Jean-Paul Bach, a native of Basel, began his career as a stamp dealer at the Basel stamp exchanges at the age of 16. In 1981, he founded Interphila AG Basel, which was entrusted with conducting international auctions in Zurich, Winterthur, and Basel. Since 1991, the company has been known as Jean-Paul Bach AG. In 1989, Jean-Paul Bach acquired the well-known company Marken-Müller AG, which he soon handed over to his then partner. He then established himself as a retailer in mail order and a multi-story store in Basel. In 1989, he conducted a highly acclaimed "Standing Helvetia" special auction, followed by further auctions on behalf of Marken-Müller and in 1991 and 1993 under his own name. Since discontinuing the retail business, regular auctions, usually several per year, have been held under the name Jean-Paul Bach since 2011. For some time now, he has been holding live bidding auctions with up to 10,000 lots. He has been working as an expert (Basel Stamp Expert) since 1998.
Bach also made a name for himself as a collector. His collections have won several national gold medals, and his "Baselland" collection has been awarded gold internationally.
He is still active as a juror, even as jury president, or on assignments abroad.
Jean-Paul Bach has been writing the popular column "cut and serrated" regularly in the Swiss Stamp Newspaper since 1995.
As a publicist, editor, and author, Bach began his work with Felix Winterstein in 1995 with the book "Basler Taube." He and Felix Winterstein have published other philatelic books: Tessin - Strahlenstempel (2012), "Röstigraben" (2013), and Hellblaugrün (2015). All of these books have been awarded gold medals and other honors, and are considered examples of popular philatelic literature.
Jean-Paul Bach has been President of the Swiss Stamp Dealers Association (SBHV) since 2002, a member of the Central Committee of the Swiss Stamp Collectors Association (VSPHV), a member of the Consilium Philateliae Helvetiae, the Association of Philatelic Journalists (AIJP), and the foreign dealer associations APHV, IFSDA, and PTS. He has been on the board of the IG Briefmarke (German Stamp Trade Union) since 2016. Jean-Paul Bach also sits on the Swiss Post Stamp Commission.