Some third party authentication companies will glance at your autographed memorbillia and instantly tell you it's not genuine, but not before charging you a huge fee to do so.
Make Sure You Do Not Fall Victim to Third Party Authentication Companies.
High-Profile Autograph Authenticating Co. Their Service Has Been Costly To Coilectors
How many times over the years do we have to read these same type stories and uneducated collectors get scammed. The following is sophomoric article where no excuse can be accepted. PSA/DNA is red-faced AGAIN.
Some seller of autographs sends their signature of Edward Teller to be authenticated and paid an additional for the autograph to be placed in a plastic coffin. After paying for this, if you want to call it a service, and paying the fees for the eBay service, the seller will eventually be in for a big surprise.
EDWARD TELLER ON EBAY – PSA AUTHENTICATED
With the slightest bit of research on the part of the authenticating company, it is very easy to discover that the autograph in question has been signed by the Autopen machine. It was not hand signed by Edward Teller, therefore it is not a genuine signature and has very little or no value. Most important is to realize this seller on eBay has 59,309 feedbacks. SO FEEDBACKS MEAN NOTHING!
The cost of what in my opinion is the best modern day autograph reference book is only $45.00.
The book is published by McFarland, contains 416 pages of valuable information and is chock full of illustrations. MOST INFORMATION WLL BE FOUND NOWHERE ELSE! The author is the well respected autograph expert Ron Keurajian.
Highly Recommended Autograph Reference Book
Ron is also the author of the best-selling autograph reference book Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs, A Reference Guide which contains a forward by Fay Vincent, Commissioner of Baseball.
The following article can be found in Section: Mechanics, Medicine and Molecules: Science Page 238.
It is my opinion, that if you don’t own this autograph reference guide,
- You should not be collecting autographs.
- You should not be selling autographs.
- You shoud not be auctioning autographs.
- You certainly should not be authenticating autographs.
Illustrated below is one more example of many being offered on eBay that is not genuine. This seller has 7983 feedbacks. AGAIN, THE NUMBER OF FEEDBACKS MEANS NOTHING! This is one of many reasons not to purchase an item on eBay unless you are an expert at authenticating autographs. A better reason is to avoid any autograph that comes with a COA from most any company who CLAIMS to authenticate autographs.
Just about anyone, including a young child can see that the signature in the PSA coffin illustrated above is a 100% match from the one illustrated n Ron Keurajian’s book
So why can’t the “experts” at PSA get it right?
What’s hard to believe it is the very same Autopen of Teller that is illustrated at the beginning of this article and also certified by PSA/DNA as genuine.
What is unacceptable is that PSDA/DNA already had a Autopen signature in their files that they earlier authenticated as genuine. When their “expert” that did the “research” to authenticate the second Teller autograph, wasn’t their ”expert/professional” able to see that the one they are now authenticating, 100% matches the top one they already authenticated? Do they even have files? I would personally like to see their files, and I will be asking!
Who is and has been authenticating signatures at PSA/DNA? This is about time we will try and find out!
AT ONE TIME, A CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF PAS/DNA TOLD ME THE FOLLOWINH: "....AS A MATTER OF PUBLIC RECORD, COLLECTORS UNIVERSE PAID OVER $300,000 IN THE 12 MONTHS ENDING JUNE......FOR ERRORS...."
I can assure readers of this article that since 1982, I have personally written thirteen reference books on autograph collecting. Not one of the high-profile companies who claim to authenticate autographs has ordered even one copy.
So, what EXEMPLARS are they using to authenticate autographs? If they actually have hard exemplars, how do they know if they are genuine examples. Or NOT!
From personal experience, I have visited an outfit that is authenticating autographs. I was shocked to witness the authenticator matching the item he was paid to authenticated and his only reference file was to use eBay to see their examples. His COA’s can be found on eBay, regularly. Any person imitating an autograph authenticator who only checks eBay to match an example will end up with the results printed above.
The many genuine autograph experts I have talked to who are members of “PADAH” (Preferred Autograph Dealers and Auction Houses) all agree that the plethora of mistakes made by these so called companies who claim to authenticate have brought this hobby back to the late 1980’s. Many collectors who have had terrible experiences with autograph authenticators have chosen to leave the hobby. For lack of collector support, some autograph dealers have closed shop. All this, and not to even mention the history of authenticating companies black listing certain autograph dealers because they won’t utilize their services.
Results, many items listed by a dozen or so professional autograph dealers are having their items turned down as NOT authentic or unable to authenticate.
This is one sad state of affairs that needs to be investigated by law enforcement.
A barber who gives a $20 haircut is required to have a license. A so-called “expert” attempting to authenticate autographs can charge up to several hundred dollars and all they need is a pile of blank COA’s and some postage stamps.
Autograph Companies Do Not Authenticate Autographs, People Do!
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