Fake Cancels Added To Highly-Graded Stamps

Buy a vintage canceling machine made in the 1930s or 1940s which was used up to 2000 or after, then use it to cancel anything you want. They typically have only the killer portion still in the machine when the PO scrapped them.

Did they sell off the ink, too? In any case, if one does that, it is still a fake cancel.

I'm the original poster abut these particular fake cancels on another board. Firstly, Prexie3c has nothing to apologize for. Disseminating and seeking knowledge about stamps, covers and cancels is the essence of Philately. In late 2019 I was offered two graded 100 Used stamps with PSE certificates. I determined instantly that the cancels were were fake and declined to purchase them. Within a few months I saw these exact two stamps listed on ebay along with others having the same washed out, diffuse and obviously fake cancels. In early 2020 I had put together evidence about the fakes and who the faker was and presented it to PSE on May 22, 2020. Within days Scott Murphy of PSE confirmed to me that I was correct about the fakes and their source. At the time I thought the problem was solved. Nope. I last purchased one of the fakes in December 2022. It is in my reference collection of fakes and will never be re-sold as genuine. More of these fakes are still out there. Hopefully no one who reads any of the posts illustrating the characteristics of them will get stuck with one. Have had the unpleasant task multiple times in the past two years of informing customers that they have these worthless fakes in their collections. The less I have to do that going forward the better. Jerry

Are these all on stamps with very high grades?

Most I have seen are are high grade stamps.

Jerry, thank you for reply with some actual specifics. Of course I have not seen any of these stamps in-person, but my point of pressing the discussion along various lines one of which is that vintage canceling machine equipment and ink do exist to make accurate cancels to the proper time period. The use of incorrect ink or less-crisp rubber dies, etc., etc., would be telltale signs of trickery.

Maybe I'm out of line here but I've been following this thread with fascination for a couple of days now. Speaking for 90% of all stamp collectors, who would bother paying $60 dollars for a 50 cent stamp in the first place. Seems like this whole system is contrived to pump up false value. Whomever is buying these I have some nice swampland in south Florida I would like to offer them for sale. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but like bitcoin I wonder where the value of all these graded stamps are going to end up in in the future. If anyone is investing in these good luck. I understand they sell now, and you are getting a nice looking stamp, but the pool of buyers can not be that big. Just my two cents.

For a collector searching for high quality stamps, buying ones already highly graded takes a lot of legwork out of searching through dozens/hundreds of examples. Although there can also be considerable time just searching for graded examples of specific items.

There's lots of variables in play with used stamps... were they damaged/scuffed when originally used, how were they removed from letters, how were they stored... Out of a random stack of 100 used of the same issue, how many are truly in outstanding overall condition with superb-gem centering?

It does seem silly, but there's really no "correct" way to enjoy stamps, everyone is entitled to do as they see fit.

There was a time that $60 for a PSE Graded 100 example of a 25-cent Scott catalog value stamp would have been seen as a bargain, with the norm being in the hundreds of dollars.

Go back about 10-15 years and Grade 98-100 modern stamps were all the rage in certain circles at the high end of the hobby here in the U.S. They were flogged mercilessly. Not only in major aucion houses, but specialty dealers, e.g., Steve Crippe and GradedStamps.Com. There are still dealers at the national level that push them, e.g., Gary Posner.

While the amount of money to be made on them is nowhere near what it once was, there is still a subset of collectors that pursue them. You or I can call it ridiculous and the stamps ludicrously overpriced, but they do still have a following.

Sometimes it is as simple as whether you prefer to buy your suit off the rack at Men's Wearhouse in thirty minutes, or you prefer to spend two hours at Bergdorf Goodman being measured for a Brunello Cucinelli. Both choices are correct, and in both cases you end up with a suit, but the suit, the buying experience and the feeling one has when removing it from the coat hanger and slipping it on each time are totally different.

My short tirade was not meant to say that looking for the best graded stamp you can find is wrong, everyone can and should pursue the stamps that make them happy. My issue is the premium pricing that makes no sense. Rare stamps carry a premium because they are rare, maybe a stamp only exists in the dozens, or less. With millions of stamp collectors the supply and demand drives the price up naturally. If there are only 2 c58 graded 98 it's not because it's the only 2 in existence, with potentially tens of millions of stamps out there it's the only 2 that have been sent in to receive that grade. What happens if 50, or 500, or 5000 collectors decide to send one in for grading? The population would increase and the price would collapse. To me that makes the price speculation.

People are paying for convenience. And the idea pushed by sellers that these items actually are rare. I don't believe that, but some collectors do. So.......

At this point in the grading game most if not all of the candidates for high grades have been exploited when it comes to classic stamps such as Columbians, Banknotes and Zeppelins etc. Occasionally a newcomer might pop up but each year that passes makes that prospect less likely given the finite pool to fish from. That means that to continue a revenue stream for graded stamps the more common and highly populated issues become the target for grading. With that comes the type of "creativity" we see in this thread.

I have to wonder what internal data for the grading firms shows when it comes to the number of grading submissions year over year. Will the practice fade out on its own due to lack of subjects? It is hard to see a market for graded Forever stamps.

I don't think that is true at all. I think many collectors underestimate the quantities out there. Every year, the various grading concerns get dozens of new candidates.

Bart - You make my point. "Dozens" cannot sustain a business model. Given the low number of higher-grade stamps for those classic issues 35 years after grading began it seems self-evident that if the grading business is to remain viable the subject matter would need to expand.