Collectors Universe Announces Launch of Stamp Authentication and Grading Service.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 1999--

Collectors Universe, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLCT) today announced that it will offer a new service for the authentication and grading of vintage stamps. The company will expand the operations of Professional Stamps Experts (PSE), which it acquired in October, 1999 to offer both authenticating and grading of vintage United States postage stamps. The PSE stamp grading service will join the company's two other collectible grading services, Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA). Since 1986, PCGS and PSA have authenticated and graded over 7 million collectible coins and sportscards with a declared value of approximately $8.7 billion.

"For the past ten years, PSE has been a recognized authority in the authentication of stamps," said David G. Hall, Chairman of Collectors Universe. "We are very excited about the opportunity of combining PSE's stamp expertise with our coin and sportscard grading businesses to offer this new service to the collectible stamp market. With this new service, PSE, Collectors Universe will be able to offer authentication and grading for three of the largest collectibles markets: coins, sportscards and stamps. Our third-party grading of coins and sportscards has been an important element in the growth of sight-unseen e-commerce and we believe stamps will be the next collectible to benefit from this service," concluded Hall.

The company plans on accepting submissions for stamp grading in January, 2000. After being authenticated and graded, the stamps will be sealed in a tamper-evident holder with a label describing the stamp, its assigned grade, and a unique certification number.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to: our company's limited operating history, acceptance by the collectible stamp market for graded stamps, submission rates for grading of stamps, realized average grading fees, development of a sight-unseen market for the sale of graded stamps, competition, the possible decline in the popularity of some high-end collectibles, the limited availability of high-end collectibles and the risk that Internet based e-commerce providers could make exclusive arrangements with our competitors or other service providers. Certain of these risks and uncertainties, in addition to other risks, are more fully described in our Prospectus dated November 4, 1999, which was part of our Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Collectors Universe is a leading provider of value-added services to collectors and dealers of coins, sportscards, sports memorabilia, rare currency and rare records. Since 1986, the company has authenticated and graded over 7 million collectible coins and sportscards. The company also conducts high-end collectible auctions in a multi-venue format including Internet, telephone and in person.