On US Classic Stamps What Minor Faults Would You Accept On Rare Stamp.

There are major faults like tears, creases, big thins or toning that I would not accept on
rare classic US stamps. What minor faults would you likely accept on a rare classic
stamp? What discount would you expect a minor fault as opposed to major fault to bring?

tears on a stamp is k.o. criterium in the range of stamps worth a few tousand dollars. unless it is an ultra rare stamp franklin z-grill, lincoln z-grill and so on.
I would accept a few missing perforation holes unles its not a 596 or 613 where the perforation makes the stamp special with the bigger design. toning of stamps is not happy to se by collectors that I know. Also not well centered ones.
Every manipulation of the stamp like bleaching, regumming reduce the price of rare stamp drastically. We don't even have to talk about the common ones they will be worth nothing.
You can see it on the auctions when some unused rare stamps are regummed they are less valuable than stamps unused withouth gum.

I would not wish to add major faults, but the ones I have I am unlikely to dispose of. My thinking is -25 to 50 % and I might add a stamp I thought I needed. The other part of that would be not from Scott price but my perceived "market values".

Faults is a vague term. Some people might reject anything without perfect centering. Others might only want stamps that look good on the face.

My collections is evolving. If the price is right, I'll add anything that I don't already have. Then I upgrade when I can.

Yep, I'd add a C3a ripped in half, if it were in my price range.

Generally here is the order of preference:

nice looking facsimile (EG Hawaii Scott #1-4)
real stamp, major damage (including major piece missing; EG Scott #5)
Real stamp, no missing pieces (but may have tears or short perfs)
looks good from the front (may have thins)
Sound
Sound with no straight edges
Ever better centering/ large margins

If I have a really nice stamp and get a lesser centered on with a special cancellation, I'll put both in the album

well centering on rare stamps is always a big premium.
to mention something else a used unused stamp is not always identical worth same money a used unused stamp from the same scott number apart from creases,missing perforations and so on. What many collectors miss is one fundemental aspect that affect the valuability of a stamp dramatically. I'ts the colour if they are vivid they have normally big premium preconditioned when the stamp is overall sound, if they are fadet out their value will decrease.

It depends in part on why the stamp is rare. Is it a rare shade, or a rare plate variety, rare used, or just a rare issue? Those factors might produce different levels of acceptance of faults.

If the available examples of a truly rare stamp regularly trade with faults because that is what available then I might accept it if I needed it. Otherwise I avoid thins, creases, gum bends, short perfs, pulled perfs, poor impressions, toning, fading, oxidation/sulfurization, poor centering, inclusions etc..

My goal is a fault-free collection. I make exceptions for stamps that almost always have faults like A-grills. I accept small faults on very expensive items. I don't consider gum issues to be faults at all unless a gum issue causes problems like discoloration or wanky perfs. I like nicely-centered stamps, but I also don't consider imperfect centering to be a fault either, nor natural straight-edges.

I would not not include heavily damaged rarities (C3a, 5, etc.) in my collection at all. I would sell those stamps if I had them.

I especially hate stamps that have fraudulent alterations like reperfs or regums. I will keep a regummued stamp, but I'd soak it first and make sure the regum job wasn't hiding additional problems. I wouldn't even have a reperfed C3a in my collection.

Just for fun I did a Siegel search for C3a and found one (position 6) that had reperf at top with a couple other small faults. It still sold for 210,000. Wow.

a lot depends on your area of collecting. while meany match and medicine revenues can be found in good (ie sound) condition the bulk are found with all manor of the mentioned faults, and can only be acquired that way. this also goes for beer, proprietary/ documentary red and green high values special tax stamps and tobacco items among others. this is not a blanket statement for all of the values of all of these items, it takes a while to know which items individually fit.
it boils down to if you see a needed item at the right price buy it and try to upgrade later because it may not come better than that way.

regummed stamps for truly rare stamps will strongly impact the auctionprice. Its not abouth the new gum per se but the possible covered defects like tears and so on. I quote an article written from the PF: "Stamps almost always are regummed to hide defects. A tear in the paper can be closed and the repair substantially hidden under a good coat of gum. There may be evidence showing faintly on the face of the stamp, but it will be almost impossible to see this type of repair through the gum. Another repair that is often hidden under regumming is the addition of a new margin."

I don't consider C3A to be a rare stamp. Rare to me means fewer than 10-15 known, more or less. C3A is just a really expensive stamp.

I would kind of put C3A in its own category as a result. Its something that is easily findable in whatever condition that you want, provided that you wait until one comes up. So, if I were shopping for a C3A, I would not bother with a faulty one. How nice a copy I'd get would be a function of how much disposable money I had to throw at it, but I'd find a sound one.

For legitimately rare stamps, I would be ok with one with a small to medium fault, as long as the stamp appeared nice -- assuming I just couldn't afford the sound version, or if it didn't exist.

I have seen plenty of collections that are so condition conscious, that they simply didn't have any of the real rarities in them. Lots of pretty stuff to look at but no substance, in my opinion.

I collect stamps that I consider rare. Some are extremely rare with only 1 or 2 known. In that case, you take them as they come.

Rarity only accounts for a small percentage of a stamp's value. Condition adds a few more percents, but Demand is by far the biggest driver of value.

I agree with kcaramat.
Look at the Scott 32 Canada stamp...Only 3 exist.
I made a nick in the bottom right corner to show you if indeed would you obtain it if you had a chance..??

Robert

You can just soak the flaw off regummed stamps and evaluate them as ungummed. I don't think rare stamps are often regummed (rare stamps are usually used stamps, anyway.) Common, expensive mint stamps are often regummed. I avoid known regummed stamps because of the hassle, not because it is a flaw, per se.

Check out invertedjenny.com for a complete history of every stamp. A bunch of them are reperfed. One of the stamps from the stolen McCoy block was recovered reperfed in an attempt to hide the fact that it was stolen. The other reperfs had their natural straight edges reperfed.

Percentage of catalog value rules of thumb are useless. It all depends on how often the stamp appears for sale and how many people at any given time desire to acquire that stamp. A favorite example is a Scott US 122 graded 98 Jumbo by PSE with an SMQ value of $29,000. Siegel has had it on the block three times and it cannot get beyond 25 percent of catalog because it has a "faint corner crease top left" that Siegel states is all but undetectable.

https://siegelauctions.com/lot_grd....nwwin=q2o7pn

On the right day with the right bidders it might eventually fetch $50,000. Who knows.