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What has happened to PSA/DNA Authentication??

This 1967 Red Sox Team signed baseball is being advertised as "the finest example on earth". If I were making a statement like that, I would want it to be associated with an item that contained authentic signatures. That is not the case here, despite the fact that PSA/DNA has deemed this ball "authentic".

You have to look no than the two keys, Yaz and Tony C., to realize this ball has several "clubhouse" signatures.

Here is the laughable Yaz:

Now look at the Tony Conigliaro:

Here is the PSA cert:

For comparison, here are authentic Yaz and Tony C signatures from the same time period:

I realize that all the TPA's make mistakes, but there is no excuse for this ridiculous opinion. In addition to the two keys, there are other clubhouse signatures on the ball that are not identified as such.

This ball is currently being listed on Ebay for almost 10K, and on Steiner Sports for over 15K.

It is entirely possible that someone with cash to spare, and who is a huge Red Sox fan, could splurge and go for this because of the PSA cert, and the Steiner name and reputation.

My message to not just PSA/DNA but all legitimate TPA's. You are doing no one a favor by putting your name on something that you are not certain, based on years of education and studying, is authentic. You all need to get better!

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on December 7, 2019 at 1:00pm

Steve, you are correct. This ball is loaded with clubhouse signatures. But even if you are not well versed in some of the minor players on the ball, the Yaz and Conigliaro should be signatures that you can authenticate. This is very difficult to understand. Who is doing the authenticating over there now?

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 7, 2019 at 1:01pm

That's a good question, Terrier.

This is very disappointing.

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Permalink Reply by John Spillane on December 7, 2019 at 4:16pm

Terrier, I wanted to thank you as well. This is very unfortunate, yet enlightening. I always considered PSA a pretty sure thing with the sports autographs. I know mistakes happen. I wonder if they know of this? Is this an isolated incident? Or is this something that needs to be seriously addressed from within.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on December 7, 2019 at 4:59pm

John, I wouldn't say this is an isolated incident. Years ago, I used a lot of PSA/DNA's certed items when I was studying many of the autographs that I feel comfortable with today. But its like when you catch your best friend or spouse in a lie.......how do you know what to trust going forward? Unfortunately, I feel that way about TPA's in general. Which is a sad statement.

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Permalink Reply by Woody2Shoes on December 8, 2019 at 9:24am

Steve wrote: "So many of these signatures look to be in the same hand, how did they let this get through!"

This. Unmistakably the same penmanship. Or should I say penman's shi*.

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Permalink Reply by James on December 7, 2019 at 2:34pm

Terrier, I’m really glad you posted this discussion. I wonder if anyone from PSA looks through this website. Probably not. But it actually would be beneficial to them to know about this. They really need to up their game. Sports, and probably especially baseball, used to be the area of their expertise you could count on.

I know there are tons of celebrity autographs to keep up on, but this is their job! There’s a lot in medicine for doctors to keep up on too, but it is their responsibility to be aware of the latest medical discoveries. Again...it’s their job.

The ones who work there should be studying autographs all the time. PSA makes a lot of money at their trade, so it shouldn’t be asking too much from us to have PSA stay competent. Lots of money is riding on their decisions.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on December 7, 2019 at 3:19pm

Thanks James. I see mistakes all the time, but this one really got to me, as the signatures are not even close, the price is outrageous, and the self-proclamation about being "the finest on earth" made me laugh out loud.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel S. on December 7, 2019 at 3:38pm

James, I have emailed them twice and included a link to our discussions on the blatant abuse of fraudulent loa’s by NGU. Marlene indicated my note was passed on to the management team but no follow-up. I have considered contacting Joe Orlando directly. These type of mistakes end up costing them as well.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 7, 2019 at 3:56pm

I did the same thing in reference to some Topps forged/counterfeit card.

I did receive an acknowledgement.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel S. on December 7, 2019 at 4:02pm

Imo, for a company that large (the parent company Collectors Universe) their processes would benefit greatly from a comprehensive Six Sigma review. CGC has very comparable inefficiencies.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel S. on December 9, 2019 at 10:53am

Pushed harder on my inquiry on NGU Memorabilia and received an official position from the PSA DNA “Management Team”.

“We appreciate concerned submitters like yourself making us aware of websites and e-stores selling bad PSA merchandise. At the end of the day, if the liveauctioneers website chooses to host their site it is out of our control.”

i just love it when someone takes ownership of a problem and sees that it is resolved appropriately! Yeah, just like DuPont did. Unbelievable!