A Shout Out To Cherrystone

Bad experiences are frequently discussed. Here is a positive one.

I won an pricey airmail set lot at a recent Cherrystone auction. It was described as MNH, Post Office fresh and it looked very nice. Great centering, color and perfs for the issue. When it arrived I took a look at my purchase and the key to the set (it makes up almost 50% of the value of the 10 stamp set) was very badly gum wrinkled. Not super uncommon for these stamps but not as described. I sent off a polite email to Cherrystone and Josh replied within an hour or so. He stated that they were sorry that I was not satisfied and "please return the entire set for an immediate replacement". I sent it back and on the day that it arrived in NY another set was sent back to me via Fedex. It was a beautiful set with a spectacular key value.

There was no delay, no arguing, no excuses, just good old customer service with a good attitude and it was a breath of fresh air.

I thought that I should share my experience.

Cheers

Nice to hear the good stories; too often people focus on the negative.

Well, that is a nice little day brightener. But,

Agreed! Curious what it was you purchased but will pile on since someone else asked.

That is nice to hear, good on them. And nice set too!

Not a set you see everyday.

Very nice set!

Great set Rog. Took a look in Scott's- it's a big hitter set too. Which makes me surprised that Cherrystone was able to score another complete set (or key value) so easily. But can't argue with such a great outcome.

They may have bought it in. I once ordered a paperback book from an Amazon seller. In due course, they advised me that they couldn't find it, and offered a different edition or a refund. I chose the former. When the book arrived, it became obvious that they'd ordered a much more expensive hardback to be sent to me by a different seller.

Rog, you seem to be weakening in your old age. You're not even slightly suspicious that they sent the inferior set first, then replaced it with the better set when challenged? I would have expected your BS detector to go kinetic.

Funny, I actually had the same reaction to the original post.

There's the old "throw it out and see what sticks" type of dealer mentality. I am not implying anything here about Cherrystone, one way or another, but that is a well known modus operandus.

I've bid with Cherrystone for about 10 years and they are a good firm. Never had any problems. They are specialists in Russian material so it is no surprise they could come up with another set.

Chris -

Too funny my friend. Yes, my BS detector went off immediately and they well might have tried to pawn an inferior set off on me. In particular it was "funny" that the key to the set was the problem child. I just get the feeling that they did not have ill intent. Can't explain it.

The reason they likely had a replacement ready to go was that Paul is a seasoned collector of Russia and has exhibited over the years. Cherrystone has made a name for themselves with Russian material in general and likely have quite a bit in stock.

PS: As a precautionary measure I have scheduled a tune-up for my BS detector.