U.S. 315, 348, 349, 353, 354, 446 Space-Fillers

Item Specifics

Country

United States

Catalog Number

315,348,349,353,354,446

Stamp Type

General Issue

Condition

Unused

Centering

F/VF

Stamp Format

Single

Topic

People - Politicians

Year of Issue

1908

Item Description

Condition: Used F-VF space-fillers

Grade: F/VF (Fine/Very Fine)
With the exception of photo #7, all the stamps pictured in this listing are fakes that were created by removing perforations. I learned this the hard way by buying them without certificates and submitting them much later for expertization. If you look at photo #7, taken from PSE's archives, you will see how easy, and possibly tempting, it might be to alter genuine stamps into something illegitimate. The vast majority of uncertified 315's, 348's 349's 352's, 353's, 354's, 386's, 388's, 391's, 393's and 446's listed are FAKES. In fact, there are more fakes in circulation than genuine examples! Think that's an exaggeration? Going back to 2009, PSE has only issued 35 certificates for genuine used 315s, while declaring 82 submissions as 304 with trimmed perforations and an additional 9 genuine 315's, but with fake cancelations. During the same time, 131 genuine certificates for #353 were issued, however, they declared a total of 147 submissions to be fakes. This includes 58 #332's with trimmed perforations, 85 #344's with fake perforations and four #344H's with fake perforations. Add to that all the unsuspecting buyers who bought on good faith and didn't bother to get their stamps certified, it's clear we have a serious problem. The numbers for #349 aren't any better. During that same 13-year period, PSE certified 99 genuine 349's and declared 182 as fakes. It gets worse; out of 283 submissions for #386, 226 were fakes of one sort or another. This is truly a sad commentary on the state of the hobby. For the handful of bad actors out there engaged in this treachery, STOP IT! You are a blight on philately and deserve to be drawn and quartered. To all you fellow sellers, take your uncertified listings down and get them certified--if they come back as genuine you will get far more than what you would get without a cert and cover the cost of the cert as well. If they come back as not genuine, they shouldn't have been listed in the first place. To the rest of you, my recommendation is that you not buy any 315s or Washington-Franklin coils without certificates of authenticity. Will you pay more for certified copies? Yes, of course, but you will get the peace of mind knowing that you got what you paid for and, at the same time, put a crimp in these fraudsters' business.5/12/2022 update: OK, for all you doubters who can't believe that the "315" is a fake, I have attached a copy of the PSE cert as photo #8. Why would I make this up??A Little About Me and My Commitment to YouI’ve been a regular member of the APS for over 35 years (member ID# 130461) and I’m still a collector more than anything. If you check my feedback history, you will find that not only is it pristine, but that I buy far more than I sell. One thing that really troubles me are sellers who just throw a stamp up for sale and don’t even take the time to offer a good description or a compelling reason why I should want to buy their item. As an experienced collector and seller, my commitment to you is that I will always provide a thoughtful and truthful commentary on all the relevant aspects of every stamp that I offer for sale/auction. And I will give you the bad as well as the good, though I try not to sell stamps that have problems. Where applicable, I will also do my best to impart any useful information on the stamp and any pitfalls buyers should be aware of.

Seller Information

Seller

stephenwgill (253)

Registered Since

03/06/2005

Feedback

100%

Store

Ye Olde Post Office

• Offers
• Sales

Item Location

California, United States

Ships To

United States

Shipping Instructions

About Shipping: I’m pretty sure you’ve figured out by now that there’s no such thing as free shipping. Every seller who offers “free shipping” has already baked the shipping fees into the listing price. Which means you get to pay sales tax on everything including the “free shipping.” I price my items very competitively and charge a nominal shipping fee on the first item you purchase. Every additional item really does ship free as my price doesn’t include any kind of shipping or handling charges. In most cases, the catalog value of the stamps I use to ship your item(s) will exceed whatever you have paid for shipping, so in that respect, the shipping is just about a wash.

Returns Accepted

Yes

Returns Policy

Returns accepted within 14 days on items not as described. Buyer to pay return shipping.