01
Independence
We do not buy, sell or broker. We hold no stake in the items we examine and accept no consignments. Our incentives are aligned with truth, not turnover.
Volume X · Est. MMXIV · Issue №48
The standard for fine collectibles.
Xene Ltd is an independent house of authentication, grading and certification. For over a decade we have stewarded the world's most valuable coins, bank notes, stamps, cards and rare books — with the discretion of a private bank and the rigour of a museum.
- 2014
- Established in London
- 1.2M+
- Items certified to date
- 40
- Countries served
- 11
- On-staff specialists
Featured Plate I
Roman aureus of Marcus Aurelius — graded MS-65 by Xene, Cert. №08632102.
The Practice
A house built on quiet rigour.
Founded in 2014 in London's Hatton Garden, Xene was created in answer to a simple problem: collectors of fine objects deserved a grading authority that combined scientific method with the decorum of the trade.
Today, our specialists serve private collectors, family offices, museums and the principal auction houses across forty countries. Every item we receive passes through a documented chain of custody, a multi-stage examination, two independent grading passes and a sealed encapsulation built to archival standards.
We do not buy, sell or broker. Our only product is judgement — and the certificate that records it. That certificate, signed by two specialists and underwritten by Lloyd's of London, carries a lifetime guarantee of authenticity.
Read the full storyDisciplines
Five specialisms. One standard.
Plate 01 · Numismatics
Coins
Ancient, world and modern issues — from Roman aurei to modern proofs.
Plate 02
Bank Notes
Historic paper currency, error notes and specimen issues from every continent.
Plate 03
Trading Cards
Vintage sport, non-sport and modern TCG — sealed and raw, encapsulated to museum standard.
Plate 04
Stamps
Philatelic rarities, classics and covers — graded for centring, gum and freshness.
Plate 05
Rare Books & Manuscripts
First editions, signed copies and antiquarian works in archival clamshell housings.
The Xene Holder
An archive, made to last.
Each item is sealed inside an inert, museum-grade acrylic holder, machined from a single billet at our atelier in Surrey. Every holder carries six layers of authentication.
- ◇
Optical-grade acrylic
UV-stable to 380nm; will not yellow for a century under archival conditions.
- ◇
Inert microfibre cradle
Holds the item without contact stress or chemical leaching.
- ◇
Laser-engraved certificate №
Pico-second pulses cut a serial number into the rim. Mechanically indelible.
- ◇
Embedded NFC chip
Tap a phone to retrieve the certificate from our public registry.
- ◇
Tamper-evident sonic weld
Cannot be opened without visibly destroying the seal.
- ◇
Gold-foil house label
Printed in our London studio; the typography is unique to Xene.
200× magnification
XRF metallurgy
UV examination
The Process
Seven stages, one verdict.
- 01
Intake & Chain of Custody
Insured receipt, photographed and assigned a Xene case number.
- 02
Provenance Review
Historical records, hallmarks and prior ownership documented.
- 03
Authentication
Comparative spectroscopy, magnification and specialist consensus.
- 04
Grading
Two specialists grade independently; a finaliser reconciles.
- 05
Encapsulation
Archival, tamper-evident holder with embedded security mark.
- 06
Certification
Signed certificate, public registry entry, lifetime guarantee.
- 07
Return
Insured, discreet shipping by appointed courier.
Service Tiers
Calibrated to your collection.
30 days
Standard
£60
Single items up to £5,000 declared value. Full grading and encapsulation. Suitable for most retail and collector submissions.
10 days
Express
£180
Priority handling for items up to £25,000. A dedicated specialist; courier-pickup within the UK included.
Bespoke
Private Office
On request
Estates, museum collections and items above £100,000. On-site visits worldwide; conservator consultation included.
All tiers include the Xene archival holder, paper certificate, public registry entry and the lifetime guarantee of authenticity. Submissions of 25 items or more receive a 12% volume rebate.
Full pricing scheduleThe Certificate
A lifetime, in writing.
Every item we certify is accompanied by a hand-signed paper certificate, registered to your name in our public archive, and underwritten for life by Lloyd's of London.
Should any item we have certified ever be proven inauthentic, Xene undertakes to compensate the bearer at the prevailing market value — transferable, indefinite, and printed on the certificate itself.
Our standards
Testimony
"Xene's certificate is the only one I will accept on a coin I cannot personally examine. Their judgement has, on more than one occasion, saved my house from grave embarrassment."
— Director of Numismatics, European Auction House
Clientele
Trusted by the houses, institutions and private collections that set the market.
Sotheby's
Christie's
Bonhams
Spink
Heritage Auctions
Stanley Gibbons
Dix Noonan Webb
Künker
Bertoia
British Museum
Royal Mint Museum
MFA Boston
Clients are listed with prior consent. Many institutional and private engagements remain confidential by request.
Why Xene
Three commitments, unchanged since 2014.
02
Consensus
Two senior specialists grade every item independently. A finaliser reconciles. No grade leaves our office without unanimous agreement.
03
Indemnity
Every Xene certificate is underwritten by Lloyd's for the lifetime of the item. The guarantee is transferable and printed on the certificate.
Visit · By Appointment
48 Hatton Garden, London.
The Xene office occupies a five-storey Georgian townhouse in the heart of London's historic jewellery quarter. Examination rooms are below ground, in a former gem vault converted to climate- controlled laboratories. The drawing room above receives clients for consultation and tea, served at four.
Items left with us are stored in a Class III vault rated to UL Insurance Standard 687. International clients are met by appointment; our specialists travel to private collections worldwide.
Arrange a visitFrom the Register
Recent items of note.
A selection, drawn from our public register, of items certified in the past twelve months. Each carries a full chain of custody, two-pass grade and lifetime guarantee — and may be verified by certificate number from any page of this site.
Cert. №08632102
Roman aureus of Marcus Aurelius
RIC III 247 · MS-65 · acquired Sotheby's London, Nov. 2024.
Tier · Specialist
Cert. №09114870
Bank of England £5 white note, 1933
Choice EF-58 · ex-archive of a Northern bank, sealed 1953.
Tier · Specialist
Cert. №09204455
1909 T206 Honus Wagner
VG-3 · pedigree to a Connecticut estate; trimming-free.
Tier · Private Office
Cert. №08988012
GB 1840 Penny Black, plate 11
Four large margins · graded 90 · R.P.S.L. cross-certificate.
Tier · Express
Cert. №09301178
Newton, Principia Mathematica, 1687
First edition · Fine in original calf · clamshell №09301178-B.
Tier · Private Office
Cert. №09422901
Pokémon 1999 Base Set Charizard, 1st Edition
Shadowless · graded 9.5 · sealed PSA cross-over.
Tier · Express
In the Press
Quoted, cited, consulted.
"Xene's grades have, in the space of a decade, become the quiet benchmark by which European houses settle disputes over condition."
"Their work on the 1840 Penny Black census set a new standard for transparency in philatelic expertisation."
"The introduction of LIBS spectroscopy in 2024 has materially raised the bar for the detection of modern sovereign forgeries."
"A grading authority that, refreshingly, does not also wish to sell you the coin."
Collectors Ask
Six questions, answered plainly.
How long does grading take?
From ten to sixty days depending on tier. The Standard tier — chosen by most collectors — returns items within thirty working days of receipt.
Do you grade items I have already had certified elsewhere?
Yes. We will cross-grade any third-party slab and either confirm the existing grade, regrade in a Xene holder, or — rarely — flag the item for further review.
What if the item I submit proves inauthentic?
We return it without charge, with a written report explaining the findings. Nothing leaves our office in a Xene holder unless our specialists are unanimous on authenticity.
Is the lifetime guarantee really for life?
Yes. It is underwritten by Lloyd's of London, transferable, and printed on the certificate itself. Should an item ever prove inauthentic, we compensate the bearer at prevailing market value.
Do you accept international submissions?
We accept items from any country, by appointed insured courier. Our specialists also travel for on-site grading of estates and institutional collections worldwide.
Can I submit anonymously?
Institutional clients may submit through a nominated solicitor; private clients may use a pseudonym on the public registry while retaining a named master record.
Collector FAQ
Grades, authenticity & reholdering.
The questions we are asked most often by serious collectors — drawn from a decade of intake calls, and answered without hedging.
On grades
What scale do you use?
70-point Sheldon for coins and notes; 10-point for cards and stamps. Books are graded on the IOBA scale. Every grade includes a plain-English band — Pristine, Superb, Choice, About Mint, Choice Circulated, Circulated or Well-worn.
Do you grade in half-points?
Yes, for cards and stamps, where centring, corners/perforations, edges and surface are scored separately. The lowest sub-grade caps the overall grade by no more than half a point.
How is a Xene grade reconciled?
Two specialists grade blind; a third reconciles any disagreement greater than half a point. If unanimity is not reached, the item is returned ungraded with a written explanation and no fee.
Will my grade hold up at auction?
Xene grades are catalogued by Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams, Spink, Heritage, Stack's Bowers, Künker, DNW and Stanley Gibbons. We have never had a grade overturned in a published catalogue.
On authenticity
How is authenticity established?
Comparative analysis against archived genuine reference, augmented where appropriate by XRF, LIBS, raking-light microscopy and watermark imaging. No single test stands alone; conclusions require concurrence across methods.
What if my item is declared inauthentic?
We return it without charge, accompanied by a written report. Nothing leaves the office in a Xene holder unless our specialists are unanimous on authenticity.
Do you detect modern forgeries?
Yes — including pressed-blank Chinese sovereign copies, doctored Morgan dollars, trimmed T206s, regummed classics and resealed wax. Detection rates are published in the quarterly Population Report.
Is the guarantee really for life?
Yes, underwritten by Lloyd's of London under policy LM/2024/8841, transferable to any subsequent bearer of the certificate, with no expiry.
On reholdering
Can I have a third-party slab reholdered?
Yes. PCGS, NGC, PMG, PSA, BGS, CGC, SGC, RPSL and BPA holders are accepted for cross-certification. The item is removed, regraded fresh and rehoused in a Xene holder; the original holder is returned intact where possible.
Will the grade carry over?
No. Every cross-certified item is graded as if new — the original opinion has no bearing. In practice, our grade matches or is within half a point of the original in roughly 84% of cases.
My Xene holder is scratched. Can I have it replaced?
Yes, at £20 per item under the Reholder add-on. The original certificate number and registry entry are preserved; only the housing is replaced.
Do I have to break the seal myself?
Never. Xene holders are sonically welded and tamper-evident. Breaking the seal voids the certificate. Return the holder intact and we will open it under controlled conditions at no charge.
Begin
Entrust your collection to a quieter authority.
Speak with a specialist in confidence. We respond within one working day and accept items from any country, by appointed insured courier.
Request a submission