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Hello, all. I’ve collected coins for years now and found myself at an auction online and couldn’t resist bidding on a stamp lot. In that lot there is some that was graded in the 80’s and I was wondering if I should get them regraded and get the current values if possible. I’m currently waiting for my measuring tools to get here because now I have more stamps than I know what to do with, its a little overwhelming TBH. I don’t want to be spoon-fed just trying to learn.
I guess its only one of them thats certified.
If the certs are from the 80s they aren’t graded. Stamp grading started in the early 2000’s. What you have are certificates of authenticity, ungraded. You generally don’t need to get a new cert unless one of the following:
1. you have an older cert with no faults mentioned, and the visual grade of the stamp appears to be high enough to increase it’s value based on the SMQ or Scott graded values. then getting a graded cert may make sense. however if the cert mentions faults don’t bother with a grade, you wont get one – or what it should be if sound.
2. you notice damage has occurred to the stamp that is not mentioned on the cert. i would only do this on a rare stamp, otherwise i’d just trash the cert and mention the new fault when selling (as it’s visually apparent).
3. this one is more optional, but depending on how old the cert is some auction houses may require a newer cert. if so the stamp is likely extremely rare, and they would likely offer to do this for you.
4. finally an updated cert will give the buyer more confidence of the stamp’s soundness. the identity of the stamp and it’s authenticity do not change over time, but condition can.
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