I got into it autograph collecting by trying to aquire signed sports memorabilia for family members as gifts! I thought it would be a special and unique gift that they wouldn't get from anyone else, but now I have "the fever" of sorts for wanting to collect autographs! I know my family and friends think I'm an impractical wasteful dreamer for doing so,and since I am not trained in this field would it ALWAYS be best for me to buy everything (only if it had the PSA/DNA authentication or JSA?) I mean I can look at something and try to guess,and I can say "well I think it looks good" but I couldn't stand by that since I am not trained in this field. ( I am a nurse by trade - 30 yrs) Anyway it was just a thought because I had told myself that I WOULDNT buy anything unless it was PSA VERIFIED, but then I catch myself looking up autographs that I would like to get that have no authentication,and possibly wanting to buy them, but then thinking I may be a fool for doing so. I have in the past been interested in certain autographs and then I would submit a scan to the PSA/DNA Quick Opinion for them to take a look at it first (I figured it was worth that much), but everyone I had ever sent them came back "most likely not authentic". Maybe I just need to reign in my collecting hobby here a bit ,but I wanted to ask the experts on here what they think I should do? Should I (best bet) just ALWAYS rely on PSA/DNA??

And thanks for all the feedback from my posts!! -and  I know this was a long winded one, but I think this is a great site for the expert and the novice to get together and commiserate on autograph collecting, because it is that kind of "speculative" field that might take more than 1 opinion to really verify ones handwriting style!. 

P.S. ==> AND YOU ALL SHOULD TRY TO DECIPHER A  DR'S HANDWRITING SOMETIMES (  A TRANSCRIBED DR'S ORDER!!) ==> OMG - IT TAKES A VILLAGE OF COWORKERS GETTING TOGETHER TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THEY WROTE!!  LOL - I just had to include that thought guys - figured it might give you a chuckle.. =}