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JSA - AUTHENTICATION LOA. ARE THERE DIFFERENT KINDS??

I was wondering if anyone could be kind enough to explain if there are different kinds of 'grades' of JSA LOAS as I came across this on my travels. I then goggled Clean Sweep so I would be grateful for any kind of clarification. thanks

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on July 4, 2014 at 6:17am

Go to the JSA site for an explanation.

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Permalink Reply by Randy on July 4, 2014 at 8:08am

JSA has basically 3 different forms of LOAs. Their highest level one includes a picture of the actual item on the LOA that can easily be matched with the actual item to insure they are the same. This LOA prevents items from being switched out. They obviously charge more for this one depending on the signer and the range is $50 or so for more common players to $250 for HOFer's like Ruth or Gehrig.

Next is their basic LOA which is just a card that authenticates an item with only the item listed and a matching hologram on both the item and the LOA. These are cheaper but are more easily switched out than the pictured ones. Highest level players cannot be authenticated with the basic certificate.

Third is their auction house LOA which indicates they made a fairly quick assessment of the item in question and believe based on that assessment that the item is genuine. However, usually the auction houses provide the descriptions for the actual item and JSA just signs off on the autograph itself. They can be switched out fairly easily as basically it will just state for instance "Babe Ruth Signed Baseball." These are the least reliable LOAs that they provide as they literally look at hundreds or possibly thousands of items in one day and cannot give each item the time normally required to feel comfortable with any given autograph. However, the general collecting public obviously feels comfortable with them as most items in major auctions with their LOA do indeed sell. They do offer an option to upgrade to a full pictured LOA for an additional charge of $50 or so and I assume if they failed to issue an LOA in that case that the item could be returned to the auction house for a refund. However, I doubt if that many winning bidders actually pay for this additional service.

That is a basic explanation of their levels of LOAs. They actually have one level even higher at a cost of about $500 but I doubt if that service is used very often.