One of the most complicated professions in the entire philatelic world is that of the expert appraiser; this professional figure is tasked with examining the material submitted to them and assessing its condition, originality and, when possible, quality and state of preservation.
Condition can be defined with phrases such as:
· mint with intact gum
· mint with original gum
· without gum
· used
· on piece
· on cover
· etc.
Quality and/or state of preservation:
· Perfect
· Excellent state of preservation
· Good state of preservation
· Defective
· Repaired
· Etc.
The problem is that when drawing up a photographic certificate for a specimen, mistakes can sometimes occur; the great philatelic expert Guglielmo Oliva, one of the most knowledgeable figures in the history of Italian philately, always used to say: "The best philatelic expert is not the one who never makes mistakes, but the one who makes fewer of them, because being human it is impossible not to make mistakes".
Since it is impossible not to agree with this statement, the question we ask ourselves is: if a philatelic expert makes a mistake and then realizes it, how should they behave?
Well, from a recent discussion I had with a colleague, several answers to this question emerged; I will give you mine.
I personally believe that the photographic certificate should first and foremost protect the collector; this is because in a commercial relationship he is the "consumer," that is, the more "vulnerable" of the parties involved. For this reason, I believe that if a philatelic expert realizes - and is convinced of it, of course - that they have issued an incorrect certificate, it is legitimate to communicate this to the person who requested the professional service and ask to correct, redo or cancel that document. This is because a certificate considered incorrect by its author may mislead the future buyer and therefore be considered a dangerous tool in the hands of the philatelic dealer handling the item. Therefore, correcting, redoing in a way considered correct by the author, or even canceling a certificate when it cannot be replaced, is an act not only of courage and humility, but also a dutiful gesture toward philately.
Making an expert appraisal error can happen, and for various reasons, but this does not affect the integrity, competence and good faith of the person who made the mistake, if they are able to take responsibility and accept not only admitting the error, but where possible also correcting it.
Serious, on the other hand, would be the case in which the expert dug in on their theories despite the mistake made and acknowledged, in order to maintain an appearance of infallibility, or if, even though the error is evident to other experts in the field of equal and proven competence, they refused debate and entrenched themselves in their mistaken beliefs.
These would be the cases in which - in my humble opinion - the expert could lose credibility; otherwise they can only gain more of it, because there is no better doctor than the one who knows how to recognize his illness, and there is no better expert than the one who, unconcerned by malicious gossip, confidently revisits their opinion and corrects an error that would otherwise remain dangerously in place and do nothing but mislead poorly qualified operators and unsuspecting collectors.
Paolo Cardillo.
