Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on February 29, 2012 at 10:41pm

Just took a quick look at a couple pages. I can't speak to most of them, but, I'm not exactly seeing the traits I'd like to from the Lou Ferrigno and Sean Connery autographs.

Also, who would mass authenticate their stuff with GA for any other reason than for a mass rubber stamp? I'd probably be too skeptical to purchase from a seller with that kind of track record even if things seemed to look right.

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Permalink Reply by Michael T on April 3, 2012 at 10:08pm

The Lous are from Comic-Con 2010.  He was at some random booth (I cant quite remember which one but I have a shot of us at the booth at my website under 'scrapbook photos').

Not the friendliest guy but he signed a big stack of photos (we worked a good price) and he gave me his card and told me to contact him any time I want more graphs.

The Connery is from NYC years ago obtained in the street outside his hotel.

And now the comment about GA ( BTW I have no interest in starting a debate about authenticators):

I am certainly not going for a mass rubber stamp. But I will say that eBay is the SOLE reason I bothered to start using a 3rd party authenticator with our graphs. I knew it was a slippery slope but the writing was on the wall. I took a chance and went for it. And much to my surprise, prices for items started to climb. Based on that I decided to stay with it until such time as it didn't make sense.

To date far we have worked with JSA and GA/GAI. So far GA has had the best pricing, turn around time and customer service.

I am going to give PSA a try next. To be quite honest, the only reason I didn't add PSA to the mix yet is due to all the negative stories about their customer service. I recently decided to give them a try to find out for myself if the stories are true. Like Mike eluded to below, it was all about customer service.

I have written about this extensively on my website if you want a more detailed explanation.

I hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by DB on April 4, 2012 at 3:39am

Michael do provide links when you reference a website as it makes the hops that much easier and don't worry about getting into a debate about TPAs as we will help you along in that space.

U might also ensure you qualify different venues (i.e. Comic Con 2010 NY -vs- San Diego) as Lou appeared at the NY one I believe.

I'll also be keenly interested in u adding to my secretarial thread - http://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/secretarial-autograp... as I'd have to believe you have come across many in your dealings (& examples are greatly appreciated) along with insight from your view point. 

Will come back to the TPA discussion in time if I know the cast of characters as it's extremely key to ferret out the good from the not-so-good to the "your kidding, right" ones and even vertical slices within. 

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Permalink Reply by DB on April 4, 2012 at 4:29am

Thanks for the link.  He must have made both then will have to get back into the research machine.

The main theme is well done and rationale for doing it.

a couple of points on a few conclusions  (that perhaps needs a revision)

We have seen mistakes among all the main authenticators (GAI, GA, JSA & PSA, Online Authentics, ACE & PAAS). There are always rumors about them all and web sites dedicated to exposing what people think are mistakes made by each 3rd party authenticator. I think this will be the norm forever

No arguments about the mistakes but the real issue aside from making the mistake is they don't "void" the cert (ONLINE) for others to see that there is a problem with it? 

There are no rumors whatsoever on ACE & PAAS.  ACE has made the EBAY Banned list for apparent authenticity issues and PAAS signature certs, currently, while not on the banned list are being removed or so it seems (when last I checked).  GAI, as has been reported here simply "handed out" some 20 - 30k bogus certs many in sports with a number of non-authentic ones being reported here again and again.

There would also, IMO, need to be some significant clarification regarding "what people think" as from my viewpoint many here have been dead on more often than not with exposing many errors.  Why shouldn't they?  Hopefully, the owner (and we have had several stop in) have learned that what they own is not authentic.

As of late, there are a few blogs that are whining about the 3rd party authenticators and even showcasing some of their mistakes. It is a shame to see the mistakes but, nobody is perfect.

Not sure which blogs we speak of but as written I would include AML and we are excellent "whiners".  The last statement is the bothersome one as it's not about the mistake being discovered but what was done about it after it was discovered.  Typically, we find nothing was done.

and the last statement is 100% on target and is also part and parcel to the fundamental problem for collectors.;

We fully understand that many of our customers simply do not have the time or resources to learn about every autograph they want to collect.

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Permalink Reply by Michael T on April 4, 2012 at 11:04am

[Comment this replied to was deleted by the member who posted it.]

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on April 4, 2012 at 12:15pm

Lou Ferrigno not the friendliest guy? That must be why the autograph looked so terrible, perhaps you mistook him for any muscle-bound Hulk lurking around. No, but he's been very nice when I've met him, although I wasn't offering him cash to sign a stack of photos.

I don't have either of those autographs in front of me anymore but I remember they both looked pretty funky. One can argue that could easily be attributed to the in-person setting at the signing but who knows. You say you got each and every autograph up for sale on your eBay page yourself?

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Permalink Reply by Michael T on April 4, 2012 at 7:52pm

I don't want to be negative about Lou but he was not nice at all. My buddy who came along was kind of shocked. Almost annoyed it seemed and yes I bet the hearing issue is part of the problem. When I took a photo with him he put on a big fake happy smile. Kind of typical.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on April 5, 2012 at 4:45pm

I haven't met many, mostly basketball players, celebrities, but no one has ever not been nice to me. Perhaps that has to do with the fact that I carry an axe, heh. There are just different degrees of nice, but remember I'm not a professional autograph hunter either. Some celebrities get plenty tired of those.

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Permalink Reply by James Lafaman on April 5, 2012 at 5:03pm

99% of all celebs are nice. Very, very few are not. Almost everyone will stop and sign if you only ask for one. I have seen many who will sign multiples, even when they know the professional dealers. I have had only two bad experiences out of over 300+ in the last two years. One was Nikki Reed in the lobby of my building, who thought I was following her around. I explained that I worked in the building, had never seen her before and offered her a tour of our trading desk, but she was just nasty. I also met Chris Bosh at a summer home (which is a high rise) where I owned a unit. He was there for a photo shoot on a property that I partly owned and he ignored not only me, but my wife and a couple of kids who were there. There was maybe 5 people there and he wouldn't even acknowledge that we existed. That's two out of hundreds of very nice people. Recent examples of people who signed multiples for others while I was there were George Clooney, Poppy Montgomery, Nancy Travis, Patricia Heaton, Gary Oldman to name a few. All were very gracious with their time.  I met Shannon Doherty, Alyson Hannigan, Tori Spelling, Jim Abbott, Bernard King, and GG from Shahs of Sundance yesterday and each was nicer than the other. All signed one auto for me and each stopped for a photo. If you dress nicely, use proper autograph etiquette and conduct yourself in a polite and cordial manner, you will almost always have a good experience.

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Permalink Reply by DB on April 6, 2012 at 4:32am

I dunno if I agree with this.  Conducting yourself and proper etiquette does help.  Ever try to get andy rooney?  It's a love/hate relationship with fans.  Add to this the "professional" hounds and the agents & distributors and it is just plain difficult.  I've even seen friction at shows where they are "paid" to sign and they can be just plain onery.

While they are on their way up - they want the throngs and legions of followers but when they finally make the big time the attitudes change.

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Permalink Reply by James Lafaman on April 6, 2012 at 5:45am

Thankfully I have not met Andy Rooney :).  You are right about the chasers and the handlers. The handlers in fact are the ones that are usually not friendly. I guess, I have just been lucky then, because most (not all) of my experiences have been good ones. Even Shannon on Tuesday, who has a reputation for being very difficult. She could not have been nicer. Anyway, when I develop my film at month end after Chiller, I will post a few pictures.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on March 1, 2012 at 9:23am

Of course we're looking at the same page. I'm still not happy with the Lou Ferrigno. His signature doesn't look like that when you get him today in-person at the conventions and it didn't look like that, certainly, in the past. I have absolutely no idea about the others you brought up.

When I mentioned track record, I meant that GA was their track record. Even they know that GA isn't at the top of the totem pole, or else they'd say "GA" in the item listing instead of "COA" or "photo certified".

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