Help With Swiss Stamp

Hi
I am new to the site, but would like some help with a stamp that I got recently. It is a swiss (scott 2L5). Is it real? Anyway I can tell without having to send it to APS (of which I am a member)? Can anyone help please. thx Billy A

Welcome.

Check out the tutorial for posting a scan. You'll find it to the left of your post. It's an easy process. We'll want to see an image. (Preferably a scan; a good, clear photo might work, in a pinch.)

Billy A,

Enjoy having fun with stamps! That is the name of this game.

Collecting for the enjoyment of collecting, whatever that might be, is the name of the game. Don't hesitate to ask questions especially if you need basic information and especially more advanced sources of information for any possible topic. You should be able to find folks on this board a little further along on their collecting journey glad to share experiences.

My personal bias is a used stamp loses the story of its journey in the postal service when it is removed from the cover it transported to its destination. Collecting postal history adds a whole new aspect to your journey in our hobby.

Wishing you many enjoyable future days in our hobby. Russ

Some thoughts:
1) it's a very valuable stamp, if genuine. If you didn't pay close to market (in the thousands), it may very well not be the real deal. If you inherited it, you might be very lucky, indeed.
2) forgeries of old Swiss issues can be very, very good. Doubtful you'd be able to tell yourself, or to apply any advice we offer, with accuracy.
3) Why on earth would you be hesitant to have a such a specimen assessed/certified by experts? You'd certainly never be able to resell as a legitimate issue without a cert.

A forum can't tell you that your stamp is genuine, but, there are a number of people here who may be able to tell you that it isn't. Which would save a lot of time and effort.

It has to be ten years ago now, but someone posted one of these in all seriousness that was overprinted "facsimile". It's rare that it can be that easy to spot a stamp with an issue, but there are still several spotting features that can disclose a forgery without sending it off.

In regard to sending it off, maybe someone will have another opinion, but if I needed to know if my example was genuine, I'd use Sismondo as my first choice out of my U.S.-based options.

My 2c.