Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 8, 2012 at 5:33am

The post on the Harwell auction is here, but the company mentioned is Great Lakes Auctions in MI.

http://live.autographmagazine.com/profiles/blog/show?id=3524372%3AB...

Comment by Harold Stevens on October 9, 2012 at 1:41am

This site is not about fact checking, but rather bashing autograph authenticators who make mistakes once in a while.  Facts don't matter and while some authenticators get called out for every error, others never do.  I am leaving names/companies out of the mix in hopes that this post doesn't get immediately erased, which I am sure it will.  I personally only own 1 authenticated autograph which is a UDA Michael Jordan basketball.  I own hundreds of autographs which I collected/got in person back in the days when Ted Willaims charged $20 an Auto.  While I do think authenticators make a ton of errors and do keep certain rogue companies in business, there hundreds/thousands of small dealers who mean the best and use these  companies because they are ethical people who are trying to do the best they can.  I am not talking about the big dealers who basically pay to get items passed, but the smaller ones. They get items authenticated to raise the value so they can actually stay in business.  Bashing authenticators only hurts these small businesses as customers do Google searches and think authenticators aren't reliable.  I'm not talking solely about this site, just in general.  People on here preach how customers need to be educated and not buy junk, but at the same time the people bash authenticators who are correct 99.5% of the time (the good authenticators , and I'm talking about well known HOF autographs, I'm not talking about current celebs) and this bashing makes customers think authenticated items are a rip off.

I guess my whole point is that the blame need to be put on the collector and not the authenticators.  I definitely feel that this site bashes certain companies EXTREMELY unfairly and we all know a certain company can not be mentioned who makes more errors than almost anyone, and I'm sure this post will be deleted for that comment.  Again, for the most part I am anti-authentication as I know what is real.  What i do like is that I can get autographs that aren't authenticated for really cheap which I love as a collector.  I just really wish that people on here would be more positive.  It's easy to point out the few errors and ignore the thousands/millions of authentications the companies got right.  Again, I am not talking about the  bad companies, but the honest ones.  I don't feel it is right to mention names on here as I don't want to bash anyone.  Hopefully there can be some positive reviews of authenticators as reading this site has become a bit boring as it is just people who have way too much time on their hands who spend all day looking for mistakes.  I am sure I will get bashed for my comments, but let's not forget about all the good authenticators have done.  eBay has cleaned up a ton (i am not pro eBay) and authenticators have saved collectors a lot more money than they have cost them.  What I don't understand is that when it all comes down to it, except for the horrible companies who take money to pass items they know are fake, authenticators do clean up the marketplace.  Also, we are talking about stupid collectibles which in essence mean nothing!  If you have enough spare money to collect  autographs and hang it on the wall and enjoy it and think it is real because company X says it's real then GREAT!  Why not let those people enjoy their collections?  With the horrible condition which the world is in the last thing people need to do is go insane over crazy posts who point out every error companies make.  I often wonder about the ethics of people who post such things and wonder if they have another agenda and we all know that certain people do.  Anyways, that was just a lot of typing for something that will get removed!

Comment by CJCollector on October 9, 2012 at 1:41pm

Mr. Stevens, your comments would be much easier to read if you broke it up into paragraphs.

Second, what the heck is the point of your rant?  What are you ranting against?  Please be more specific.

This is directed at Mr. Cielak.  What is the purpose of this thread?

Comment by Peter leone on October 9, 2012 at 1:48pm

Ha, I fell asleep after the first line of this, can someone sum this up and make it easier to understand?

Comment by Carl Ryan on October 19, 2012 at 3:34pm

Harold, after reading that i have to say what was the point? Every now and then someone comes along and says the same old song and dance on every single autograph website you go to. No exceptions. If their is a blog, their is always someone leaving comments like this. They make no sense and really dont know what they are talking about.

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