Deception Of Regummed And Reperforated Stamps

At some time in the fairly recent past, this was undoubtedly true. But within the past year I received a PSE cert with a grade of 98 ... and it clearly stated that the stamp had been regummed!
Added: IMO it should most definitely still be true!
Added: For those who are interested, the cert # is 1410474.

98???

JLL - Thanks for sharing that. According to PSE's own guidelines the point deduction for regumming would make it mathematically impossible to assign a 98. There are already many that abhor grading and boneheaded moves like this don't help.

I guess guidelines have changed:

Color : Black ?
Wow, I see it is, image looks green to me.
"Mint" and "Regummed" is that acceptable now in US philately?

So with a nicely preserved, unmarked face stamp, and hinged
turn it from a "used / lightly hinged" to a "Mint regummed"

Curious, when re-gumming, do they remove any previous gum first?

Here's a 2021 cert for the same issue, with a description that's a little less murky:

PSE has stated for years now that they consider "regummed" to be a gum condition equivalent to the "no gum" gum condition. Their reasoning is that if the regumming is removed by soaking from a regummed stamp there is no tangible difference between the gum condition of that stamp and a "no gum" stamp. So they do not consider regumming as a fault and hence it doesn't affect the grade of a stamp. I'm not saying that I agree with this but am just explaining why you can have a graded PSE cert for a regummed stamp. I do not know the PF's stance on regummed stamps and grading.

But doesn't the total absence of gum on what should be a gummed stamp reduce the grading, which, if I correctly understand American practice, is supposed to covef all aspects of a stamp?

Hi GeoffHa,
As far as I know, there is no commonly accepted 'grading standard' in philately. Every person/organization/company/random ebay seller can develop their own criteria and assign whatever numeric grading value they wish.
Don

Edit: I assume that it is up to the buyer to understand where the grade came from and what criteria was used in assigning it.

Ah, thank you. I'd been under the impression that PSE took the whole shebang into account when coming up with its numbers.

My understanding of the PF and grading is that if the stamp is listed in Scott as no gum, then it could get a grade. If it is not listed in no gum condition then it is thought of as a fault and would not get a grade.

The 612 re-gum cert example appears that "98" is the apparent "centering" grade. I would also assume it would be valued the same as a no-gum stamp, which in the case of a 612 is pennies. Assigning a grade to a re-gum stamp does no good at all and the expertizing services do a disservice to collectors by doing so. Graded certificates ought to be more descriptive in how the score was calculated.

In regards to the original topic of the post, re-gum stamps can find their way into "collections" or lots offered at auctions or for sale to incorrectly pump up catalog value. There is only one reason for re-gumming (or re-perforating) stamps, which is profit-oriented deception.

The certificate is an error. There is not even a pricing category for regummed stamps. Your choice is previously hinged, or mint never hinged. A case of really bad QA/QC.

Their choice is whatever they want it to be. And they made it.

OK Bart, then you tell me what value to use from the SMQ. Waiting......