Counterfeits May Be Seized by Government

Question: How can I tell if a stamp is genuine? I believe that I may have some rare counterfeits.--E.L.

Answer: In addition to taking into account your own personal experience in handling and studying many examples of a particular stamp, you can show the stamp to a professional stamp dealer or another recognized philatelic expert. It is against federal law to buy, sell or own counterfeit U.S. stamps, and the U.S. Secret Service would probably try to confiscate them if their agents became aware of your counterfeits.

A stamp expertizing service for U.S. and worldwide issues is the American Philatelic Expertizing Service, P.O. Box 8000, State College, Pa. 16803. For a fee based on the catalogue value of the submitted stamp, the APS Expertizing Committee will pass judgment on your stamp and issue a certificate attesting to its genuineness. For an application form and list of fees, send a self-addressed, stamped business-size envelope and ask for expertizing information.

More than 3,800 submissions were received by the APS in 1989, and 434 in January. More than 200 stamp experts are used by the service to render opinions. Items are returned to their owners within 43 days, on the average.

It is not worth sending a cheap stamp for expertizing, however, because fees run $10 to $15 for inexpensive specimens.

Q: I want to become a stamp dealer. It looks like easy and pleasant work, and I think I know a lot about stamps after collecting them for 10 years. How do you recommend that I break into the business?--N.D.

A: I recommend that you don’t, but if you are determined to try stamp dealing, ask yourself these questions: “Do I have a tremendous amount of information about stamps? Am I willing to work long hours, including weekends? Can I afford not to make a profit for a year or two in the initial start-up phase? Do I want a mail-order operation or a store? Do I know how much my monthly overhead will be? Do I know how to advertise to get customers? Why should philatelists do business with me ?”

Q: I have a full sheet of the 2-cent Gen. Pulaski U.S. stamp of, I believe, the 1930s. What is this sheet worth?--E.C.

A: Maybe $10 or more. You probably have a pane instead of a sheet of stamps. This 2-cent commemorative honoring the Polish patriotic hero of the American Revolution was issued in panes of 100 stamps, after being printed from a printing plate of 400 stamps--four panes, which were then cut apart. (What most people call sheets are really panes-- the typical format of stamps purchased at the post office.) The first day of issue date was Jan. 16, 1931, and the Post Office Department (predecessor of our current U.S. Postal Service) issued more than 90 million of these stamps, so they are not especially scarce today. The margin plate block of 6 with plate number attached, worth $5 to $10 retail, is the real value item in this pane. If you have a perfectly centered undamaged plate block, it is worth more than all the rest of the 94 stamps in the pane. Singles of the Pulaski issue retail for a dime each.

Q: Now that East and West Germany seem likely to join and become one nation, will the stamps of East Germany go up in market value? Are there large quantities of them available?--L.S.

A: The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) issued some stamps in the early 1950s that are moderately scarce today, such as the Chinese Land set of 1951, current retail price $20 mint or cancelled (Scott catalogue 82-83). Stamp collecting has enthusiasts in both Germanys, and there will probably be a steady demand for nice stamps from both sides of the former Iron Curtain. I wouldn’t speculate in them to get rich quickly, however, because the stamp market is fickle and somewhat unpredictable.