Which Autograph Company can you trust?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Pablo Abilez on June 26, 2011 at 12:55am

Hey Mike Aring,

PSA is good for authenicating your item just in case you want to sell your item someday, and to prove that the celebrity or athlete signed the item.  So it makes perfect sense.  And we can sell our items to people who trust PSA and to trust us sellers to sell real autographs to other collectors.  There also are some forgers out there willing to sell you forged items while the athlete or celebrity is still around signing for fans waiting in line.   Why wait in line when you can pay somebody to sell you their (fake, forged) autographs that they claim to have gotten from the actual athlete or celebrity?  Didn't you read Mr. Kelly Wilkins' discussion about his encounter with a forger?  Do you not understand that one of the main points of this website is to point out the fake stuff from the real stuff?  Are you new to this website and collecting autographs?  You don't have to PSA authenticate anything if you don't want them to, but it helps for the reasons that I just pointed out.      

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by mike aring on June 26, 2011 at 7:33am

uhhh no pablo...  why would you even question me? my remark was more along the lines of asking why would you need to authenticate if your sole intention is to collect items. not for re selling. i understand the need for authenticating if your intention is to re sell... so this remark doesn't make perfect sense to me. i think those stickers RUIN what would be a nice piece of memorabilia. i wouldn't dare pay for authentication of my beatles signed records or led zepplin stuff (obviously missing one person) since all i'm doing is hanging them on my walls. i got the autographs myself and don't need the validation. i don't believe that in the next 20 years, aNY of these authentication services will survive because of all the negativity and mistakes that they do make. over time, the noise will get so loud, that something authenticated will be deemed valueless anyway. and i don't want those highly noticable stickers on my stuff. for today's market, yes, i can see the need if you are re selling, but otherwise, it's a no go for me! see my other comments about my complete terminator signed posters etc. all over this site.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mr Zipper on June 26, 2011 at 3:21pm

why would you need to authenticate if your sole intention is to collect items

 

My sole intention is to collect items. I've never bought an item for the primary purpose of resale. However, a few years down the line, you find yourself with doubles, or your interests change, or you need to sell a few items to fund a big purchase... what are you supposed to do? Keep items that don't fit in your collection anymore? I don't know any collectors who retain forever every single item they ever obtain.

 

Also, it's also financially wise to protect your investment. Even if your primary intent is not investment, who wants to spend hard-earned cash on autographs that will have minimal re-sale value down the road. Someday all collectors (or their heirs) sell their collections. It's a smart move to ensure maximum resale value when that time comes.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by mike aring on June 27, 2011 at 8:10am

i do see the point you are making... but to me, it doesn't seem that ANY of the current authentication methods will stand the test of time. all the companies who are considered legit now... none of them have any REAL forensic experience nor are they any kind of handwriting experts. while i like the idea to keep the hobby moving forward and these companies are doing a great service. down the road, none of them will be able to survive the storms of; 

1) authenticating TTM autographs which are later proven to be secretarial (like the heston situation.)

2) authenticating items that are suspect one way or another (too many times has PSA been on the chopping  block for authenticating things like a fake ty cobb or a fascimile springsteen). and james spence company was on television authenticating a completely forged item WHILE THAT CELEBRITY WAS IN THE SAME BUILDING SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS. not to mentin the numerous items that celebs sign in the street that look truly awful. and how about all the other times when people have brought in a legit item that they DIDN'T pass.

3) authenticating things because they trust the dealer- even though items can be suspect, but because the dealer has a great reputation.

4) the different companies fees or so high, that you can't expect to gain that value on top of the item value when seling unless you are getting their "dealer discount."

look, i am all for helping the buyer out getting a truly authentic, sometimes one of a kind item. but i just don't see, with all the mistakes these companies make, them being around for 30-40-50 years. the mistakes are constantly amplified and NONE of these companies back up what they say. if they say something is good and then it turns out it isn't, they will tell you (and it's totally the truth) that they are just making an opinion. they are not experts in their field and sooner or later, it's going to cause them to fall..

but, in TODAY's marketplace, everything i have for sale, i want it to be authenticated by psa dna and most of it already is. the stuff that isn't, i just can't afford to pay the fees.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by mike aring on June 27, 2011 at 11:07am

thanks Greg. I'm not against the system. I would just like it fixed. when an authenticator will stand behind their product, i would then start to agree that having something authenticated by one of these places would actually increase the value of an item over time and actually weed out undesireable dealers and forged items. but as it stands right now, the current way of doing business seems to not hold anything for the future. and i would certainly HATE having a "slabbed" cut signed by Jim Morrison authenticated by one of these third party companies and then, down the road, have the company outed completely because the noise of too many mistakes has devalued my item forever! (just and example)

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next ›
• Page