Expertizing / Expertising Stamps

Can anyone point me toward expertizer(s) reliable and reasonable for 19th Cent US? Those of us who have a bit of knowledge regarding colors, grills, etc are lost with some/many of these stamps such as 3cent Washingtons. When I identify this one particular stamp I have, I can get pretty close. I find that the value range is between $10 and $50,000.00. Just being facetious. That's the reason I need assistance.

Same old suggestion. Please post a picture so we can tell what you are talking about?


Peter

Base camp - Expertizing agencies are not so much identification services as they are confirmation services. You will spend a lot of money for little return using them as the former.

As Peter stated, good pics will get you good answers for free here and you can use the money you save on stamps (or food).

The American Philatelic Expertizing Service (APEX) expertizes all U.S. and foreign stamps and covers. It is located at APS Headquarters. The website includes an archive of prior expertized items.

Application forms can be downloaded or requested through the website. Fees are based on the catalog value of the item submitted and start at $20 for APS members and $40 for nonmembers for stamps and covers valued at up to $200. For items valued at $1,000 or more, the fee is 3 percent of Scott catalog value for APS members and 5 percent for nonmembers.

APEX offers the opportunity to check the status of individual requests on its website. It also guarantees its opinions.

A flyer from APEX explains its guarantee: "APEX guarantees each opinion as follows. If you purchased this item with an APEX certificate describing this item as genuine, and it subsequently is proven to be counterfeit, altered, or misidentified, APEX will compensate you up to $5000 under the conditions listed below. The guarantee is valid for five years after the date of the certificate. …"

The conditions center on changes to the philatelic item that have taken place after the certificate was issued. Further details are specified on the website.


The Philatelic Foundation (PF) expertizes all U.S. and foreign stamps and covers.

Fees are 5.5 percent of catalog or fair market value, with a minimum of $27 and a maximum of $1,000. Grading of U.S. or British North American stamps is available at no extra cost, but must be specifically requested. There is an additional $10 charge for each request that asks for priority service (within 20 business days).

The application form is downloadable from the website. The website also includes a database of more than 400,000 certified stamps and covers and offers a variety of literature on the expertizing process. See the website for more details.


Philatelic Stamp Authentication and Grading Inc. (PSAG) expertizes U.S. and Canadian philatelic items.

Fees begin at $20 with a maximum of $500. Grading is included if requested. Also a 20-day express service is available at $30 per item for most categories.

PSAG offers the opportunity to track patients submitted. More details and a downloadable submission form are available on the website.

Professional Stamp Experts (PSE) expertizes U.S. and U.S. possessions, foreign stamps and postal history.

Fees are 5 percent of catalog value ($10 minimum). See the website for a detailed breakdown of fees and a downloadable submission form.

PSE offers grading, encapsulation and priority services. It also has a service for poorly centered or faulty stamps (PC/F service), recognizing that poorly centered or faulty stamps with very high catalog values cannot be sold without a certificate showing authentication. This service provides a certificate at reduced rates since the selling price of a poorly centered or faulty stamp will normally be a fraction of full retail for high quality examples.

Here is the stamp in question. Any assistance will be appreciated. First time posting here. Let me know if my technique needs tweaking. The back side looks a bit large! These are from old iPhone.
Thanks for patience with the new guy.

Looks like an "E" grill (14 x 16 points), Scott 88. Hard to tell exactly with the poor image.

Basecamp,
The stamp looks to have a pretty solid grill. The larger and higher resolution the better when trying to help count grill points.

What do you get when you count the grill points in person? With some oblique light going across the stamp you ought to be able to get a good count in person I would think.

To Jleb1979-I'm just such an amateur that I don't trust my count on the grill. There is an expert in my area that will look at this tomorrow. He is very experienced and has stated that his opinion is just that not a guarantee. He says he will point me in the right direction if I need expertizing--probably to APS. Mosy important question from this newby- Is this for sure an SC88?