Expert Committee

The Expert Committee is a group of New Zealand's leading philatelists who offer internationally recognised, authoritative and certified opinion on the identity and genuineness of any New Zealand or Pacific Islands philatelic material submitted to it. The committee is affiliated to the AIEP. As of March 2015, the Society, through Robin Gwynn RDP FRPSL FRPSNZ, is on the Register of Expert Examiners for the New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage, for consultation re philatelic material being considered for export.

Items for consideration are sent to at least two members of the Expert Committee, more if the item is particularly challenging. Confidential written reports are submitted to the Recorder of the Committee who issues a Certificate of Opinion based upon those reports. Each Certificate is individually numbered, and includes a colour photograph of the item and bears the official stamp of the Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand.

The service is available to any New Zealand or overseas philatelist, stamp dealers or member of the public. Members of the society are eligible to use the service at a discount rate. The normal fee is NZ $75 per item for members (and just $60 for each additional item in the same shipment), or NZ $150 per item for non-members. The discount alone is worth the price of membership! Payment by draft must be in New Zealand dollars against a New Zealand bank. We can also accept payment by direct credit, Paypal, Visa or Mastercard. Discounts may be negotiated for multiple lots of a very similar nature.

Note that the return of items to destinations outside NZ requires the use of Signature-Required Courier as outward Registration is no longer supported by NZ Post. Overseas remitters therefore incur an additional fee per package (a package can hold several items up to an Insurance Limit).

MEMBERS

	FEE	POSTAGE	TOTAL
New Zealand	$75/$60	nil	$75
Australia	$75/$60	$21	$96
South Pacific & Asia	$75/60	$30	$105
Rest of the World	$75/$60	$38	$113

NON-MEMBERS

	FEE	POSTAGE	TOTAL
New Zealand	$150	nil	$150
Australia	$150	$21	$171
South Pacific & Asia	$150	$30	$180
Rest of the World	$150	$38	$188

Fees are still chargeable even if the item cannot be given certification after having been examined by the panel.
No charge is made if the item cannot be examined due to lack of knowledge of the panel.

If accompanied by the correct fee & form, items will normally be returned within 6-8 weeks. The Society will take all reasonable care of items, and items in transit from the Society are covered by our insurance. Items submitted for expertisation should be fully insured by their owners on their journey inwards to the Society.

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