Dec. 11, 2000

Slabbed 50¢ Franklin: a tough sell

By Charles Snee

Tell Us Now ... Associate editor Charles Snee describes his experience selling a United States 50¢ Washington-Franklin series stamp that he had encased in plastic earlier in 2000. What is your feeling about slabbed stamps?

I sold the slabbed stamp pictured here to a dealer at the Postage Stamp Mega-Event show in New York City and through the process learned a lot about stamps in plastic.

When the Professional Stamp Experts firm of Newport Beach, Calif., announced more than a year ago that it would begin encapsulating (slabbing) stamps in protective plastic holders, the reaction among most collectors was decidedly negative.

A number of dealers at the Postage Stamp Mega-Event show in New York were skeptical of this encapsulated 50¢ Benjamin Franklin stamp.

In the Sept. 4 Linn's (page 8), I reported my experiences in having this stamp authenticated and slabbed. The stamp was a previously authenticated mint, never-hinged example of the United States 50¢ Benjamin Franklin stamp of 1912 bearing a double-line "USPS" watermark, Scott 422.

The front of the protective case housing the Franklin stamp is illustrated nearby. The case is slightly larger than a 3-inch by 5-inch index card and slightly more than 3/16 of an inch thick -- too unwieldy to put in a stamp album.

In the top of the case is a paper strip listing the vital statistics of the stamp. At its upper left the strip describes the issue -- "1912 50¢ Violet." Just below this is the Scott catalog number -- "US #422." At upper right is the overall numeric grade and description of condition, as determined by the PSE experts who examined the stamp.

"M82 VF nh" means that the stamp is unused, received a grade of 82 out of a possible 100 on the PSE grading scale, is very well centered and is never-hinged, in short, a better-than-average stamp, but one that I knew I would not be keeping in my collection for a long time.

But before selling it, I had a collector friend test the waters for me at the American Philatelic Society Stampshow, held Aug. 24-27 in Providence, R.I. I instructed my friend to show the slabbed Franklin to a handful of dealers that specialize in United States stamps. The dealers were asked to consider a hypothetical transaction, because the stamp was not for sale at that time.

Based on their responses, the most I could reasonably expect to get for my stamp was approximately 60 percent of Scott catalog value, or $255. A mint, never-hinged example of Scott 422 (in very fine condition) is valued at $425 in the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers.

Armed with this knowledge, I took my slabbed 50¢ Franklin to the Nov. 9-12 mega-event show in New York. I offered the stamp to six different dealers at the show who have a main or sole interest in United States stamps. The overall reaction was skeptical at best.

Two dealers were not interested in purchasing the stamp. The other four dealers showed interest but were less than enthusiastic because the stamp was slabbed.

"How can I dip the stamp [check for a watermark] when it's in one of these cases?" asked one dealer. Another remarked that it was extremely difficult to check for evidence of a hinge mark on the back of the stamp because of the reflection of light off the plastic case.

"Where's the paper certificate? How do I know the stamp is sound?" asked another dealer. I explained that the information printed on the paper strip above the stamp indicated that the stamp, in the opinion of PSE, had no faults, such as a thin or regumming.

Still, the dealer was not convinced. He offered $175, but said that he would have given me $225 if the stamp had a standard certificate of authenticity and was not slabbed. "Even if you sold the stamp to me in the case, I would still take it out and get a paper certificate for it," I was told.

I eventually sold the encased stamp for $225. At 53 percent of Scott value, I felt I did reasonably well. Yet the dealer who bought the stamp would have given me $250 had the stamp been certified without being slabbed.

My experience suggests that slabbing will not necessarily enhance the value of a given stamp -- the exact opposite occurred in my case. From my perspective, it seemed that the plastic case was viewed as an annoying impediment by the dealers who saw my stamp.

The slab effectively eliminated further examination and threw up a roadblock between buyer and seller that prevented a smooth transaction and a potentially higher buy price. Bottom line: think carefully about slabbing, if you intend to sell your better stamps.

This is an edited version of a Linn's article that appeared in the Dec. 11, 2000, issue of Linn's Stamp News. For the complete story, subscribe to Linn's Stamp News.