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MONTHLY JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PHILATELIC SOCIETY
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AMERICAN PHILATELIST THE
May 2023
Table of Contents
VOLUME 137 • NO. 5 • WHOLE NO. 1,468
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402 CONDITION, AND ITS MANY ELEMENTS
BY THOMAS BIENIOSEK Foxing, thins, original gum (or not), hinge remnants, centering and pulled perfs are just a few of the many things that determine a stamp’s condition. Here’s the basic rundown you want to read before examining your next stamp.
414 POSTAL PAPER: HOW IT WAS CREATED AND EVOLVED
BY A.J. VALENTE The methods and technology of creating paper for stationery, envelopes and stamps underwent plenty of technological changes over the early years. Each change brought different looks and feels to the stamps and paper items we collect.
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EXPERTIZING ALTERATIONS
BY RICHARD DEBNEY, C. LUNDBERG AND RANDY SHOEMAKER Our authors give us several points of few of alterations, from fake cancellations and coils to forged overprints and tiny (but important) differences from legitimate stamps. We hope this gives you some ideas of how to, and what to, look for when inspecting your own items.
FIRST OF ALL
PAGE 437
BY LLOYD A. de VRIES Collectors have been commemorating stamps’ first day of use for at least 100 years. Our author has followed the niche area for decades and takes a look at the changes and creativity in collecting first day covers.
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THE COLLECTOR OF REVENUE
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BY RON LESHER Many of the things we study and enjoy on postage stamps carry over to collecting revenues. The U.S. 1898 Battleship documentary stamps offer a good comparative template for studying revenue stamps in general.
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THE LETTER OPENER
435
BY CHARLES EPTING A new regular column will offer insights and details from the very wide world of postal history.
ARE WE AFFLICTED WITH CERTITIS? PAGE 442
BY WAYNE YOUNGBLOOD Certificates – known popularly as certs – are important in our hobby. They allow collectors to check with experts (for a price) to help establish the legitimacy (and faults) of an item. But is there a clear-cut need for the rise in the number of certifications?
ON OUR COVER
Designed by Chad Cowder, a close look at factors affecting condition as digitally reproduced on a genuine U.S. Scott 63. From top left: A tear; curled; misaligned. Center left: Pulled perfs; original Scott 63; stained. Bottom left: Canceled; faded; creased.
Other Features 448 472 392 475 396
Buy and Sell Classified Ads Editing Philately Index of Advertisers Letters to the Editor
386 AMERICAN PHILATELIST / MAY 2023
464 482 486 394 390
Membership Report New U.S. Issues New World Issues Closed Album Our Story
446 389 476 488
Philatelic Happenings President’s Column Show Time Worldwide in a Nutshell
The Stamp Marketplace
hipstamp.com/auctions 1¢ Opening Bids | Ends Every Thursday Place your bids in our weekly One Cent No Reserve Auction ending every Thursday from 7pm eastern. Our No Reserve Auctions feature over $100,000 in retail of stamps with each starting bid at just 1¢.
THOMAS BIENIOSEK
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ondition of a stamp, its appearance, is arguably the most important factor in determining a stamp’s value. Of course, supply and demand set the price of a stamp. The effect of supply is demonstrated by the Inverted Jenny 24-cent airmail stamp of 1918 (Scott C3a), with only 100 possible copies in existence (Figure 1). The C3a is much more valuable than Scott C3, the regular 24-cent air mail stamp, which has a printing of more than 2 million. The effect of demand is shown by the $1.92 special printing newspaper stamp of 1875 (Figure 2), which had only 41 copies sold, less than half the number of C3a, yet has a catalog value 5 percent of C3a. Likewise, collectors demand stamps in excellent condition, and generally avoid stamps in poor condition. This directly affects how much a collector is willing to pay for any given stamp. When collectors refer to condition, they refer to the stamp’s appearance both front and back. For this article, condition will not refer to a stamp’s centering, or “grade,” what is typically meant by terms such as fine, very fine, extremely fine, and so on. All these terms imply that the stamp’s condition is excellent, that is, the stamp has no faults. 402 AMERICAN PHILATELIST / MAY 2023
Figure 1. The U.S. Inverted Jenny (Scott C3a), current catalog value $450,000; 100 copies known. Position 65, owned by APRL.
Figure 2. An 1875 U.S. newspaper stamp (Scott PR48), current catalog value $22,500; 41 copies sold. (Image courtesy of Siegel Auction Galleries.)
Tears, scuffs, and stains, oh my Stamps are quite fragile pieces of paper, easily damaged. Defects visible on the front of the stamp include tears, pinholes, scuffs and scrapes, creases, stains, foxing, color changelings such as oxidation, heavy cancels, canceled to order (CTO), pen cancels, punched cancels, being cut-toshape, short or missing perforations, clipped or trimmed perforations, straight edges, and reperforations. In each case, even a minute example is enough to ruin a stamp’s condition and make the stamp unsaleable.
Pinholes In the early decades of stamp collecting, dealers would display their stamps for sale by mounting them on a board with pins. Over time, collectors showed a strong preference for stamps not damaged by a hole, and this practice ended. Still, many very nice, well-centered 19th century stamps exist with a pinhole, sometimes easily overlooked (Figure 4). Figure 4. This Great Britain official use stamp has a pinhole in the center, which is readily apparent in the scan of the back of the stamp.
Tears Tears result from careless separation from the sheet of stamps, or from improper handling and storage (Figure 3).
Scuffs
Figure 3. The barely noticeable tear at the bottom of this otherwise wellcentered, visually appealing stamp makes it undesirable for most collectors. At best, it would be considered a space filler.
A scuff or scrape can be considered a thinning of the stamp’s front surface. These typically result from damage during mail handling, or improper storage (Figure 5).
Figure 5. This $1 Patrick Henry definitive of 1955 has a noticeable scuff running through the word “postage.”
Creases Creases usually result from careless handling or improper storage. Sometimes hinged stamps in an album will bend and then crease when the pages are improperly turned (Figure 6). For very old stamps, sometimes the gum itself will crease the paper over a long stretch of time. Creases can be disguised by pressing the stamp. The crease is no longer visible, but the fibers are still broken. After soaking in watermark fluid, the damaged area becomes visible as a white area in the paper as the fluid evaporates (Figure 7).
Figure 6. This 10-cent Trans-Mississippi commemorative of 1898 has a diagonal crease running from the top to the left side of the stamp.
Figure 7. As the fluid evaporates from this dipped stamp, creases become quite evident as areas that appear white before the rest of the stamp dries. MAY 2023 / AMERICAN PHILATELIST 403
COLLECTING COAST TO COAST BY WAYNE YOUNGBLOOD
The Ongoing Problem of ‘Certitis’
A
re you afflicted with Certitis? This is an acute and lingering condition that strikes many dealers, collectors and exhibitors all over the world. The problem is that – at present – there is no known cure. Certitis, as we understand it, is brought on by lack of expertise (real or imagined), marketing or even the assumption that certificates somehow guarantee an item is genuine. In the United States, at least, Certitis appears to be reaching epidemic proportions. Over the past few years I’ve noticed that the perceived need for repeatedly expertizing the same items has grown by leaps and bounds. Many replace “old” certs as frequently as every three to five years, or even whenever a costly item changes hands (Figure 1). The industry standard in the United States used to be 10 years and longer for those certs issued by reputable services, taking advances of technology and the condition of aging items into consideration. As both an expertizer and an auction professional, I’m beginning to notice that many items that are indisputably genuine are being submitted for “fresh” certs by collectors, dealers and exhibitors far more frequently than necessary. Why? Certainly, there are some items, such as rare early coils, some errors, scarce varieties and items that are easily faked that need expertization, and a periodic snapshot of the condition of rare classic items is desirable, but the constant replacement of certs “just because” or with the mistaken belief this somehow provides security is rather silly (Figure 2). This mentality benefits no one other than those who expertize. Remember, expertizing is a business and is run by both non-profit and for-profit organizations. These groups will not tell you a new cert is unnecessary as long as they are the recipient of paid fees. It is possible that this acceleration has been caused by the appearance and growth of the graded stamp market; that is, numerical grades 442 AMERICAN PHILATELIST / MAY 2023
Figure 1. This 2022 certificate likely replaced an older certificate but was it necessary? The stamp – a used 1860 90-cent blue Washington (Scott 39) – is somewhat rare and carries a catalog value of $10,000. The new certificate likely repeats the opinion of previous certs simply, “it is genuine used, with faults.”
Figure 2. A certificate issued in 2005 from APEX that states this stamp, a 15-cent black Lincoln of 1868 (Scott 91) is genuine in all respects. After 18 years, should this stamp receive a new cert?
are the primary purpose of those certs, rather than the establishment of whether an item is genuine or tampered with. Also, because expertizers and the systems they use are fallible, “frequent flyers” noted early on that if you don’t receive the grade number you desire at first, you could resubmit it until the desired grade is received. Even once grading fees are factored in, a higher grade for a quality stamp can make resubmitting it financially feasible. Unfortunately, this little fact is unknown or overlooked by many who purchase graded stamps with the belief it is an objective standard of value (Figure 3). Whatever the cause, the volume of virtually every expertizing firm in the United States is up significantly and rising, according to the major expertizing groups. There are five primary expertization firms in the United States, and several on the secondary level. Those most widely known and used are: The Philatelic Foundation (PF) The American Philatelic Society (APEX) Professional Stamp Experts (PSE) Philatelic Stamp Authentication & Grading (PSAG) Sergio Sismondo (who recently passed away) Of these, two (PF and APEX) are operated by non-profit organizations, the remainder are for-profit. Generally, if a stamp or cover has been expertized by one of these five services, the opinion is trusted and accepted by most dealers
Figure 3. A 2023 certificate was given for this used Franklin 1-cent deep green of 1923 (Scott 552). It has a catalog value of about 25 cents, but did receive a grade of 95.
and collectors. Other services exist, but some are untrustworthy, inconsistent or not well known, and most others are not accepted by major auction houses. Even within this list there is disagreement by auction houses and dealers as to the relative accuracy percentage and reliability of each. For example, there is a long-standing myth that, somehow, APEX certs are created by amateurs who don’t know the materials they expertize. Several major auction houses and dealers still refuse to recognize APEX certs. Conversely, the PF has enjoyed the luxury of being considered the cert to have by many, despite an ethics scandal and legal action that threatened to destroy the organization during the mid-1980s and a track record of frequently inaccurate certs (a situation not unique to the PF). Yet both organizations utilize many of the same experts.
Expertization is only an opinion One point that many dealers and collectors frequently forget regarding expertizers is that the service they provide is only an opinion; it is not iron-clad certification that your item is, indeed, genuine. True, those who are doing the expertizing may have more knowledge in certain areas than you, but it is still only an opinion and is fallible. Another important point to remember is that no expertization service is better than its current group of experts. Those who study the history of our hobby have found that virtually all MAY 2023 / AMERICAN PHILATELIST 443