp sold in 2009 for nearly $10,000 that I have purchased subsequently:



Would you be satisfied with that?

What about you are the $10,000 buyer and this certificate comes back?



The sale at $10k was voided because of the second certificate and I bought it for a fraction of the $10k.


Back to half-lengths question...

If you get a certificate, what have you learned?

This book is around $AUD200



The equivalent of four certificates.

Buy the book, get the expertise yourself and voila, no more certificates needed.

You can identify the good stamps in bulk and poorly-described lots and pay for your $200 book in no time.


My general view of the world is that the way it operates is decided by lawyers and insurance companies. "I'll get a certficate because then I can blame someone else if it doesn't work out". You have simply transferred responsibility without much learning.

Join a stamp club or go to a stamp show. Ask an expert their opinion. They knew little about their specialist topic when they started. More are prepared to share their expertise than will sneer at your lack of knowledge.

By-and-large, when I rely on certificates, it will be only those from collector bodies (as I have shown above, they are not perfect) but not private certificate providers (esp those based in Bristol). There are exceptions, though.

Have a look at any of the main auction houses, in their literature section, they will have boxes of various stamp books. Why not throw $50 at a box of books just to have them? Your may find that the information you then have at your fingertips will prompt a new topic to collect or give you the knowledge to profit from your acquisitions to fund your collecting without having to explain to the wife where her bingo money went.

Have a look at the literature listing for Vance Auctions' next sale: https://www.vanceauctions.com. Lots of variety for not much money.

In short, spending money on your philatelic library is a better return for money than spending the money on certificates IMO.

Are authors to be trusted more than certification experts? Is not the content of a book just as much an opinion as a certificate?
Don

Good luck selling valuable stamps at auction without a certificate.

There was a quote attributed to Robson Lowe to the effect of, if you need to rely on a certificate when buying something, you should be collecting something else.

When I first shared that here ten or so years ago, I didn't necessarily agree - I just thought it was an interesting statement. The more time goes along, the more I come around to it. (I do have to allow for the difference in the way we trade stamps now, compared to Robbie's time.)

That being said, I understand that it's easy to say that when you're Robson Lowe.

51studebaker

It all depends on the author. J R W Purves was the finest philatelic author Australia has produced and while some of his assumptions were incorrect, it was based on information he did not possess. He was always happy to learn more and view changed in accordance with the evidence available. I believe most philatelic authors do the same, produce an opnion based on the evidence available.

It depends on the certifier. Many who provide certificates offer them for everything. You can't specialise in everything. If I had an Australian KGV head stamp, I would get Mick Drury to provide the certificate. He is an acknowledged expert in that area but only that area. With the Brandon certificate I posted above, I don't think there was an intention to mislead, but there was a lack of knowledge of the collecting area.


Rodgcam

I agree, but I'm talking about collecting. If you are going to sell, having a certificate will open your sale to the market of ignorance who think a certificate is the only answer. Of course, if you only want to spend your money on items with certificates and I'm trying to sell my stuff to you, I'll get certificates to include you in the potential market for the material I have.

But I'll also point out that buying from a recognised auction house, any sale can be subject to a certificate if you want. The largest single-subject auction ever was of Arthur Gray's collection of Australian Kangaroo stamps. Offered through Shreves in 2007, it realised over $AUD7m ($US5.5 at the time). Nothing in the collection was offered with a certificate but it has the cache of Arthur Gray being the vendor and he knew his stuff. His word was good enough.

Excellent! And, on the book-buying point, I expect the large heap of books about French stamps that I acquired for forty quid to yield a little wisdom over the years to come, and I've barely begin to climb the pile yet.

Well said, Cjd and 64idgat.

Recall the recent discussions of old certificates vs. new. In the end, they are opinions and not absolute canon. And today's cert is not necessarily going to be the last word.