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Global Authentication Autograph Concerns [Title Edited]

[Moderator Note: This member, who is not using his actual name (which is not required), apparently has never been an authenticator for Global, which he claimed to have once been. While his opinions on the authenticity of the autographs he discusses may be correct, no consideration should be given to his other statements without verification.]

I decided to stroll through ebay and look at some autograph certified by the new Global Authentication. I don't know of any one single autograph collector that actually looks as a Global COA as worth anything. As a matter of fact, if I am looking at a higher end piece with a Global COA I double study it because I question the fact of why the seller would send it to Global instead of a real authenticator.

Here are a few forgeries with a Global COA. I know Steve Sipe is a member on this board and if this post gets me kicked off of here, than so be it. I am just about sick and tired of Global aiding these criminal forgers by giving them a pretty sicker and cert. to go along with their forgery. If you guys want to be treated like real authenticators, how about act like it.

Forger #1 ( listed on ebay for nearly 1000 dollars ) Make no mistake. This is a forgery.

What is even more confusing about this particular situation is you also authenticated this REAL TOM BRADY JERSEY BELOW. How can you authenticate the real autograph shown below and also say this obvious forgery is real?

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Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on August 14, 2013 at 3:20am

When I first started collecting many years ago I took 3rd party authentication with a pinch of salt as they seemed to often make mistakes. They still make mistakes and PSA and JSA etc are not perfect but definitely the best of the bunch for the mainstream authenticators.

However, for every one genuine item I see authenticated by GA and previously GAI there seem to be a lot more fakes. As such I will not touch any item by this organisation and believe they should be banned by eBay and investigated by the authorities and closed down.

I wonder Charles how much money Global make each year simply through the mass authenticating of any item and not declaring fakes like any reputable authenticator would.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on August 14, 2013 at 4:07am

Charles, to educated collectors seeing GAI or GA on an item gives it about as much credibility as seeing AAU on there.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on August 14, 2013 at 7:55am

Only area of sports autographs I'm familiar with (or can reasonable say are fake or real) is hockey. Here's a few great examples of forged Gretzkys selling on eBay right now:

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Permalink Reply by Steve Sipe on August 14, 2013 at 11:03am

Gretzky lays down more sigs at events than ANY modern day celebrity, these examples are genuine.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on August 14, 2013 at 11:10am

I don't think they are as I've had a lot of experience with Gretzky signatures. Even "rushed" his signature looks a lot better than this mess. There seem to be no good hockey authenticators (that includes PSA and JSA, as well as yourself) so many of these autographs are just passed through without any real expertise.

Here's a tip for you though: If the autograph is a on a fake/knock-off jersey, chances are it is fake.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Sipe on August 14, 2013 at 11:03am

Ahh yes the autograph magazine hate club at it's finest. Lets go through the list of items shall we Charles O' Brailey (who qualifies himself as a football expert but pretty weak on most anything else).

Tom Brady red jersey - Label is a bootlegged knock off just as the signature is

Tom Brady 2 is what you get when you get Tom Brady in person. When he is at home in LA he picks up his kids at day care in LA and is very good about signing if there are not 50 people standing there harassing him.

Michael Jordan jersey is an example from a recent golf tournament in Las Vegas and yes that is what kind of crappy signature you get at these events from MJ.

Lebron James - I agree with 100% on assessment and will have the team member who did it contact seller

Sandy Koufax - This is what you get from Sandy Koufax near the end of his two week stint in AZ at Spring Training. Some of the graphs that he was giving were actually WORSE than this and yes we were there and witnessed it.

Obama baseball is fine and who really gives a rats ass what PSA says?? They are clueless.

Palmer GAI Flag is an autopen generated by his assistant Gina in Florida.

Lyndon Johnson is fine (for a guy who is a football authenticator you are really stepping out on this one right?)

Andrew Luck is authentic and what you get from him currently. He has only changed his signature about 3-4 times thus far Charles you might want to update your exemplars pal.

Robert DeNiro is brutal and will be taken off eBay today, nice catch and the staff member who did this will eat it.

Pujols is an early career signature 100%

Matt Ryan is what you get from Matt currently.

Aaron Rodgers brutal - where is that from?

Jim Brown brutal as well.

Unless you are in the trenches Charles and know what is actually going on out there in the big bad world please understand that there is no rubber stamp and no green light for any one client as you seem to think. That is not something that I can say is true for the other two companies though.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Barack-Obama-Autographed-Signed-8x10-Photo-...

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Permalink Reply by Charles O'Brailey on August 14, 2013 at 11:48am

Sorry but on that Micheal Jordan, I will take a PSA opinion over yours. That Jordan looks like garbage and yes, I have looked at signatures in person and it looks nothing like this crap you stuck your sticker on.

You agree with me on the Lebron, glad to see you will address that.

As for the Tom Brady Jersey, that is a forgery all day long.

That Obama baseball isn't fine. It is a pathetic forgery and the fact that you call it fine shows how pathetic you are. First of all, whoever forged that ball was right handed. That is easily seen. The first thing I noticed when I looked at the Obama ball was that the forger was right handed. This is easily detectible by someone who knows hoe to authenticate. It is all in the slants.

If the Arnold Palmer is an autopen, why did you sticker it as authentic? Honestly, It doesn't even look like an autopen, but regardless....why does it have your coa and sticker?

That Sandy Koufax jersey is garbage. The mere fact that you say it is authentic, is a joke.

You say that Andrew Luck is real? I am a master authenticator of NFL signatures and I assure you that signature isn't authentic. It is a pathetic forgery.

You agree DeNiro is a forgery, glad you will address that with the ebay seller.

PuJols looks off, but then again i'm not an expert on current baseball players, so I am man enough to admit I could be wrong on this.

Jim Brown, you agree it is a forgery. Well it is on ebay with your COA.

All in all, your stuff is very questionable. Steve, I truly wish you would just honestly take your time and authenticate these things. I mean, i have nothing against you other than the fact that your company authenticates WAYYYYYY to many forgeries. I wish you guys could turn it around. If I were you I would change the name and ditch that COA that looks like the old GAI cert. I feel like if you take the time to do the right thing, you have a chance of making it. Obviously you have the resources to own a company....How about just start turning down the garbage.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on August 14, 2013 at 1:25pm

the pujols is a forgery. there are hundreds of this style out there.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on August 14, 2013 at 1:45pm

The owner of GA readily admits that 5 of the 13 signatures authenticated by GA during his ownership are forgeries and he himself described them as "brutal". Makes you wonder how many of the remaining 8 he thinks are authentic or are they just less than "brutal" forgeries?

The goes on to state, ".....who really gives a rats ass what PSA says?? They are clueless." Even though I am in agreement with Steve on that I still think him claiming it is pretty bold.

WOW!!!