Photo Authentication
 

Why on earth does PSA charge like 5x the money to grade a card than to identify a photo type (non encapsulated)?

They are seriously missing the opportunity to develop an entire new market IMHO,

They're authenticating often unique or near-unique items (not the 7,000+ 1989 Griffey Jr they've examined), and often have to analyze and often research the stamping on back and identify the image.

I don't know anything about the pricing, but will testify that they do a good job at authentication/identification of photos. One is safe buying a PSA-ed photo.

Wow ... that's a bold statement.

You think PSA doesn't charge you enough in id'ing for you a photo into a type system, that has enough holes in it to drive a large axle'd truck through?

Does anyone really need photo authentication? It seems like a service like that would only exist for people who have no idea what they've got. If you're in the hobby and collect photos it is usually no problem for you to tell restrike from original.

I don’t necessarily disagree with that but it is always nice to have third party authentication. But 50 bucks for a letter where most of the time they are probably spending like 10 minutes on it seems a bit much. I would understand the fee on encapsulated photos but just a letter ummmmm no. I’ve got two photos with authentication but I bought them that way. The rest of my collection has zip and at 50 bucks a pop it will stay that way.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

I have thought and said the exact same, though am also aware that I'm a photo person and others are not.

And true.

I'm no PSA fan and don't like the type system, but they do a good job.

And accurate

.

Yes

I agree that the new holders look cool and I have dozens of photos I’d probably like to get authenticated someday ...but every time I see the charge I keep walking.

I also figure (maybe wrongly) I would wait months on end to get them back. Hard to justify ... particularly since Henry lives in my hood.

I recently got the chance to sit down with Henry at PSA in NJ. What a great guy. Learned a bunch and got more confidence that I am looking for the right things with photos. Dropped off 12 photos to get authenticated. He said it would take about a month.

+1

Most people can get most photos right by educating themselves. I will testify that I have seen millions of photos and I learn new stuff about the genre and photography all the time.

There are some very subtle nuances between some Type 1 and Type 3 examples for example. Some high end Type 3 images are VERY clear.

A big part of what PSA does is sift through fakes people buy on ebay. There are more fake Marilyn Monroe photos out there for example than you would think. People buy old stock photo paper from the 1960's-1970's and use high quality printers to make these and they are VERY convincing if you don't know what to look for.

If you have a properly stamped photo from a major new service then yes, you could do it all yourself and if you buy from reputable dealers. There are times though where you need to have a second set of eyes on an image, especially if it is a really high end piece.

Not speaking to the cost at all, just the necessity of experts in the field and Henry does a great job!

My bad photo of this McGraw notwithstanding, I just like how they look in the holders. Given the prices, I certainly prefer to buy them already encapsulated however. :)

Does anyone really need card authentication? It seems like a service like that would only exist for people who have no idea what they've got. If you're in the hobby and collect cards it is usually no problem for you to tell reprint from original.

Very well played!

+1

As interest in the photo niche deepens and expands, and values continue to grow, the incentive for fakes and fraud increases dramatically... like it always does when anything collected starts attracting more serious investment.

I believe that there are many reasons to have an experienced third party expert examine and evaluate your photographs. However, many photo collectors seem to not yet see the value in this. Perhaps that will change as the market matures.

If those third parties can't or won't get it right for cards, what makes you believe they will get it right for photos?

They do a good job at authentication. It's the grading (which includes alterations identification) where they're unreliable.

The best solution may or may not come from one of "those" third parties. The photography market is pretty vast, and other alternatives for photo collectors might become available.

I guess what bugs me about the whole thing is the idea that a third party is needed for even rather ordinary items. Items that aren't hard to authenticate.


Photos are pretty easy and only the semi-crazy type system really causes a need for any help. It's not like figuring out if a painting is Picasso or just some kid with no supervision.

I get why someone who makes enough to spend huge money on a photo won't take the time to learn the little bit it takes to tell if it's old or not. But I think they do themselves a disservice if they don't learn that stuff. And yes, that applies to pretty much ALL collectibles, I'll take my chances with inexpensive items but if I was going to spend upwards of $10,000 I'd be really sure I knew enough about whatever it is.

And I also wonder how well any TPA will do when they end up getting pushed for time.
The worst aspect to the whole TPA business when it comes to cards is how little time they spend on an item and how as "experts" they've backed off on providing an opinion on items they find difficult. If they can't manage to get the difficult stuff, or even mildly difficult stuff like 62 green tints, to the point where they won't do that anymore... why would I use them for the really easy stuff.