A friend of mine has a cello with a probably authentic Gand label. If I understood correctly, in order to sell—or insure—it as a Gand (which would raise the price from the current circa €30k to 100k), he needs somebody to confirm that it really is a Gand, and it turns out that the ones who does that are a small elite circle in Paris, where everybody supposedly has some kind of connection to the 19th century French fims and workshops. These guys will charge you a percentage of the worth they attribute to it—10% or something like that—which means that a letter of certificate will cost €10,000.
Even if this isn't the whole truth, I find it appalling that people can actually charge a percentage of the value. No wonder prices have risen lately!!
