Where should I have my high-value stamps expertised?

You can obtain professional expertization from Philatelic.Experts

What does a stamp expertisation cost?

Unless otherwise agreed, the fee is up to 10% of the respective commercial value. The minimum expertizing fee is EUR 150

Should I have my stamps expertised?

The Philatelic.Experts are professional philatelists, and not simply part-time enthusiasts. We have all learned the trade from the bottom up and have decades of market knowledge, complemented by the best contacts in global philately. With this experience comes a critical eye; even at the risk of being deemed too strict, we consider an objective description of quality to be indispensable.

FAQ

Which shipping method is best? Can I also bring my items to you in person?

Your material can be sent by courier service, such as FedEx or DHL. If you would prefer to deliver your material in person, please contact us. We will then be happy to arrange an appointment.

How long does the expertizing process take?

Your material will be processed as quickly as possible. The actual duration depends on the scope and complexity of the material to be expertized. Our goal is to complete the examination process and have results available within only a few weeks.

How many experts will examine my items?

At Philatelic.Experts, every philatelic item is examined by a committee, in which all four members of Philatelic.Experts will participate.

What happens if an expert opinion is demonstrably incorrect? Are you liable for your expertization?

We are liable in accordance with our Expertization Regulations and the statutory provisions for an expertization that is in line with the state of philatelic knowledge and experience at the time of the expertization. An expert insurance policy covers a possible liability of up to 3 million euros.

Which areas do you expertize?

In principle, we expertize items from A for Aden to Z for Zululand, with a focus on items with a commercial value of at least 2,000 euros. Excluded from our evaluations are items from all collecting areas that are supervised by a current BPP expertizer. This also applies to items from our own BPP expertizing areas, which we continue to expertize through the BPP. You can find the current list of experts at www.bpp.de.

What technology do you use for expertizing?

In addition to our recognized expertise, we use the most modern technology in the industry. It is a fact that Philatelic Experts offers the ultimate in pioneering expertizing and proof of provenance (technology) in relation to philatelic expertizing.

Do you have an archive of rare philatelic items from all over the world?

In addition to our members’ own already outstanding philatelic libraries and card indexes, Philatelic Experts have exclusive access to the digital (ProFi) of the Heinrich Köhler auction house. For the ProFi, data available worldwide on high-quality individual philatelic lots from various sources has been and is being collected and compiled; decades of details from numerous international auction catalogs, for example. To date, more than 2 million data records have already been digitized.

Why should I have my valuables expertized by you? How long have you been expertizing?

Time and again, even well-known individual experts have made unnecessary mistakes when assessing philatelic rarities. Such errors of judgment may only become apparent when a collector sells their treasures, when an expensive item does not live up to its promise and the expert can no longer be held liable. Just as the “four-eyes principle” has proven itself in many areas, Philatelic.Experts has established an “eight-eyes principle” – each item submitted for expertization will be examined by every member of the Philatelic.Experts team, ensuring that their 100+ years of combined philatelic experience is made available to you, the collector.

Do you sign forgeries? As a matter of principle, we do not sign genuine items or forgeries. Photographic certificates will be provided for genuine items. Forgeries will not be signed, but will be published in a database on our website. This database will include all items previously examined by Philatelic.Experts, allowing every collector the opportunity to see whether an item has previously been presented for examination.

What are your expertization fees?

The fee for items found to be genuine is ten percent (10%) of the item’s market value. The fee for items found to be false or falsified is up to 2.5 percent (2,5%) of the market value of a comparable genuine item. For more information, please refer to our Expertizing.