Classic US Stamps Certified By Alan Miller?

First I should say I recently discovered this forum and its full of great information.

I was browsing stamps2go today and I noticed at least one seller offered many US classics expertized by Alan Miller of Alan Miller Stamps. He has a website that includes an expertizing link, but I can't see anything on his site because its exceeded its monthly traffic.

Isnt it a conflict of interest for this guy to both sell and expertize stamps? Is he a well known and trusted expertizer?

I have been back collecting long enough to know that collectors of US classics trust a select group of expertizers. The list as I know it includes PF, APEX, Bill Weiss, PSE, and maybe PSAG?

Thanks.

Personally, I wouldn't (ever) have PSE on my trusted list...

Yes, IMO PSE is more concerned with grading than proper identification. Everyone makes mistakes now and then, too bad there is no hard data on the percentage of mistakes so we could compare.

No opinions on Alan Miller?

No experience/opinion with this particular person but 'self-certing' is, in my opinion, a "no-no". This is particularly true if the vast majority of certs he/she has issued are for their own material. I don't have heartburn if it is a rare occurrence. But at a minimum the cert would carry no extra value in this case.
Don

Rather than the word 'value', I would lean more towards
'credibility'...

I did buy a couple of U.S. Scott 187-188 pairs from Alan Miller back in the 90's when he ran a mail bid sale, and the items were as described. Until now, I hadn't heard of him since

Since this thread was started it was brought to my attention that number of stamps with fake cancellations caught by PF have been attributed to him. I would recommend more research if the desire was to do some business with him.
Don

51studebaker.....


I seem to recall a poster here that did the same thing and you said
it was ok???




How are you associated with the PF???

I think you should have proof before "guessing"....

If I were a dealer, and I wanted to issue a long-term (lifetime?) warranty/guarantee, I would do it in the format of a certification.

That kind of self-certification kills two birds with one stone and, unlike 3rd party certification, has got some juice behind it.

That having been said, I have no idea what Mr Miller is up to, or his terms.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Thanks for the input, everyone. I think I will steer clear for now.

Kevin, I'm not sure if you are trying to defend Alan Miller and trust his certs, or if you are only questioning Don's source?

I finally realized I could view his website via the wayback machine and was able to find an image of his certs. Thats quite a disclaimer on the bottom.

*credibility* = ZERO ...

I have a counterfeit White Horse Beach, Mass cancel on a top plate number single of Scott 500 (PF 454614 7/26/2007) in the reference collection and a fake boxed White Horse Beach, Mass cancellation on a genuine 349 guide line pair (PSE 01126991 7/25/2007). While I can't say anything about the source, the reference collection contains at least 3 other PF certs for counterfeit cancels on better stamps dated the same day, three more fake cancels certified by the PSE dated 07/26/2007 and a PF cert for a counterfeit cancel on a 356 line pair issued a month later. It appears that 2007 was a busy year:

http://pfsearch.org/pfsearch/pf_grd...lledfrom=lkp

Also, the Philatelic Foundation has posted a 5 page exhibit of frequently faked or counterfeited US stamps:

http://www.philatelicfoundation.org...d-forgeries/

Clark

Kevin,
See Clarke's post for your 'guess' comment.




You are missing the rest of my post (which contains the context). I clearly stated



You are allowing your dislike/hatred for Bill Weiss and myself to color your posts.
Don

per Don....


per Clark....






Completely untrue.....
When BW was selling items that he self-certed you claimed it was acceptable....what is the difference here???

per ikeyPikey....





This cert is NO DIFFERENT than the average dealer guaranteeing
his item as genuine to a customer.
Cert clearly states...."it is our opinion and not a guarentee"

When you purchase a item from a "dealer"....
He should have done all the "homework" necessary to declare
what the item is...
Does it have faults?? etc....
Basically it is just a "pretty receipt".

I'm new here so my opinion does not mean much but it seems to me that the cert itself is not a problem. The problem comes with the future use of that cert. If an owner of the cert (and the stamp in question) tries to sell the stamp as genuine based on that cert, it is a problem. If however, Mr. Miller sees this as a receipt and is willing to refund money after PF or someone proves his cert to be false then it is a good thing.