NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. - Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT) the leading provider of authentication and grading services to the collectibles industry, today announced that it had officially launched its new stamp grading service. The first stamp graded and encapsulated by the Collectors Universe Professional Stamp Experts (PSE; www.psestamp.com) was the most valuable United States stamp, the famous 1868 1-Cent Z-Grill (Scott 85A).

The stamp is owned by Donald Sundman, President of Mystic Stamp Company, who purchased the stamp at auction on October 8, 1998, for $935,000 as part of the sale of the Robert Zoellner Collection, the only complete United States collection ever formed. The Sundman Z-Grill is one of only two copies known and the only one available to collectors. The other known example is part of the New York Public Library Collection. The Sundman Z-Grill was graded Extremely Fine XF90, using the new PSE Standardized Philatelic Grading Scale.

Collectors Universe CEO, David Hall, explained the strategic implications of the PSE launch, "Our strategy is to extend our successful business model into markets that have the size and dynamics to insure our success. We launched the PCGS coin grading service in 1986 and the PSA sportscard grading service in 1991. We have graded over 8.2 million coins and cards with a declared value of over $9.3 billion. PSE stamp grading service extends our grading and authentication business to a third major collectibles market. Independent third-party grading is an essential element in conducting high-end collectibles e-commerce. On Monday, April 3, 2000, eBay had over 23,000 PCGS and PSA graded rare coins and sportscards offered for sale. We expect graded and encapsulated stamps to offer the same compelling advantages in an e-commerce environment," Hall concluded.

About Collectors Universe; 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 8.2 million collectible coins and sportscards with a declared value of over $9.3 billion. The company also conducts high-end collectible auctions in a multi-venue format including Internet, telephone and in-person bidding.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to: 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, our company's limited operating history, potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results, seasonality, competition, a possible decline in the popularity and realized selling prices 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 and the company's Form 10-Q for the first and second fiscal quarters ended October 2, 1999 and January 1, 2000, respectively.