Stamp Appraisal by Mail: How It Works and What to Send

Stamp appraisal by mail means sending a stamp away to a dealer or an expertizing body and getting an opinion back. It works well for stamps that are already promising, and poorly as a way of finding out if a stamp is promising in the first place.

Most stamps do not need it. Most stamps are worth very little, and the postage, insurance, and waiting are not worth spending on something with no real value to begin with. That said, for the right stamp, mail-in appraisal is one of the few ways to get a serious answer, especially when a certificate of authenticity is what a future buyer will actually want to see.

What does a mail-in appraisal actually tell you?

There are two different things people mean by "appraisal by mail," and they answer different questions.

• A dealer's opinion of value. You send or photograph a stamp, a dealer looks at it against catalogue listings from Scott, Stanley Gibbons, Michel, or Yvert & Tellier, and gives you a rough number. This is informal, free or cheap, and reflects one person's read of the market that day.
• A formal expertizing certificate. Organisations such as the Philatelic Foundation and the American Philatelic Society, through its APEX service, examine the stamp physically and issue a certificate stating whether it is genuine, whether it has been repaired or altered, and whether it matches the catalogue number claimed. They do not tell you what it is worth. They tell you what it is.

Confusing these two is where most disappointment starts. A certificate does not come with a price tag, and a dealer's quick opinion does not carry the weight of a certificate. If you want to know how much your stamp is worth, the dealer opinion is faster. If you are about to sell something for a serious sum, or the stamp is disputed or unusual enough that a buyer will want proof, the certificate is what actually protects you.

Which stamps are worth mailing off?

Not many. A stamp is worth the cost and risk of mail-in appraisal only if it already shows signs of being scarce, in demand, and in good condition — the same three factors that decide value everywhere else. Age alone is not one of them; a stamp from the 1800s printed by the millions is still common, as anyone researching why age is the weakest signal will find out.

Reasonable candidates for mail-in appraisal include:

• A stamp you believe matches a well-known rarity, such as an Inverted Jenny or a Z Grill, where the design or perforation looks unusual compared to an ordinary copy.
• A stamp that looks like it might carry a printing error — a missing colour, an inverted centre, a double impression. See the details in stamp errors worth money.
• A high catalogue number in apparently excellent condition, where the difference between genuine mint and a cleaned or regummed copy is worth a real amount of money.
• Anything with a plating detail that specialists track closely, such as a specific plate number on a classic issue — Plate 77 material is the kind of thing where a small physical detail changes the identification entirely.

Everyday used commemoratives, modern mint sets printed in runs like 68 million, and worldwide accumulations almost never justify the cost of mailing them anywhere for a formal opinion. A quick look against a stamp value calculator or a general price guide will tell you as much as you need for those.

How does the process actually work?

The mechanics are simple, but the details matter because a stamp in the mail is a physical object that can be lost, delayed, or damaged.

1. Identify the stamp as precisely as you can first. Country, year, issue, and catalogue number, using whichever catalogue is standard for that country — Scott for the United States, Stanley Gibbons for Britain, Michel for German-speaking countries, Yvert & Tellier for France. This saves time on the other end and helps you judge whether the appraisal is even worth requesting.
2. Photograph the stamp from front and back before sealing anything. This is your record of its condition at the point it left your hands.
3. Choose insured, trackable mail. A stamp worth appraising formally is, by definition, worth protecting in transit. Cheap uninsured post is a false economy here.
4. Send to a recognised body or a dealer with a known reputation, not the first result in a search. Reputable services publish their process, their fees, and their turnaround time before you send anything.
5. Expect weeks, not days. Expertizing services handle volume and sometimes refer difficult cases to specialists in that specific issue, so turnaround is measured in weeks or months, not a quick phone call.

Is mail-in appraisal worth the cost?

For most people with a general accumulation, no — the cost of appraisal, insured postage, and the time involved outweighs what an ordinary album is likely to hold. If you have inherited a large collection, working through what to do with an inherited stamp collection or valuing a whole album or box first, without mailing anything, is the sensible starting point. Sort, identify, and grade before you spend a cent posting anything anywhere.

Where it is worth it is the narrow case: a specific stamp, already identified as a plausible candidate for real value, where a certificate of authenticity will materially affect what a buyer is willing to pay. A modest sum like £5 is roughly what a common used definitive brings even in decent condition, and appraisal is not going to change that number. It matters for the handful of stamps where the gap between "probably genuine" and "certified genuine" is the difference between a sale and no sale at all. If you are trying to decide whether that step makes sense for what you have, is it worth getting stamps appraised and what a free appraisal can and cannot tell you are worth reading before you spend anything on postage.

What should you do before you mail anything?

Grade the stamp honestly first. Check it against the condition factors that actually move price — centering, gum, cancel quality, faults — covered in full in the condition and grading guide. A stamp with a thin, a crease, or a repaired tear is worth appraising for authenticity but should not be mailed off with high expectations of value; faults do not disappear because a certificate confirms the stamp is genuine.

If the appraisal confirms something with real value, the next question is how to sell it without losing what that certificate just proved. That is a separate decision, covered in how to sell a stamp collection without losing money, and it is worth reading before you commit to a buyer.

Common questions

Is stamp appraisal by mail safe?

It is reasonably safe with an established organisation like the Philatelic Foundation or APS, since they exist specifically to handle mailed-in material and insure it in transit. It is riskier with an unfamiliar dealer you found online. Get insurance, get tracking, and photograph everything before you seal the envelope.

How long does mail-in appraisal take?

Expertizing services generally take several weeks to a few months, since stamps are examined in batches and sometimes referred to specialists for a specific issue. A quick dealer opinion by email or phone is much faster, often days, but it is a casual estimate rather than a certificate.

Do I need an appraisal for an ordinary stamp collection?

No. Most stamps in a typical album are common and mailing them for formal appraisal costs more than they are worth. Appraisal by mail makes sense only for specific stamps you already suspect are scarce, valuable, or possibly an error.

What is the difference between an appraisal and a certificate of authenticity?

An appraisal gives an opinion of value, often informally. A certificate from a body such as APEX or the Philatelic Foundation states whether the stamp is genuine, unaltered, and correctly identified, with no price attached. For anything expensive, the certificate matters more than the appraisal.