That sort of thing does happen, and I suspect we'll see it more often as available technology gets cheaper and better.
An example from stamp collecting.
There was a group of stamps from a time when the BEP was experimenting. The group was supposedly printed on paper that had a higher clay content to help mitigate shrinkage of the sheet while drying. For the most part the paper was grayish and was known as "china clay paper" stamps on it were also rare and expensive. And nearly all the recognized ones had certs saying "it is genuine". Pretty clear cut right?
Until a couple kids (Literally) Wondered why some were more gray than others. And how you'd prove It was china clay paper. Enter a family member with access to a spectrograph, and a poor condition but certified stamp and a handful of the commo ones. Surprise! NO difference. so they asked around and got permission to test a few more of the special ones, both lighter and darker gray. Still no difference.
So the china clay papers were discredited and removed from the catalog.
They've gone from experimental rarities to oddities produced on defective paper.
And none of them would get a certificate today as anything else.
On the flip side, the once catalog listed imperforate coils that were delisted because they couldnlt be told apart from carefully cut regular stamps are now back because there are details of how they were cut that can now be checked.
Steve B
Quote:
Originally Posted by travrosty
Some people see an old loa from psa and they ask for the piece to be "recertified" before they will buy it. Seems like an LOA is not all what it is cracked up to be. I have heard people say that you should look at an older psa cert with some skepticism because they didn't know as much back then.
But then what good is the LOA then if any LOA's issued before a certain year are looked at with a jaundiced eye? A guarantee would solve that problem. If they were so bad way back in the day, but issued a guarantee, let them pay for their mistakes. They took the customers money and put it in their pocket. They should be on the hook in some capacity if they screw up.
But they didnt issue a guarantee, so customers are stuck trying to figure out when the cutoff date is. Hint:there isn't any. It's as bad now as it was then.
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