[painthistorian]

After reading recent posts, and being that I was around a long time in this hobby/business, here is a quick summary of what I think really is important to the industry regarding autographs:

Pre TPG's-It was the wild west....a collector had to rely and know people that actually handled many type of autographs such as Charles Hamilton, Robert White, Max Schraeger, Bill P.(long last name, very knowledgable), Richard Simon, Lawrence(from Westbury, LI that runs monthly auctions, forgot his last name), but even then, there were many "experts" that were BS...some even ran large autograph auctions and had an agenda in that they graded their own sales merchandise and authenticated their own auction items!

Since TPG-Its has been better in that most of the crap has been filtered out and even if TPG make errors, they do have a larger exemplar file than the average collector. FUNDAMENTALLY, AUTOGRAPHS NOT RECEIVED in person or from legal/government documents are a leap of faith to some degree. The major authenticators now, well none of these guys were in the hobby before 1980's and they started as collectors, they just spent lots more time in acquiring knowledge and files. Unfortunately, some of their findings were and are wrong but that was always a problem....

"Reputable Companies" like PSA,SGC,Beckett,JSA...well most of the graders are very knowledgable, have acquired vast libraries of historical item sample. If collectors require certs, those that issue the certs with siome educated opinion deserve to be paid for their educated opinions and time depending on Supply(time) vs. Demand(the need to get a cert) and what the free market will bear.
If a collector wants them to do a thorough examination to get his "CERT" then it makes sense with the very nature of that part of the collectible world, that the THE BUYER should do their homework also. THE NATURE OF THE BUSINESS IS STILL CAVIET EMPTOR. DONT BUY ANYTHING unless you feel the percentages are vastly are in your favor FIRST! By not educating yourselves, you are MORE dependent on 3rd party graders and hence the more the cost of the grading will be...

It is IMPERATIVE for collectors to educate themselves going forward and look at as many public exemplars as possible, talk to quality & reliable dealers that have been around over 30+ years and have seen more items, just to have some check & balances if you plan to plunk down real $$$...It is better now than it was but its still a leap of faith and the free market will determine future prices and demand depending on these mentioned factors.