Authenticity is Everything

Big-Time Third-Party Authenticator Mistake

Hello, fellow collectors!

I hope 2026 has been kind to you all so far. So look, being experienced collectors, I think most of us are very aware that even the most highly-regarded 3rd Party Authenticators like Beckett (BAS), PSA/DNA, and JSA don’t get things right all the time. Many of us have had head-scratching and sometimes costly experiences in this regard. Well, I recently had one of them. And it cost me a few thousand dollars on eBay.

I sold an Upper Deck Authenticated (UDA) Michael Jordan signed basketball. The ball had the original, authentic UDA hologram from the 2012 signing event at the MJ Flight School Camp in Santa Barbara, California. The hologram is clearly authentic and still in pristine, untampered-with condition. The ball was signed on July 31, 2012. Unfortunately, the original UDA matching hologram COA was lost. HOWEVER, I also have a copy of the email verification that I received from Upper Deck in 2019 on Upper Deck Letterhead.

I know the ball is real because I obtained it from one of my best friends who I’ve been friends with literally since birth. He and his son attended the camp and witnessed the signing along with Upper Deck. So the possibility of it being inauthentic is zero. Not only that, but it looks authentic. I don’t know if I’d say it’s a “classic” Michael Jordan autograph, but I’m not even sure there is a “classic” example. Jordan’s autograph has clearly evolved over the years from his playing days at UNC to his early years with the Bulls to his later career and retirement years. Even since his autograph settled down, his signature can vary actually quite a bit from signing to signing, even from autograph events just a few months apart. And yet there’s still some significant similarities that one sometimes sees. But sometimes he might use a much bigger loop while making the letter “M”. Other times it’s a much smaller loop. Occasionally, there’s a small loop in the middle of the M. Usually there’s not….but sometimes there is. Often MJ has a tiny loop in the “l” at the end of “Michael”. Sometimes though there is not a tiny loop at all in l”. As for the “Jordan” part, there is a LOT of variation, BUT there are some consistencies too, in particular with the slope of the “J” and the slant of the “o” and MJ doesn’t usually close the “o” completely. ALSO, Jordan usually makes a loop on the outside at the bottom of the “M” and crosses over to the inside of the “M” and then slants upward and into the formation of the “ichael”. HOWEVER, sometimes he does NOT make a loop on the outside at the bottom of the “M” and only loops on the inside of the “M” which is the case in my Jordan ball. (EXCITING READING, I KNOW!)

SO ANYWAY, I listed and sold my authentic UDA ball on eBay. In the listing’s description, I noted that if a buyer wanted, for peace of mind, to send the ball to either PSA/DNA or JSA, I gave a money back guarantee it would pass authentication. I had no worries that it would pass because I knew FOR A FACT it was signed by Michael Jordan and WITNESSED by Upper Deck and by my best friend and his son. FURTHERMORE, I also have the Verification Email I received from Upper Deck in 2019 stating, “We can verify that U______5 is an authentic Michael Jordan signed basketball. The ball was signed on July 31, 2012 at Jordan’s Flight School Camp in Santa Barbara, California. The signing was witnessed by an Upper Deck Representative. The item was provided by the camp attendee.”

So the buyer sent it to Beckett (BAS), and Beckett quite erroneously failed it. Now, I must note that Upper Deck has changed their policies since 2019. To begin with, Flight Camp holograms were rarely if ever uploaded to Upper Deck’s main public database. In 2019, I had to email them with the hologram number and wait for a response since it had to be specially looked up in UDA’s private database.

BUT NOW, Upper Deck will only verify UDA items if you have both holograms. Therefore, even BAS could not get it verified with UDA. So one of their authenticators reviewed it. This is what Beckett concluded.

* “The signature has an atypical letter slant, angle, and pitch

• There are baseline issues, including misalignment and undulation

• The signature has been drawn slowly

• The formation of the letters and overlapping of strokes is irregular or unusual

• The signature lacks flow, rhythm, conviction, and spontaneity”

This is COMPLETE jive takin’ as The Bee Gees might say. Blah, blah, blah. This is made up mumbo jumbo nonsense. I’m quite sure BAS has a pre-formulated template to state this stuff. They receive hundreds of submissions daily and likely spend a couple of minutes glancing at your item. The buyer also paid for express service to get it completed within 10 business days which ended up being more like 25 business days.

I know Beckett is WAY backlogged. And I’m pretty sure they spend just minutes on your $3k to $5k basketball. So I highly doubt they look at as many Jordan examples as I do. Authentic Jordan autographs vary a lot. You can see this by exclusively looking at authentic UDA examples. But I doubt the Beckett employee poured over numerous exemplars. They have to keep the line moving. Furthermore, HONESTLY WHAT IS the experience level of the employee who reviewed my authentic example? Did not being able to verify it through Upper Deck bother him? He could clearly see that my UDA hologram was clearly authentic and untampered with. The hologram is PRISTINE.

This should have been a quick and EASY authentication.

And did you hear? BECKETT authenticated over 1,100 FAKE JASON KELSEY signed items including lots of jerseys. The scammer made over $200,000 on these fake Kelsey autographs that Beckett said were all authentic.

So the guy who bought my Jordan ball immediately started calling me a thief and a criminal and was going to file criminal charges against me if I didn’t refund him, all because probably some college intern at Beckett decided to decline my authentic Upper Deck-witnessed Michael Jordan signed item. I kid you not. I could tell my buyer was not an avid autograph collector, but probably had thought of getting an MJ basketball for years and finally decided to buy one. I told him that it was already witnessed by Upper Deck, and Beckett is just an OPINION. He’s the worst buyer I’ve ever dealt with, not that I sell a lot. I mainly just collect.

So ANY THOUGHTS on all this? Has anyone else had an experience like this? I knew a woman who once had Mickey Mantle in her store in KC to sign autographs. I was there. Years later, she still had about 100 Mickey Mantle signed baseballs that were signed by The Mick right in her store. Years ago, she decided to send them to PSA/DNA, and PSA rejected them all!! She witnessed the signing. RIDICULOUS. She was so mad because that cost her A LOT of money.

For whatever reason, AI suggested that I send the ball to JSA….that they might be better at MJ authentication. AI also stated that although authentic UDA holograms have been removed from legit balls and transferred to fake ones, it’s not easily done and usually the holograms will show signs of tampering or will sometimes be destroyed in the process. AI said it’s more often the case where the holograms themselves will be fake and have a dead look to them. AI said my pristine, REAL UDA hologram along with the 2019 verification from Upper Deck is pretty good evidence the ball is authentic. But of course I know it FOR CERTAIN is authentic because I know who got it. And I know they were at the event.

- Signed, very frustrated James

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Permalink Reply by James 15 hours ago

Nice response. I agree pretty much with everything you said. Obviously the only way to know for certain is to witness it yourself. But provenance plays a big role in authentication too. I’m 61. My best friend basically since I was 2 and he was zero….a lifelong, deeply close friend didn’t try to sell me a fake. I literally met them right after the Jordan signing. I know it’s provenance, and the pristine UDA hologram is very secure to the ball after 14 years.

I am like you. I only purchase autographs when I have zero concern that it might be fake. What would be the point in my posting a discussion about a fake autograph that was declared fake by Beckett?

I told the story of the old acquaintance who had 100 authentic Mickey Mantle balls deemed fake by PSA. She had Mickey Mantle in her store.

Do you know KAMRAN, here on AML? There’s no one better on Madonna autographs than Kamran imo. If you look through discussions you will note many times he has pointed out FAKE Madonna autographs passed by one of the Big 3. Many people on here specifically ask for his help if they’re thinking about buying a Madonna autograph.

I also thought it might be a good idea to discuss exactly how accurate the Big 3 really are. Some members even think they are only about 50/50 correct. I think it’s higher than that, but not sure what it is. We hear reports that they are so backlogged that they can’t keep up. So how much time does one’s autograph actually get with these authenticators, and how experienced was the authenticator your autograph got stuck with?

Unfortunately for resale purposes, right or wrong we are, in a sense, held captive by the opinions of these Big 3 authenticators. At least with music autograph opinions, when you submit to Epperson, you know a truly experienced authenticator reviewed your item. I’m sure Epperson doesn’t always get it right, but far more often than not.

Apparently the Big 3 are so backlogged that they are subcontracting out to other third-parties with UNKNOWN expertise as they are trying to race through numerous submissions while collecting several hundred dollars a pop. I TRULY believe some of the best authenticators are right here on AML.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Board NEW & Improved 14 hours ago

We all (well, most of us) believe your item is real. But why won't you show the photo?

Also, yes -- it sucks they get things wrong on authentication. But let me tell you a story. I sold all my basketball cards a few years back (I had an amazing collection -- got about 150K for them all). I knew nothing about having them "graded." If you don't know, cards don't sell well "raw". They could be fake. So you pay $75 a card for PSA to grade them. And there were two Bill Walton rookies I had that the auction house should've been 10s. They got 9s. I had other cards graded a lot lower. It sucked. And it cost me a lot of money. But you have to do what they do. And authentication is how it works with autographs because....while they get things wrong, the amount of times they've gotten things right and saved somebody money -- well, it pays off !!!

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Permalink Reply by JK yesterday

I'm still not really sure what the purpose of this thread is. Is it a rant against Beckett? Against all TPAs? There is so much written detail about the signature, the hologram, other botched authentications, etc., but the one thing that is obviously missing is photos.

As much as I hate overly-detailed backstories as proof of authenticity, I don't have reason to doubt the one presented here, but the more that is written without actual photos, the more it is starting to be cause for concern.

Is this the ball? https://www.ebay.com/itm/327047596059

The description/photos seem to track with your story, except for the date of the camp (1999 instead of 2012). Maybe this is your buyer trying to flip it?

In any case, I don't understand the unwillingness to post photos. You just expect people to accept your own assessments about the signature and hologram. The rant against Beckett/TPAs is based on a rejection of an item that you say is "obviously" authentic, so why not show it?

In regard to authentications in general, as I like to say, an autograph not only has to be authentic, it also has to be authenticatable.

If a celebrity signs something in front of you that deviates too much from known examples then it might not pass authentication. That is the way it works, and that is the way it should be.

Back to your backstory. Even if it is all accurate and true (and I have no particular reason to think it's not), how do you know for sure your friend's son did not secretly sell the basketball somewhere along the way and replace it with a forgery with a fake sticker? As for your friend with the Mickey Mantle baseballs who tried to get them authenticated "years later", how can you be sure an employee of hers didn't swap them out with forgeries over the years?

Any and every crazy scenario someone could think of has probably happened somewhere at some point.

Without photos this thread isn't really going to serve any purpose.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Board NEW & Improved 15 hours ago

So, just so you know -- I've had way more conversations on this site than you have (I had to change my profile name with a computer mishap years ago).

Also, I was a writer of this magazine (when it was on newsstands, and subscriptions) -- so we're either on par or I'm much more experienced when it comes to the hobby, as well as the ins/outs.

I believe your ball to be real. I just find it so, so fascinating, that you won't post a picture of it. I also find it strange that you don't understand any of the scenarios we've all presented (like the guy saying about the Mickey Mantle baseballs, or whatever).

I gave two BB King albums to his daughter (who worked at a bank in Las Vegas and was friends with my girlfriend). They brought them back a week later -- fake signatures. I could tell by looking at them. I've got millions of stories like this.

So again, show us the ball.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin 13 hours ago

James, I'm with the others. Post a photo of it, a good photo, if you're going to discuss it. Otherwise your discussion isn't meaningful.

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Butters24 9 hours ago

So beckett failed the ball. Refund the buyer and submit the ball yourself to the other TPAs. Sell it and enjoy your life.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Board NEW & Improved 2 hours ago

Also, you seem to think that by posting a photo of the ball, we're all going to say "Ha! It's fake". Dude, it could be the opposite. We all see it and say "Wow, that's a great autograph. It's insane that Beckett didn't agree. How did they drop the ball (no pun intended) so badly."