On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 08:25:42 -0700, J. A. Mc.
wrote:

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 01:29:40 GMT, (Tracy
Barber) found these unused words floating about:

On Mon, 7 Jul 2003 18:07:12 -0400, "Doug Spade"
wrote:


"Tracy Barber" wrote in message
...


snip

Jumping from F to XF is a REAL red
light. It goes F - VF - XF. It can never be F and XF at the same
time. :^)


While I don't condone it (and don't agree with it), I've seen some stamps
being sold by well-known names in the industry described as "Ave-XF" with
the "justification" being that it was extremely well-centered on three
sides, with perfs cutting well into the design on the fourth side. Then
again, I've also seen stamps described as F-VF that I would consider
outstandingly (although admittedly with narrow margins) well-centered.

Some issues are only what you describe in scenario 1. I surely
wouldn't consider it XF though. Maybe VF.

A stamp can border on 2 grade levels but cannot skip a grade level,
like your Avg / XF example. Is it averagely XF - which has to be an
oxymoron - or XF average? It doesn't make any sense. Sounds like
someone wants to build up a description for it.

The 2nd scenario lends itself to the margin issue. XF stamps usually
have a "decent" margin, unles they were all close cropped stamps and
didn't have much space between them when printed. That's an issue by
issue check, not a blanket statement. That's why the drop in
condition to VF. A nice example to keep, for sure!

Tracy Barber

Frankly I'd love to see a 'dual' grade ... letters A, F, VF, S for
physical condition, then a "-1" to "-5" for centering.

E.G.: A sound stamp with clean full perfs, no efects, but slightly off
center ... VF-3
-or- a stamp with small faults but perfect centering ... A-5

OK, now that makes more sense then trying to combine 2 different grade
words together.

Tracy Barber