Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dane on June 8, 2015 at 3:43am

He's one of the top authenticators in the business, which is why he's the lead authenticator for PSA.

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Permalink Reply by Cory Clarkson on June 8, 2015 at 7:52am

http://haulsofshame.com/blog/?p=31948

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Permalink Reply by elgeedublu on June 8, 2015 at 8:08am

For what it's worth: I talked to an established, fairly well-known memorabilia dealer recently who advised he was cutting ties with PSA as much as possible because of "recent things they've done to collectors" but then specifically stated "Pawn Stars and being on TV and all that went to Steve Grad's head".......I also know that Grad recently blew authenticating an autograph I obtained in person........just passin' it along!

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Permalink Reply by Dane on June 8, 2015 at 1:09pm

If you don't mind my asking, how do you know Grad was the one who failed the item?

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Permalink Reply by elgeedublu on June 8, 2015 at 8:21pm

Dane, someone who would know the "behind-the-scenes" at this event/location (it was on-site submission, not mail) told me that Grad was the authenticator for the event.  He could have been mistaken, I guess, or maybe he was misinformed, but he seemed to "know" that Grad was doing the authentications.  I guess to be precise I should say that "my understanding is that Grad failed a submission I obtained in person"...I have nothing against Grad, he could be a real expert and a great guy; but I do know that SOMEBODY really "missed" the auto--the PSA people showed me the authenticator's notes on the submission, and they were WAY off........OK, I'm done......

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Permalink Reply by Mike T on June 8, 2015 at 5:00pm

Funny, a dealer at comic con this year with binders full of forgeries told me the same story. Gee, I wonder why he doesn't like PSA.

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Permalink Reply by Paul on June 8, 2015 at 8:52pm

Which was the graph you had obtained in person that failed.Elg

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Permalink Reply by Paul on June 8, 2015 at 8:57pm

Let's get Roger on pawn stars give him a hair cut first.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on June 9, 2015 at 3:50pm

Elgeedublu,

What event was it? Please post your in-person autograph they failed.

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Permalink Reply by elgeedublu on June 9, 2015 at 9:31pm

Steve, I asked for opinions on it in another Group (I wanted collector input since PSA failed it), but since that post isn't exactly setting the collector community on fire, I'm attaching a photo....I personally obtained this from Koufax at Spring Training on March 1 this year.  He had signed maybe 200-300 autos that morning before this, and he appeared a bit tired, but he took considerable care in signing this particular photo--I know his signature fairly well, and I felt there were enough characteristics that it should have passed no problem--the "S" is right, including the little "tail" where he started it at the bottom (it was actually quite an impressive "flourish" movement in person!), as well as the shape of the loop in the "S", and the "andy" is fairly typical.  The "K" is not typical, but I also got him to sign something earlier that day, and he didn't connect the two "sides" of that one either; must have been his mood.....the "fax" is trademark Koufax (he usually skips the "a"), and the overly large loop in the "x" was seen on several other things he signed that day as well--many of us compared.  But "someone" at PSA failed it, and again, I saw the authenticator's notes, and six or seven of the ten or so rating characteristics had been checked off as problems, and it had also been specifically noted, "Koufax no good," which I found particularly galling, as the man signed it right in front of me.  I'll end this rambling by noting that another Forum string discussing Koufax and Spring Training autos includes a photo of the common pic of Koufax holding the four "no-hitter" balls, and I can't BELIEVE that the auto on that was passed by PSA and mine did not.......I'm starting to think this whole authentication thing is generally pretty much of a waste.

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Permalink Reply by Paul on June 9, 2015 at 9:41pm

It looks like the baseball he is pointing to Koufax, the scans I posted. I'm so out of the loop being Australian.
But it seems to me if it's a big company it must be hard to oversee all the authenticators.

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Permalink Reply by Dane on June 12, 2015 at 2:44pm

I would think that maybe it got failed due to the shakiness of the K within the context of the rest looking really smooth. Maybe you could email Steve or Joe and show them the scan of the item and a receipt from the event, so they'd have some reason to reconsider.

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