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Permalink Reply by posterguy on December 27, 2018 at 7:38pm

"Not sure I like any of these three sigs...De Niro usually does not sign that wide/drawn out (esp. the "Rob" part) - and Pesci does not sign his last name on a second line shifted to the right (the P always overlaps the J).
Goes to show you can't always trust the authenticators...PSA got paid $70-$80 to issue this Letter of Authenticity so if they had failed it (as they should have), they would still keep the money, but that dealer that sent it in would not send others in the future for PSA to make more money...

Also curious is that all 3 sigs use the same exact marker (unless all three actors were obtained at the same place, that is questionable) and especially the Pesci and Liotta making an effort to sign in blank space and careful not to overlap anyone else's sig (whereas street-obtained sigs. by autograph hounds are usually at totally random places on the photo)

The seller lists it for $3,000 obo on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DENIRO-PES...x10-PHOTO-with-PSA-LOA-GRADED...
which is downright laughable. Even if all three were full exemplars of their sigs. (in which case it would be worth around $250-$300 IMHO)
The eBay seller (typhoons3) has thousands of authenticated items for sale (and he lists them for crazy premiums) and must be a cash cow for PSA sending items in...
1,502 of their 3,516 items are authenticated by PSA. On an average of $15 a piece, they paid PSA $22,000+. How likely do you think PSA will be to reject items they send in for fear of killing this cash cow?

The problem happens when bad stickered items are purchased by collectors (or speculators looking to make a buck) who resell them years later in the secondary market. All provenance and original submitter source gets lost.
This is why I always try to pay attention to the signatures themselves - and even if one part of it looks off, I walk away - sticker or no sticker.
I mean, what's the point of owning an atypical version of an autograph (even if it happens to be authentic) in a serious collection where you want to keep for years?"

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Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on December 27, 2018 at 7:59pm

+1. All these TPA’s have taken on this new business model. Instead of being a nuetral third party they are now in the deeper pockets of the autograph sellers. Both good and bad sellers. Once they cash the check they don’t care about the collector.

The sooner the hobby wakes up and runs these TPA crooks out of town the better. They are more damaging and destructive then any forgery seller. Once upon a time they were good for the hobby but now they are really a mixed bag. Sometimes they get some right and sometimes a forgery pusher hiding behind the “opinion” protection for a small percentage of the sale.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 27, 2018 at 8:02pm

+1 again.

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