The affect of PSE grading on quality United States stamps...

It's been several years now that PSE - Professional Stamp Expert's, has been issuing graded certificates of authenticity on United States stamps. What affect has grading had on you, your collection of top quality stamps, and have you been tempted to sell into this hot market? That's just a few questions I'll be ad­dressing here.

One day, a long time ago, a dealer would describe his stamps for sale, and a potential client would agree,

and buy the stamp, or disagree, and walk away. At an attempt to level the playing field, renowned Philatelist Bill Litle deserves much of the credit for bringing stamp grading into the twenty first century. Bill's perseverance has paid off, and PSE has successfully leveled the playing field between buyers and sellers of top end material. By instituting PSE's population report, and by issuing quarterly pricing guides (SMQ), Bill Litle and company have certainly supplanted the Philatelic Foundation as the number one source of expert certificates.

How about you? Have PSE graded stamps grabbed your interest? Do you now buy stamps with grading in mind? Do you buy only PSE graded stamps, or do you buy quality ungraded stamps with the intention of getting them graded. Or do you think this entire grading phenomenon is just a passing phase, one that will glow brightly - only to flicker out.

What about those GEM stamps you purchased from us in the good old days of Valley Stamp Company, during the 1980's and 1990's when prices were ridiculously low, when a Superb GEM stamp would sell for only 4 or 5 times the Scott catalog value? Think about those purchases, and how fortunate you were to buy the "right stuff'.

How incredible it is to see stamps that I sold for a couple of hundred now bringing thousands at public auction. The grading frenzy has pushed the value of GEM quality stamps through the roof. You might want to think about selling some of those GEMS, with the economy teetering just a little bit, and gasoline prices hitting four bucks a gallon. Turning a healthy profit for stamps you purchased just a decade ago might be too good of a deal to pass up.

Take for example, the beautiful Sc Huguenot Walloon pictured here. During the 1990's a stamp of this incredible quality would sell for $200 to $300. Now, the skies the limit. Grading out at Superb-98, this stamp is being offered on page #93 at the jaw dropping price of $1,950.00!

You can obtain some really great stamps that have "only" received a grade of XF-90 from PSE. The two stamps on the left are examples of sensational well cen­tered stamps that graded out at a mere 90. The stamps appear to be virtually perfectly centered with attractive large margins. I'd certainly put them in my collection. I joyfully buy every XF-90 graded stamp that has this kind of centering. It's a no brainer.

Buy With Confidence

We are one of the few dealer who guarantee the grade on our stamps that are not accompanied by PSE graded certificates. Although this sales catalog contains over 450 PSE graded stamps, that leaves over 1800 lots that do not have graded certificates. Buy with confidence, knowing that we here at Volovski Rarities fully guarantee the grade of the stamps we sell. If we call a stamp VF - Very Fine, that means we assure you it will grade at least a VF-80 if you submit the stamp to PSE for a graded opinion. Most dealers you deal with will NOT offer you this guarantee. We feel that since we sell PSE graded material, we should be ready to guarantee the grade on our other material we have in stock.