Who Is Your Favorite Expertizer And Why...

With so many choices out there what drives your decision to choose one over the other...

Professor Abraham Van Helsing

why: he is an expert on dispatching the undead sucking the blood, life out of the living. Foremost in his field, none to match...

oh expertize not Exorcizor.J/K

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There is no single correct answer. It depends on not only the material in question, but the purpose of your having an item expertized.

My personal opinions in a nutshell:

Philatelic Foundation: High-value or scarce/obscure U.S. material, highest U.S. market acceptibility and also most expensive.

APEX: U.S. and world material without paying the high premium for the above. Good bang-for-the-buck; integrated with APS Stampstore checkout at reduced rates.

Bill Weiss: Quick-and-dirty identification on U.S. front-of-book material. Great value, but questionable market acceptance on high-value material; expertise may not cover all back-of-book areas.

Sismondo: Non-U.S. classic-era material.

European expertizers, e.g., Schlegel: non-U.S. country-specific, esoteric material.

PSE: Avoid completely. I'm not a fan.

PSAG: Jury's out. Not a very large market share yet, and I'm unsure how their certs are perceived.

Thank you that was very helpful revenuecollector. I really value your opinion.

A little word of warning on APEX. I have no idea how good they are on US, but I wouldn't trust them with foreign material. They gave a clear certificate to a notorious forgery of the Bhopal 1935 ¼ Anna surcharge. If they had a decent library of foreign fakes, they would have picked this up immediately.

I think that it depends on what you're submitting.

For NYFM stuff Bill Weiss is the guru IMO. He also provides a great ID service that's quite useful.

I'm a creature of habit tho and have been using the PF for a long time, also since they're right across the river from me in Manhattan they're convenient.

I don't have much experience using APEX, but I've got 2 24c Steel Blues with PF Certs that they've originally called as changelings of #78.

PSE seems to have the best market acceptance for graded stamps, but I don't always agree with their practices (net grading for minor faults)

Tony - I often wonder how Apex can really expertise the whole world. They are bound to have some blind spots, as you have already discovered.

I have never used an expertiser. My general idea of the way expertisers work meshes well with what RevenueCollector has already stated.

My favorites are from either AIEP or BPP, two organizations with a long history in expertizing.

http://bpp.de/de/home/
http://www.aiep-experts.net/cms/

Among the reasons for choosing these two organizations are the fact that they require experts to live up to a certain (= high) standard. The requirements are publicly available on their websites for those interested.

On my forgeries website under each country where I recommend an expert for that particular area, I normally choose an expert from these organizations if one is available.

Like Dan said, it depends. If you plan on turning a quick sale of the item, the PF. If what you really want is positive proof and to keep the item for years, Bill Weiss.

JMO, Art.

"I often wonder how Apex can really expertise the whole world. They are bound to have some blind spots, as you have already discovered"

Same for Sismondo.

"Bill Weiss: Quick-and-dirty identification on U.S. front-of-book material. Great value, but questionable market acceptance on high-value material; expertise may not cover all back-of-book areas.";

Rest assured that when Bill Weiss receives a Back of Book stamp he is not comfortable expertizing that Bill Weiss seeks the opinions of those in the field who *DO* have the expertise. He regularly gets advice on such submissions from highly respected expert, such as Eric Jackson (and others), for example, for revenue stamps, even though, when in the auction business, he personally handled many great revenue and BOB collections.

Smauggie, as with so many other things in life, it's a matter of horses for courses.

If I had a rare North American stamp for expertising, I wouldn't bother sending it to London. Conversely, when I have a rare Indian States item for expertising, I send it to the BPA in London. (They're excruciatingly slow - the BPA has been sitting on one item of mine for a year - but a BPA certificate is bankable.)

So, if you have a British Commonwealth (excluding North America) item for which you need a certificate, don't waste your money on a North American certificate. Get an RPS or BPA Certificate for it, and it will sell for the best price.