[sbfinley]

In the past couple of years my collection has focused on extensively on signed cards. In that time the services offered by the main three TPA companies has been in constant flux (flip changes, price changes, head of authentication, etc.) Thus as someone with a desire for uniformity - I'm currently looking at a collection spread across three separate services with even more different flips. I was an SGC guy until Spence left and they dropped the classic green flips for autos. Then I settled on PSA blue flips and they jacked that to kingdom come with the "trading card" designation. Prices are rising ($20 just to upgrade blue flips to red) and the companies are in such flux at the moment that I'm just ready to crack everything free and just go unauthenticated.

So here's the question: How much am I devaluing the future of a signed card collection if I chose to avoid TPA services going forward?

For reference, I'm not asking about $5-$50 autos. I rarely have them authenticated unless it's a newer star now that I can't get into blue flip subs for <$10. Let's talk signed cards of tough, deceased, and Hall of Famers with rough value between $300-$2500. Personally, I don't need the TPA to be happy. I don't display them other than online albums and clean one touch magnetics would suit my uniformity just fine. In the future, however, I'm afraid that I'd be leaving both money and prospective buyers on the table with a large raw collection.

Would I be making a huge mistake cracking all these cards out?