So Close... Soooooooo Close...

Rev - You did state that it would grade 85J at best and if you were pulling gradable stamps this one would stay in the album. My dear friend, I hardly think that a 10 percent imbalance on the East West Axis would kick it out of being a 90 as to centering. As a matter of fact 90 would be likely for the centering weight of the grade and it could go up (or down) based upon other positive or negative determinants. A lovely stamp deserving of loving it back.

I have seen many lovely 85's. If this stamp was sent in by someone who regularly sends in a hundred stamps a year to be graded, it might get a 90. But if it was sent in by someone who sends one stamp a year it would probably not. When it comes to grading, 10% is a lot.

And this should tell you everything you need to know about how shady the stamp grading business is. High-volume submittors get better grades than one-offs. This was a big issue in coin grading with PCGS and NGC for years (might still be for all I know). High-volume submissions or submissions from "named" or pedigreed collections receive the "benefit of the doubt".

2 + 2 = 5.

True enough. I had a stamp recently that was graded a 90 and was submitted again on my behalf by a well respected dealer. It came back as a 95 with a HUGE increase in value.

Given what I love to collect among the revenues I am curious how this prize possession would grade. It is the only one of these that I have seen.

@funcitypapa has written extensively on this subject and I agree with him and revenuecollector. And stories like rogdcam's above seem common.

Revcollector:
Please explain why a stamp presented by one person would be graded differently if it were presented by another. I am not criticizing you, I would really like to know. This hobby becomes more fascinating with every point of view.

Most businesses takes better care of their important regular customers then one just off the street. Especially when nearly all of it is done by mail or at shows and the results are not known until much later, and are very hard to argue.

That is a wonderful item, Ron. I have never seen one before.

revcollector:

That is nonsense. First, every paying customer is an important customer. Second, every first time customer, ie. "one just off the street" may well become the best client in the world. But treat them poorly by providing crappy service, you may never have that opportunity to serve them again and you lose.

Grading is very subjective. But when you start measuring the size of margins down to one-tenth of a millimeter, it is no longer an art, but is a science. And because of that, a stamp that grades 90 one time should grade 90 the second time regardless of who submitted the stamp.

By stating that a stamp submitted by a "regular" customer will receive a better grade than the same stamp submitted by a "just off the street" customer simply destroys any credibility in the grading system. Period. It is known that the grading services keep images of the stamps graded, so it is very simple for them to refer back in their records to see their past work.

As for the R65c that started this conversation, in all my years handling revenue stamps I don't recall seeing another example as nice as that one. That stamp will be a prize for any collector. And who gives a damn what it grades. It is a beautiful stamp.

Eric, you are coming from a retail perspective where you make sales with instant results. Even the mail sales usually result from photos. so collectors know what they are getting. Grading is very different, no one knows for sure what a grade will be when an item is submitted most of the time. And it can take weeks until one knows, and one really has little recourse if they disagree. And most of the posters here have seen grades they disagree with. I hate grading personally, but I have to be aware of it. I agree that this is a very nice example which needs no grade. But the people who send in large quantities to be graded do get the benefit of the doubt on items whenever possible, science or no science. Since the subject was raised, I gave an opinion. That it's a minority opinion doesn't bother me; putting words in my mouth did.

Revcollector:
In my opinion, it seems that you more accurately grade customers, not stamps. Do you actually grade stamps professionally? If so, for what company do you work? Again, no criticism, just curious.

I have spent my time breaking down large lots and collections for the past 8 years. I was taught the finer points of grading, and I am always on the lookout for gradable stamps within them. Experience has done the rest. I also know that large scans tend to make margins seem even bigger then they actually are. As I said before, there are many very nice stamps that would only grade 85, but that a lot of collectors would love to have.

You are making a very serious charge that high volume submitters get better grades than low volume submitters. What proof do you have? There will always be a few stories like rogdcam's because there will always be borderline stamps that get different grades on resubmission due to measurement variations - one time it will fall at the highest end of the 85 range ("87.49") and the next at the lowest end of the 90 range ("87.51"), It is up to a potential customer to decide to jump on it if it is offered at an 85 price or reject it if it is offered at a 90 price, when perhaps it should be offered at an in between price.

Besides the fact that you are human, I'm sure you were not taught grading by PSE and since they do not disclose how they grade, so you are just making an educated guess as to how it would grade. My own suspicion (if not for the pinholes) would be a 90.

PSE are not the only expert or knowledgeable people on grading out there. There are others who know how to examine and grade stamps.