In order to promote Iranian philately and build trust in the philatelic market, The Iran Philatelic Study Circle Expertizing Service (IPSC-EXP) offers opinions on the genuineness of Iranian philatelic material at a moderate cost. You can view the IPSC-EXP Articles of Operations here.

For added security, all certificates issued can be verified at the IPSC Certification section.

The current list of Expert Committee members is as follows:

The previous Expert Committee Members is as follows:

Babak Habibifar (September 2018 - January 2021)

Every reasonable care is taken of items sent in for an examination, but they are accepted only on the basis that you have accepted our conditions.

Term of Service

The Committee shall be at liberty at its sole discretion to forward any items received by them to any expert for examination.
The IPSC Expertizing Committee certificates provide the opinions of its member(s) or other knowledgeable collectors and professional consultants. However, IPSC and its Expertizing Committee do not guarantee the accuracy of any opinion expressed by its Expert Committee regarding any item submitted for authentication and disclaims any liability whatsoever for any loss, damage or injuries allegedly suffered as a result of any opinion issued by the Expert Committee.
The Committe and its members shall not be in any way liable to the owners or any other person interested for loss or damage to the item(s).
Items will be photocopied, photographed and may be subject to Ultra-Violet and/or Infra-Red light during examination.
Requests for the market or net value of an item will not be accepted.
Since the meaning of the terms “superb”, “very fine”, etc., are debatable, no opinion as to centering will be given. Defects and alterations not readily apparent will be noted.
IPSC does not sign, mark or encapsulate items nor do we assign numerical grading as part of our services.
Items submitted will be returned as soon after examination as possible. However; The IPSC shall in no way be liable for any delay in returning items or for any delay or failure of the Postal Service, FedEx or other private carrier in making delivery of same.
The IPSC reserves the right to make changes without notice to the rules and requirements as they deem necessary, but such changes will be announced as soon as possible.
The request for an examination constitutes an acceptance by the owner of all rules and requirements of the IPSC Expertizing Service.

What is Included

Each certificate will include the following information where applicable:

Authenticity
Identification - Scott, Persiphila, and Farahbakhsh catalog numbers when available.
Description - The item will be described, including color, paper, perforation, type, and plate positioning.
Condition - The following condition information (at the time of examination) will be mentioned when appropriate:

Gum - Original Gum, Partial Gum (at least 50% coverage), No Gum.
Hinge - Never Hinged, Hinged, Hinge Remnant.
Repairs, Alterations.
Thins/Tear - Shallow thins that cover more that 25% of the items, or deep thins. Tear visible from both sides.
Folds - when visible on both sides that go through two margins.
Perforation separation in case of stamp multiples.
Large stains or markings.

Pricing

Once the certification process is completed, an invoice will be sent to the owner. Payment in full is required prior to returning the item. The opinions of the Expert Committee will be charged on the following scale, which will apply to each item submitted for examination. Value is based on the latest Scott Catalogue. Where no catalogue value is given or for covers, lettersheets, multiples or premium pieces, the charges will be at the discretion of the Committee.

The following prices are effective as of October 23, 2023 (1 Aban 1402).

Outside of Iran

    IPSC Members
    <$500
    >$500
  


    Single Stamp
    $7.50
    $10.00
  

    Complete Set
    $15.00
    $20.00
  

    Covers & Documents
    $15.00
    $25.00
  

    Non-Members
    <$500
    >$500
  


    Single Stamp
    $15.00
    $20.00
  

    Complete Set
    $30.00
    $40.00
  

    Covers & Documents
    $30.00
    $50.00
  

Iran

We will use the fixed rate of 10,000 tomans to $1 USD to calculate the cost for any item submitted in Iran.

    
    <$500
    >$500
  
    Single Stamp
    150,000 tomans
    200,000 tomans
  
    Complete Set
    300,000 tomans
    400,000 tomans
  
    Covers & Documents
    300,000 tomans
    500,000 tomans

Pricing Premium

Due to the additional time required for identification (including type and position), there is a 25% additional charge for the certification of the following issues. Furthermore, all submissions from these issues will be priced as individual stamps:

1865-1879 Lion Issues
1902 Meched Provisional Issue
1915 Bushire Under British Occupation Issues

Submission Process

Please complete and include the Application for Certificate form with your submissions.

Items should be sent to the regional representatives of IPSC Expert Committee. Please contact the representative prior to sending your material. The owner is responsible for all shipping and insurance costs.

Please note there is a maximum number of 20 items per submission. Also if you are submitting to the Committee for the first time, it is recommended that you submit only one or two items to ensure knowledge of and satisfaction with our process.

North America

Behruz Nassre
ipsc.usa@gmail.com
1819 Polk Street
PMB 173
San Francisco, CA 94109

Europe (and rest of the world)

Nezam Ansari
ipsc-exp@iranphilately.org
Negozio Tappeti sul strada
Via Borfuro 2
24122 Bergamo - Italy

Iran

Ali Shirzad
a.shirzad1979@gmail.com
Tel: +98 912 622 0891

Javad Badihi
ipsc.irrep@gmail.com
Tel:+98 93 98 98 98 08