The Philatelic Foundation is a

philatelic Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is pos ...

organization granted a charter in 1945 by the

University of the State of New York The University of the State of New York (USNY, ) is the state of New York's governmental umbrella organization for both public and private institutions in New York State. The "university" is not an educational institution: it is, in fact, a li ...

as a Nonprofit Educational Institution.

Location

The Philatelic Foundation is located at 341 West 38th Street, 5th Floor,

New York, NY New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

10018.

Philatelic expertise

The Philatelic Foundation maintains a reference collection of

postage stamps A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

and is a major source of authentication of rare and valuable postage stamps for stamp collectors who wish to know if the “valuable” stamp they have is authentic or

counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

, and, if it is authentic, whether it is free of defect.The Expertizing Process.
The Philatelic Foundation, 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012

/ref> If the stamp submitted is authentic, a certification, containing a photo of the stamp and related technical details, is issued and sent to the person submitting the stamp. Obtaining a certification of a valuable postage stamp by a stamp collector or a stamp dealer may be done for various reasons: * personal satisfaction that the stamp purchased is authentic * ease of subsequent sale of the stamp with its certificate of authenticity

Publications

The Philatelic Foundation issues various publications on philatelic literature, including, for example, Analysis and Counterfeit Leaflets, quarterly magazines and bimonthly newsletters. The Philatelic Foundation has long encouraged the creation of a diverse group of publications. This includes the “Opinions” books (I-VIII), ''The Pony Express – A Postal History'' by Richard C. Frajola, George J. Kramer and

Steven C. Walske Steven Carl Walske is an American philatelist and philatelic writer. He was appointed to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 2017."Roll of Distinguished Philatelists", Jon Aitchison, '' The London Philatelist'', Vol. 126, No. 1445 (May 201 ...

and ''Hawaii Foreign Mail to 1870'' by Fred F. Gregory. As part of being a non-profit, The Philatelic Foundation also keeps an up-to-date website which features various free resources for collectors. This includes recently expertized items, research articles, a section on fakes and forgeries, among much more.

Other experts

Although the Philatelic Foundation is a recognized major source of

expertise, especially of stamps issued in the United States, there are numerous other philatelic experts listed in stamp catalogs of various countries.

References

{{commons category, Philatelic fakes and forgeries Philatelic organizations based in the United States Philatelic fakes and forgeries

Location

Philatelic expertise

Publications

Other experts

See also

References