Some Questions About Certification

Most of the certificates I have came with the stamps; I only sent some stamps to APS for certification a few years ago. I am planning to sell some valuable stamps in the near future, and I would be interested to know more about organizations and individual experts who certify classical stamps.

How they are compared, in your experience? Who is the best?
What is the process, and how long it takes?
What do they charge if the stamp, in their opinion, is genuine?
And what do they charge if the stamp is a forgery?

I thank you in advance for any information.

Here is a starter for the certificate question.

http://www.scads.org/expertizing/ex..._article.htm

Thank you. Websites of these organizations are easily found.

What I am interested in are collectors's experience and opinions, especially concerning foreign classical stamps — for example, German or Italian.

tvorog: others on this site have opined that the best recognized reviews of German stamps come from a German entity. I thought the GPS, but perhaps someone else will weigh in.

As I've posted elsewhere, my main collecting specialty is Portugal & Colonies. I've had all of my over 80 P & C certs; save two; done by the International Society for Portuguese Philately, of which I'm a long time member. I recently got a Portuguese Guinea stamp done by the APS, but it's the same individual doing the reviews. ISPP has a flat rate; fairly low; whether it's genuine or not.

I also collect Mexico, which means I could use Mexico Elmhurst Philatelic Society (MEPSI) as an option since I'm a MEPSI member. I have a couple MEPSI certs, but they came with the stamps. I haven't used them yet, but their main expertiser resides here in metro Denver, which means maybe hand delivery.

You can find the names of specialty societies, that are affiliates of the APS, on the APS web site. Not all specialty societies will provide expert reviews. Otherwise, I consider the APS to be the better option for foreign classics with one possible exception. If you have classic Persian stamps; with their myriad of reprints and forgeries; I'd go with Persiphila.

For Germany, the BPP is really the only universally recognized expertization service. https://www.bpp.de/en/ German buyers (and many American Germany specialists) will ONLY accept BPP and won't accept APS certificates, for example. I can't comment on classic material from other areas, but if you're looking for maximum resale value on German stamps, BPP certification is a must.

Artful: thanks for providing the German link.

Also just thought to add that, for Portuguese material, Sr. J. Miranda da Mota in Portugal is a recognized expert for analysis of Portuguese materials and he does provide certs.

Climber abd Artful,

Thank you for information!
I wonder, what are, approximately, BPP costs for certification?

tvorog: for info about costs, look under 'Expertising Rules' at the top. You'll have to scroll down a ways as the pricing info is buried under a lot of other, valuable, info.

Each "prufer" works independently and sets their own rates, but there are maximums, per the BPP's website. You don't send your items to the BPP as an entity, you send them directly to the individual doing the examination and you contact that person directly. Individual experts and their given areas of expertise are also listed on the website.