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Baffled by PSA Finding ?

Third Party Independent Authentication is very important in the genre of autographs which we all know is rife with fraud. And, it is no surprise forgers and less ethical dealers loath a service that might "out" their unscrupulous activity or lack of skill in vetting genuine vs fake signatures.

Now that I got that out of the way, on occasion I am baffled by findings of authentic by one of the two reputable authentication services (i.e. PSA or JSA).     So this PSA Certified Marlon Brando that sold last night at Iconic auctions has me scratching my head, "what were they thinking?"...     There are so many reasons why this should never have been certified genuine.   For one, 90% of his signature is missing ?   SO all we have is an "M' and a "B".    And what's with all the squiggly circles at the end ??

But, even if PSA dug up some legal document with a similar exemplar, it is so uncharacteristic; I would question the legal document (i.e. proxy signer).

But , forget all the "yeah but.." arguments that they might retort with.... Why would any authentication service whose reputation is worth more than their annual revenues, stick their neck out to stamp this authentic?   Very Bizarre??

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Permalink Reply by kevin conway on April 1, 2015 at 10:11am

Steve,

That's some great investigative work!

But, WHY would someone tamper with the original piece? Without the rest of the document with the "Real" Brando on the bottom, I don't see any value in it, personally? If I bought the Iconic sold signature I would definitely want a copy of this to accomnpy it....

Great input Steve! Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on April 1, 2015 at 10:39am

What do you think you could have sold it for intact, Kevin?

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on April 1, 2015 at 10:15am

I find it sad to think of an interesting piece of entertainment history cut up that way.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on April 1, 2015 at 10:34am

I agree, Scott. That was a piece of Hollywood history that should never have been cut up.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on April 1, 2015 at 10:09am

He also found this TLS that American Memorabilia sold in 2006 with a PSA/DNA auction LOA. We both think this one may be secretarial:

http://bidami.com/Auctions/AuctionItem?AuctionId=26152&t=&p=0

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Permalink Reply by Rich on April 1, 2015 at 10:13am

So, in summary: Stupid decision by the owner, stupid item, stupid authentication.

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Permalink Reply by kevin conway on April 1, 2015 at 10:24am

Steve,
Yeah looks like a very sloppy secretarial..

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on April 1, 2015 at 11:27am

Kevin,

Are you familiar with this secretarial style?

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Permalink Reply by kevin conway on April 1, 2015 at 11:41am

Steve,

Cant say Ive seen this particular secretarial. but the presentation and flow is all un-natural... I am still not getting this style Brando with the obscure lines and squiggles and why/if he actually did that at the top of the original paper. I wouldn't touch it myself. doesn't make sense...