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Authenticity is Everything
Third Party Authentication Services. Does it matter?
My Dad had a saying and it goes, "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?". The answer, of course, is yes. But does the sound matter?
This analogy can apply to autographs in today's marketplace. If a famous celebrity signs an autograph for a fan and no recognized third party authentication service can verify it, is it still authentic? The answer is yes but does it matter?
Agree with it or not, third party authentication services are here to stay and continue to have a profound influence on the hobby. Those who think otherwise are fooling themselves.
And when it comes time to sell you can expect that your buyer will likely expect your autograph to already be authenticated or will likely submit it to a TPA for verification. When that happens you may be blindsided by the results.
You may be the most honest person on the planet and your autograph may actually be authentic. But does it matter?
Not nearly as much as you think.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on
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This is a great discussion Joe. I believe there are two types of autograph collectors. There are those that take the time to study autographs every day and continue learning about the ones that they either have collected or want to collect. To those people, TPA opinions are basically worthless because it is realized it is only an opinion and many of us have studied certain signatures in more depth than the TPA's have. Then you have the casual " I want Paul McCartney's autograph" type, where they ONLY way they will consider anything, is if has a TPA cert. in that case, the paper is more important to them than the autograph, although in the end they believe the cert 100% guarantees the authenticity which we all know is not the case.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on
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+1!
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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on
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I could not agree with you more, terrier! But, the rub is there is far more who are casual collectors and then there are the students of the hobby. I believe I am a student as I keep learning more and more each day.
But, most collectors do sell regularly or occasionally to enhance their collection. That is when the reality of the marketplace becomes a factor. It is what it is.
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Permalink Reply by chris bedrum on
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Winner winner, chicken dinner. People who demand certs dont need to buy my items. Im happy to hold or wait and sell to somebody who knows what theyre buying. I set the terms of my sales at the end of the day. IF, by chance, I get a return - big deal - this has happened to me exactly once in the last 5 yrs.
I turned around and sold it for more to recover the “expenses” of the prior return.
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Permalink Reply by Beatleworld on
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Chris, you are the man...I hear and totally agree with you Brother !..100% correct way.
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Permalink Reply by Kelvin Anthony on
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You're right. PSA ain't getting my money either (even thought they have positioned themselves online to be the best TPA). For now, I'd go with JSA.
Question: If you did choose to use TPA services, which would you go for?
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Permalink Reply by Thomas William on
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I handle mostly historic autographs, inventors, early presidents, civil war, founders, documents, letters... I rarely am asked for authentication certs and I never use them. The collector of this material is for the most part very knowledgeable and buys or sells or experience. To me the big 2 authentication services are built around newer material where its hit or miss, sports, entertainment and music. I think the big 2 services saw an opportunity to monetize authenticating newer material and sell a product that gives the buyer some degree of assurance that the material is real. It has mushroomed into a must have now for many buyers of newer material and sellers are willing to pay up to move their inventory. Thankfully their are very good experts in the high end material, Beatles, Disney, Space etc....From what I see in sports, entertainment and music there is too much spurious material that often times passes authentication. If the client is willing to pay up, authenticate. Seems to happen quite a bit.
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Permalink Reply by Mr Mojo Risin on
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Any is better. Better is the experience of years... and your experience.
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+1
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Permalink Reply by Cory Clarkson on
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if beckett fails your item and you believe it's authentic and have several examples that support your case, what are the steps you take next? do you submit the item again? ask for a specific authenticator to examine your item? take it to psa or jsa? beckett failed this alfred hitchcock signed postcard, i've studied 100's of hitchcock's signatures and handwriting and i'm 100% sure this is authentic
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Your Alfred Hitchcock signature reminds me of an experience I had. A few years back I offered an Alfred Hitchcock signature on eBay. It was "removed". Within a few hours I was contacted by a well known, highly regarded Auction House I am certain every member here is familiar with. They said they were interested in the Hitchcock, noticed it had gotten removed, and was wondering if I would sell it to them directly. I said yes, it went on to find a new home, likely for a much higher price than I would have gotten.
Cory, if I were you I would try another service where you can get a quick opinion first and submit it when you get a positive response. I would never let one TPA service be the final voice if you are convinced it's genuine. If you get multiple bad reviews there may be a problem.
With that said, I've seen signatures fail authentication submitted by one person and then later get approved by a different submitter. How that happens is beyond me.
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