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Authenticity is Everything
JSA and PSA - what has happened?
First let me say , I have always been a proponent of 3rd party independent authentication, because I believe it curtails the forgery industry. And I still believe that.
However I have always had mixed feelings about the competency of these 3rd party authentication services. And sometimes their questionable competence is enough to drive me to Rant, on internet autograph forums… Here’s why:
1. It is a sloppy highly subjective process more than any other collecting genre.
2. After all these years, STILL No standards that the public is aware of, which 1. above is a product of.
3. Most Authenticators have no documented governing credentials.
4.There’s a “good ole boy” network of players that influence (often negatively) the autograph collecting industry. For example, the same autograph can fail from one source but Pass from a “network member” source. Just look at the examples below of PSA and JSA certified JFK signatures and note that some are a dead match to the one I sent JSA, that they could NOT authenticate. But, PSA ad JSA seem to authenticate countless cryptic very similar JFK signatures for autograph auction houses that offer high volumes of business for PSA and JSA.
A couple months ago I acquired a JFK Signed campaign insert (see below). I thoroughly researched it with Hamilton’s “JFK Robot” book, JFK Presidential appointments and letters, and PSA and JSA certified IN-person style signatures of that era (1960). And found Several highly consistent matches to the one below I sent to JSA. After about 4 weeks JSA returned mine with one of the “we can’t opin” letters and a credit of my $150 to use on future authentications. Not sure I’ll ever have to use it as my confidence with PSA and JSA has dwindled over the years. If you cant opin after 4 weeks with my JFK how can I expect you to authenticate other signatures?
One of the reasons I option for JSA over PSA is at least they will Opt out . Whereas my experience with PSA has been if they don’t know , they’ll just fail it and cash your check. But, that’s another story.
These repeating experiences with PSA and JSA has been the #1 reason I have gradually lost interest in autographs. I won’t use the word ”shady” but it is a highly flawed collecting genre with no reliable resource of "experts" to consult, far more vulnerable than any other genre I have experienced. And being born with Collecting ADD, Ive collected about everything over the past 35 years..
So today after getting Another “Cannot Opin” from JSA, I am truly dispirited with autograph collecting and selling.
And dont get me started on these self proclaimed "best in the business" chest thumpers... ,.... I'd just ask, based on what data or examination credentials ??
I guess I could always send this JFK Signed item into one of the auctions houses or dealers who have closer "relationship" with JSA or PSA and get an immediate letter of authenticity.
Rant over…
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tunky on
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Thanks. The strangest thing is PSA result -"questinable authenticity". I thought there were only two results: genuine or not genuine, and if they didn't know they would make refund.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on
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"Questionable Authenticity" is what they generally call autographs they don't believe are genuine.
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Permalink Reply by michelle on
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PSA said something along the lines that they were unable to issue a coa for a music item I recently purchased from r and r because, apparently , they could not render an opin on the autographs;- which personally I had not heard of before
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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on
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What did you do with it? Was it pre-certed or anything?
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Nothing;- I asked r and r to arrange for the psa coa so was really surprised when r and r told me that PSA were unable to issue it. It had been pre-certtified by roger. Its quite a popular group which is all the more strange;- altho I cant find any other vintage examples of sigs ;- but then i am not a coa authenticator. According to r and r, it is not uncommon for a coa authenticator to be unable to render an opin??!!
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If a TPA doesn't feel qualified to properly authenticate something, they should pass on it. Better that than give an opinion on a piece they don't have the proper expertise in.
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Permalink Reply by just some dude on
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Amen to this rant. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't, ultimately twisting the free market in favor of forgers in my opinion. To the uneducated, given a choice between either a fake COA / super cheap forgery and a legit unauthenticated graph priced reasonably, who do you think that buyer is going to choose to do business with? Just like politics, sadly, there's too much money to be made under the covers. Sucks.
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Permalink Reply by marc e on
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the tps have f cked things becuase u cant sell it to general public without there blessing even if its real.
and u have to pay them to guess if its real so they cant take a real 1k value autograph and make it worthless
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Yes and Yes. Thankfully not all like Kool Aid or...promotional bandaids.
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but people sell to the 99.99 percent of people who must have a coa and if u ever try to sell your stuff and they say its not real it becomes worthless
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I am sure. No one I have ever sold to has requested any paper of any kind - I am very lucky (and very picky).
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Permalink Reply by kevin conway on
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Another sad ramification of 3rd party for profit , is they have turned what was Suppose to be a stress free , employable experience and escape from the unpleasantries of everyday Life and turned it into a very stressful, costly, and based on my experience yesterday, quite miserable experience.. Particularly these relatively new “leave you in limbo” results or worse “fail because we're not sure but we still take your money anyway”.
Maybe another factor in WHY the autograph collecting hobby has severely declined in the past 10 years… The people and businesses that were created solely to protect the public, are becoming as bad or worse than the scoundrels they were suppose to protect us from .. MY collecting and selling was about 50% autographs 10 years ago. Now , it is only 10-20%. Next year about 10% or less. I have much more fun and much more reliabliity with antique posters, vintage toys, political memorabilia, (UNSIGNED) sports memorabilia , etc etc. But, I once loved autograph collecting, long before it became toxic !
Why engage in such a hobby. If I want to get stressed out, discouraged and angry , I'll watch CNN..! :)
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