The "Graded Stamps" Craze

In recent years, the idea of "graded" certificates seems to have taken off. From where I am sitting, the whole things feels like it has gone a bit overboard.

Now, don't get me wrong, I totally understand the idea of "grading" a beautiful and valuable 100+ year old stamp in superb condition, when I am getting a certificate for it, anyway. Quite a few European experts already grade stamps as part of their certificate services, although not with a numerical grade like PSE. The closest would be the standardized grading system of the Swedish Philatelic Federation (SFF) which has been in use for over three decades.

For the moment, the "grading madness" seems to be primarily limited to US stamps. And sure, if I had an XF MNH 15c Columbian, I'd be all about getting a standardized certificate of "just HOW XF" it is.

Grading common stamps from the 1940s and expecting people to pay 300x catalogue value for it? I'm really struggling to connect those dots-- makes me want to ask "what's the point?" and then ponder the issue of whether collectors are actually getting fleeced by the issuers of the certificates.

In my opinion (which may or may not be valid, in the greater scheme of things), common "wallpaper" in beautiful condition is still "wallpaper." What is happening here sounds less like collecting than a marketing attempt to "create value" where there is none. As my grandfather told me when I was little and starting my collection: A very common stamp that old is just that... an OLD COMMON STAMP.

Postmarks: Hagelsrum, Sweden

Pictured here is a copy of Sweden Facit nr. 33, 20 öre bright red Ringtyp perf 13, with an attractive "HAGELSRUM 18.12.1883" town cancel. It looks a bit like the cancel is from 1888, but the line at left is stray cancel ink-- when viewed from the back, you can clearly see the "3" of the date stamp. This is a nice example of the "normalcancellation 16," widely in use in Sweden during the latter part of the 1800s.

What is the value of this stamp? This is Facit 33e, the orange-red shade on "soft" paper, which has a catalogue value of 11:- Swedish Kr. The slightly yellowish shade of the stamp is normal on the soft paper printings-- the paper was typically slightly "cream" colored. The Hagelsrum cancel is a difficult one for cancel collectors to find, and this is a very nice example. Readable cancels from this postal place carry a premium value of 100:- Swedish Kr. and up. Given the quality of the cancel on a fault-free (although a bit off-center) stamp and the scarcity of the place, I'd estimate this stamp would sell for about 200:- to 250:- Swedish Kr. (US $31.50-39.50) at auction, perhaps higher if you were to buy it from a specialist dealer.

A bit about the place this stamp was postmarked: Hagelsrum is located just outside the small town of Målilla in Kalmar county in southeastern Sweden. Strictly speaking, it cannot even be characterized as a village; it is more like a "manor" with associated buildings, and a very small iron smeltery. However, it was-- in the 1800s-- significant enough to warrant its own postal collection point, most likely due to the commercial activity from the iron ore mill.

The blast furnace at Hagelsrum

Local accounts suggest that the first settlements here were by Viking chieftains who'd "rest" in the area between long trips overseas. The first written accounts referring to the manor at Hagelsrum date to 1320, when the farming was most likely in care of a monastery based in the city of Vadstena. There were at the time three farms, a grain mill and an eel fishery in the vicinity.

Between 1447 and 1748, the property changed hands a number of times, was periodically claimed by the Swedish crown, and was burned down/ destroyed and rebuilt several times. There may have been a small castle built during one reconstruction, but this is uncertain as there are no remains found, today. For a while, the buildings were used for a munitions works; the iron smelter oven (basically a "blast furnace")-- which remains largely intact today-- was built from the ground up in 1853, and was in operation till 1877. The furnace is the only one of its kind in Kalmar county to remain well-preserved.

The postal station at Hagelsrum was active from December 1877 until January 1963. Today, mail from the area is processed at nearby Målilla. The current population of Hagelsrum is about 30 people.

Fewer Stamps on the Market?

This past weekend marked Thanksgiving, in the USA.

As a result, I had a little spare time on my hands, which I used to peruse some of my favorite stamp selling venues around the www.

It seems to me that there's less "worthwhile" material for sale, these days. Initially, I thought more people might be selling stamps because the economy is less than brilliant, and selling stamps would be a way to make more money. However, it actually seems there are fewer stamps listed on eBay and in other places, and the items I found were not very good quality, either.

I noticed that several online auction sites have fewer stamp listings than they did at this time, last year.

A fellow collector pointed out to me that perhaps people are LESS likely to let go of their "good stuff" to pay for groceries, when things are economically difficult. Rare stamps have previously been seen as a "safe haven" during uncertain economic times. That said, I was under the (mistaken?) impression that people mostly "invested" in stamps during times of high inflation.

I think it may also be true that more of the "good" material is being consigned to traditional "brick and mortar" professional auctioneers, than to "self sale" locations. Recent sales at Thomas Høiland in Denmark and Postiljonen and Philea in Sweden had some very high quality items on offer, and prices have been quite good.

The strangeness of "Condition"

"Sound stamp?" That's a matter of opinion...

This morning, I have been spending some time on the Internet, looking at stamps for sale in the APS "Stampstore" online.

I find people's interpretation of a stamp's condition rather astonishing, sometimes.

How can a stamp be "fault free," when the scan clearly shows a corner is missing?

How can an 1872 stamp from Sweden have a "natural straight edge," when it is a global fact that all Swedish stamps issues prior to 1920 were perforated on all four sides-- without fail?

This confuses me, a bit. It also offends me a little, because there seems to be a hidden implication that I am "too ignorant to know any different."

Maybe what also bothers me about it is that it seems like a "hit and hope" approach-- sellers do not necessarily lie about something, but "describe" it, and then hope that the next sucker won't notice that something is wrong. I grant you, not everyone can be an expert on the stamps of every country... but if I were to offer material for sale from a country I am not all that familiar with, you can be sure I'm going to spend so time getting to know that country's stamps in the catalogue, before I put anything up for sale. And if I'm a buyer, I'm going to educate myself about what I am buying, as well.

The other thing that makes me scratch my head is sellers who think someone is going to pay 75% of catalogue value for a stamp that's little more than a space filler. What? WHAT?

I'm really not curmudgeonly, by nature!

The Backs of Stamps

Some years ago, I remember being at the annual Austin, Texas Stamp and Postcard show, put on by the local stamp club. In between sifting through dealer stocks for interesting finds, I spent a little time looking at the exhibits.

One of the exhibits was entitled "Mint Never Hinged."

It cracked me up, because it was offered by a very "serious" collector from the community... and all it was two frames showing... THE BACKS OF STAMPS.

I knew the collector behind the exhibit, so I also realized that he was poking fun at the near-obsession people often have with gum, and its condition.

I have always collected used stamps. My father (who was a "casual" collector, at best) tried to get me "into" mint, but it just never appealed. Whereas I can appreciate the fact that a mint stamp allows you to see the whole image, I just find used more interesting. As that collector with the "MNH" exhibit reminded me, I collect the fronts of stamps. Which isn't to say that I don't look for thins and markings on the back of my stamps; the back is simply not my focal point.

As I think about my preference, I realize something: A mint stamp feels "static," to me-- that is, it's just "a point in time." A piece of paper, printed on (or around) the date of issue. A used stamp "tells a story." As I collect them (with readable cancels), my used stamps tell me of a place and a time, when someone mailed a letter, or something else. If I have the entire cover, I know more about the "story" of the stamp's journey.

I realize part of this is perhaps born out of a sense of "romantic adventure." Take the stamp at right-- from Norway, with a crowned posthorn cancel "SVALBARDRUTEN." It doesn't even have a date, but I can imagine it being on a letter, loaded on the periodic freight ship that sails between mainland Norway and the remote Svalbard Island group, in the far Arctic North Atlantic. And that simply makes the stamp more interesting to me.

I'm not saying there are "right" or "wrong" ways to collect. We should collect in ways that make us happy, and give us the most enjoyment of the collection. For me, that means collecting used stamps.

Stamps 2 Go

Stamps2Go is an online marketplace for stamp collectors, where buyers and sellers come together.

Unlike most sites, this is NOT an "auction" format site-- rather, it is an "online shop" format where sellers can list their items in the site database, and buyers can fill their collections by choosing from the offerings of more than (currently) 230 sellers.

What's nice about the Stamps2Go site is that it's very easy to use-- simple layout, doesn't require a powerful computer to use. All purchasing takes place through PayPal, so the site is available to anyone who lives in the approximately 190 countries serviced by PayPal. Another nice feature is the "fixed shipping" system, which means a collector will never be surprised by uncommonly high shipping charges. As a buyer, you'll pay the same amount of shipping, no matter how few or many stamps you decide to buy. The only (very minor!) niggle I have with the site is that a lot of sellers choose to list 1000's of stamps without photos.

As a seller, it's nice and easy to use, as well. There's a simple template to fill out, and a place to upload a picture for the stamp you're selling. The only thing a potential seller might find annoying is that you only get one photo per stamp, and there's no "headline" or "title" like you'd find on an auction sale site. However, the selling commission is quite low, and it doesn't cost anything to list stamps there, until you actually sell something.

At the moment, I am slowly uploading a selection of stamps from SWEDEN, with more to come over the next few months. As with all stamps I offer online, all items do have photos! Just click on the button, below, to see my stamps for sale!

Variety Focus: Denmark 1947 Railway Ferry with Double Railing

AFA Nr. 304, issued in 1947

In 1947, Denmark issued a set of three stamps to commemorate 100 years of railroads in Denmark. Whereas a number of varieties and plate flaws have been discovered on these stamps, it is only the 40 øre blue high value that has become known enough to be listed as a "major" variety in several larger stamp catalogues, including Danish AFA, and Swedish Facit.

The stamp features one of Denmark's (at the time) express trains at the ferry terminal, getting ready to roll onboard one of the railway ferries across Storebælt, the sound between the islands of Sjælland and Fyn. Today, Storebælt is served by a bridge, but in 1947 the only way to cross the water was on one of several ferry routes. Some of these ferries were large enough to take a number of railway carriage onboard for each passage.

Normal (top) and variety

This variety is called "double strikes of the railing of the ferry," and is a plate flaw that occurs in position 48 in only a part of the printing. A lot of collectors have actually never seen this variety, and the drawings in catalogues are not always very clear or obvious. The photo at left shows the difference as seen on actual stamps; the top photo is the normal version of the stamp, the bottom photo shows a lighter second line in part of the ferry railing.

This variety is listed in both the Swedish Facit catalogue, as well as Danish AFA. The current catalogue value is 220,- Danish Kr, or about US $42.50.

Fine and Rare, Number 4

The "Fine and Rare" pages of this blog is a space where I sometimes share some of the "gems" (in my opinion) and favorites from my personal collections. Some will be rare, some will just be of exceptional quality, some will merely be unusual-- a few will be "all of the above."

Sweden 1872: 20 öre red Ringtyp, perf 14, a very fine used example with full upright strike of extremely rare "FJÄRÅS KLOCKAREGÅRD 3.2.1877" town cancel. Facit number 22g. With certificate by Helena Obermüller-Wilén.

One of my primary specialized collections is of town cancels on classic Swedish stamps, namely the "Arms" and "Circle" types, issued between 1855 and about 1891. In Sweden, these stamp series are known as "Vapentyp" and "Ringtyp," respectively. I originally got interested in this area of collecting after purchasing an old accumulation from a dealer in Copenhagen, Denmark-- and noticing how attractive many early Swedish cancels were.

Cancel collecting is a "big deal" in Swedish philately. Collecting Ortstämplar (town/place cancels) is part of a popular trend known as "hembygdsfilateli" (literally "home municipality philately"), where collectors specialize in the postal history of a specific town, county or region of Sweden... typically the area where they grew up, or where their ancestors came from.

This stamp came to me some 15 years ago as part of a very disappointing mail auction lot, described as a "very fine specialized group of classic Sweden," which in fact was a group of primarily "awful spacefillers." This stamp was one of the better ones, VF and with just one nibbed perf-- still, no great rarity... until I looked up the postmark.

Fjärås Klockaregård was no more than a tiny "place," not far from the town of Kungsbacka in Halland, Sweden. Mail was only handled there from the beginning of 1874 till around March of 1877. As you can probably imagine, if you take a place with perhaps 100 people, in the 1870s, and a postal depot only open for a little over three years... you end up with very few surviving postmarks.

This became the first truly rare postmark in my Swedish cancel collection. I sent it off to Sweden for certification, and it came back with a clean "genuine" certificate.

The "base" value of Facit no. 22g is 70:- Swedish kr. (or about US$10.50). The cancel, however, carries a premium of 3500:- Swedish kr. (or about US$525.00) according to the Swedish Facit Postal catalogue. I have never seen another example of this rare cancel, either in auction catalogs, or in other collections.