CSA AUTHENTICATION SERVICE

Please see the bottom of this page for applicable fees.
Authentication and membership applications about half way down.

The Confederate Stamp Alliance has operated an authentication service since it was formally organized October 1, 1945 as the CSA Authentication Committee. The first Chairman was Lawrence L. Shenfield and the other committee members were August Dietz, Sr. and Stanley B. Ashbrook. In 2006, the name was changed to the CSA Authentication Service.

Its purpose is to determine the authenticity of Confederate stamps and covers as well as the validity of Civil War period postal usages that pertain to the Confederate mail system. Postal forgeries of Confederate material date back to the 1860's and can be quite deceptive, thus authentication has become one of the primary missions of the Confederate Stamp Alliance.

The Authentication Service presently is comprised of six voting members, including the Recording Secretary, and twelve consultants with expertise in specialty areas. A color photo certificate is issued on security paper after a consensus of opinion is reached. If a consensus cannot be reached by the members, a certificate of "no opinion" is rendered. Use of this service is available to CSA members and non-members alike. CSAAS members:

Francis J. Crown, Jr., Chairman
James L D. Monroe, Recording Secretary
Patricia A. Kaufmann
John L. Kimbrough, M.D.
A. Eugene Lightfoot
Richard F. Murphy
Peter W. W. Powell
Steven M. Roth

James W. Bowman, Emeritus

A postage and handling charge of $10.00 per patient is included in the fee, regardless of its value or the final determination. A photo certificate on high quality security paper is provided with each opinion, signed by the Chairman and impressed with a raised seal. RUSH service is no longer available.

Each item for authentication must be accompanied by an official application and should be submitted to the Recording Secretary. The turn around time for items submitted is generally 60 to 90 days. Non-members must pay in advance. CSA members will be billed. A fee schedule is at the bottom of this page.

All certificates prior to 1968 have been recalled due to the fact that they are not photo certificates, which renders one unable to connect a specific item with a specific certificate.

Please note that we do NOT give opinions on stones or do plating. These are time consuming and costly procedures. If you have need of these services, we can recommend a separate service.
 

The Authentication Process
Although the authentication process appears to be lengthy, it is ultimately a system that is in the best interest of the applicant. Patients first go to the Recording Secretary where they are scanned and an opinion work sheet created with initial description. From there, patients are sent by accountable mail among voting members, who are all unpaid volunteers. Each patient ends with the Chairman. Upon reviewing the opinions, if the Chairman sees that there is a division of opinion on the item, it goes to the remaining committee members and/or a specialist in that particular field. We usually use 10 to 20 outside experts during the year, as well as our own expert service, selected for their specific areas of specialty and research materials to which the rest of the service may not have access. Our own resources are also substantial. We have the benefit of a substantial reference collection of both genuine and counterfeit material, as well as the extensive Freeland Reference Collection.

Once the Chairman is satisfied with the opinion, a full color certificate is issued on security paper. A digital record is kept of all certificates issued. Yes, it's a long and laborious process, but one which we have honed to what we feel is the best possible opinion for Confederate States material. While the average process is 60 to 90 days, it may take as little as 6 weeks or even longer than 90 days on difficult items.

Tips to Speed the Process
Occasionally, applicants inadvertently cause delays in expertizing. Often an applicant does not realize that the contents of an envelope, if present, may actually help experts in their opinions for a variety of reasons. If you have the original contents, by all means please include them. If you have done original research on the item, include copies of it. If you have other examples of a rare town cancel, or even a common cancel, include them - not the originals - just photocopies which will become part of the patient records. We don't return anything except the patient with the certificate. You get the idea. The more information you give us, the faster we can process your patients.

Click here to download THE LATEST VERSION OF THE CSA authentication application in PDF format
Click here to download a CSA membership application in PDF format

Can't open these PDF files? The PDF format is viewable with free software - Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you don't have this, you can download it for free here.

OR

Applications for authentication and/or applications for membership in the Confederate Stamp Alliance are available from:

CSA Authentication Change of Command
Please send all future authentication correspondence/payments/new submissions to


CSA Authentication Service
Gen. James Monroe
Recording Secretary
1352 Deep Water Drive
Mt. Pleasant SC 29464
E-mail: jim@confederatecovers.com
 

Rapid Scan ID
So what if you don't need a full-blown opinion from the CSA Authentication Service, but would like an informal identification of your stamp or cover? We have an inexpensive solution for that too. The CSA Authentication Service has instituted a simplified program whereby a scan of your Confederate stamp or cover can be submitted for a rapid identification analysis. This is an opportunity to have your questions quickly answered about the proper identification of your CSA philatelic item without having to go through the sometimes lengthy formal certification process. The cost is also substantially less.

This rapid identification service is especially suited for eBay buyers and sellers who need a quick time-sensitive reply. Collectors with limited knowledge of Confederate material will also find this service helpful in identifying dangerous forgeries and reprints. See the CSA Web site under Rapid Scan ID for more information on this program. Scans submitted for Rapid Scan ID must be owned by the person submitting the scan. Third party evaluations without the knowledge and consent of the owner are not permitted.
 

FedEx Alert!
Federal Express changed their policy in 2006. It used to be that a signature was always required unless you checked a box at the bottom right indicating that it was alright to release the package without a signature. Now they have reversed that. There are 3 boxes at the bottom right of the form for residential delivery:

• No Signature Required
• Direct Signature
• Indirect Signature

If you do not check "Direct Signature", they will leave your thousand dollar cover on my door step. I might be on vacation. It might be raining. They won't care. Please check "Direct Signature Required " if you are using FedEx. There is an extra charge for Direct Signature Required of $2.25.
 

Fee Waived for Donations to T.O.M. (CSAAS Reference Collection)
The CSA Authentication Service has long maintained a reference collection. Now it has an official name - T.O.M., which stands for Take Off Market. Genuine, as well as fraudulent, material is sought, particularly scarce postmarks, unusual shades or anything which may be used for comparison to submitted patients. T.O.M. is a good home for faulty but scarce stamp varieties or covers, as well as counterfeits. The purpose is two fold: 1) it gets the dangerous material off the market and 2) it aids our experts in their future determinations.

The nucleus of the existing collection is from the Freeland Reference Collection donated to the CSAAS years ago, but the CSAAS has been quietly collecting fraudulent, as well as genuine, material for years before and after the donation of the Freeland Collection.

A donation to T.O.M. can also be of benefit to you in that the Confederate Stamp Alliance is an IRS recognized non-profit organization with status # 501(c)(3) and thus any donation thereto constitutes a tax deduction. Any item submitted for authentication which is subsequently immediately donated to the Service, will have the authentication fee waived.

If you wish to donate material to T.O.M, you may contact CSAAS Recording Secretary.
 

FEE STRUCTURE*
*Fees are all inclusive, i.e., postage and handling are included.