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Zigarrenexpertise Oliver Markus · Authenticity and Value

Contact

Write to me and tell me what it is about.

A short description is enough, photographs help. I will tell you whether the question falls within my field, what I need for it and what it costs.

I usually reply within two working days.

To the form
Telephone
+49 176 20150975
If I cannot take the call, I will call you back.
Email
info (at) zigarrenexpertise.com
Address
Zigarrenexpertise, Oliver Markus
Im Kräutergarten 13
49401 Damme
Visits by appointment.

Your message

The more precisely you describe what you have, the more precisely I can answer. The following help:

  • What it is, as far as you know: brand, format, quantity.
  • Where it came from, how long you have had it and how it was stored.
  • What you need the result for: insurance, an inheritance, a sale, legal proceedings. That determines which value figure you need and how detailed the expert report has to be.
  • Photographs, high resolution and sharp: the closed box from every side including the seal and the box bottom, the open box from the inside, a single cigar close up. In addition, serial numbers, stamps and factory codes each as a separate close-up. Daylight is best, and no flash, otherwise the lacquer and the film reflect away exactly the places that matter. You attach the photographs in your email program before you send.
  • If you are writing on behalf of an authority: the file reference, the number and type of items and the place where they are held.

When you click “Prepare message”, your email program opens with the finished text. Nothing is sent until you press send there. Until then nothing leaves your device.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

How long does an expert report take?
That depends on the scope. An analysis from photographs is usually ready within a few working days. If it is urgent, say so, and I will tell you bindingly by when I can manage it. We plan extensive collection appraisals in the first conversation.
Is an appraisal possible without the original packaging?
Yes. Authentication is also possible for single, unpackaged cigars. It then calls for a closer examination of the item itself, and the valuation remains more limited, because the box, the seal and the stamps are missing as features. That limit is then stated in the expert report as well.
Can I send the cigars to you?
For single items and smaller lots, yes. We agree insured shipping and the return in advance. Two limits apply: I do not take cigars into safekeeping where proper payment of tax on them is not documented, and I examine seized or impounded goods on site at the authority as a rule, not at my premises.
Are you publicly appointed and sworn?
I am not publicly appointed and sworn under section 36 of the German Trade Regulation Act (Gewerbeordnung), and I do not use any such title. My reports are privately commissioned reports. If a court or an authority appoints me in specific proceedings, the procedural law that applies there governs.
Do you also advise me on legal matters, or represent me before customs?
No. I establish facts. I do not give legal or tax advice. In Germany legal advice is reserved for lawyers, and assistance in tax matters for the tax advisory professions. Nor do I represent you before authorities. If you need both, I work in support of the law firm or the tax practice you instruct.
Are expert reports possible internationally?
Yes, I also work for clients outside Germany, applying the same examination criteria. For context: in German civil proceedings, a report you commission yourself is submitted as a party’s own evidence and is not expert evidence appointed by the court under the German Code of Civil Procedure (Zivilprozessordnung). You can submit it, and a court can then appoint me as its own expert witness. What an expert report counts for in another country is governed by the procedural law there. Please clarify that question with your legal representation beforehand.

What stays confidential, and what does not

I treat your instruction in confidence. I do not pass your details, the provenance of the cigars or the result to third parties, I do not name you as a reference and I do not show your items to anyone. Four limits I state openly, because nobody can rule them out.

Statutory obligations
Retention periods under tax law, and giving evidence if I am summoned as a witness in court. Unlike lawyers, doctors and tax advisers, I have no right to refuse to give evidence.
Instructions from authorities
There the authority is my client, and the result goes to it.
In ongoing cases
If the matter concerns an ongoing or imminent case, please speak to a lawyer first and have me instructed through them.
Details submitted through this website
What happens to the details from the form and how long they are stored is set out in the privacy policy.