Posted By:
Hagar HendersonI'm not sure why people are surprised by this. You can read the same stories about any authenticating service. Does anyone else remember when James Spence got busted by Fox News for authenticating a forged Sal Bando autograph? (this seems to be Sal Bando's biggest claim to fame, LOL). There's a whole website here bashing PSA and some of the big auction houses:
http://www.autographalert.com/2005-3-6.html
Think reasonably about the task at hand. These companies will authenticate anything from Babe Ruth to former Presidents and Playboy Bunnies. How can you assemble a team of 5 or 6 authenticators that are "experts" on everyone's autograph? I have a good collection of Mantle signatures, 75% of them I received in person. I've spent countless hours looking at real Mantle signatures and I've seen some alleged forgeries that would have passed right by me as authentic. I don't feel qualified to authenticate The Mick's signature despite my experience with his autographs. Now, with that said, how can these companies be so educated on every athlete or celebrity? The answer of course is that they cannot. Authentication companies are doing nothing but guessing. People should be smart enough to realize this. These companies charge high fees and deal in high volume and they accept signatures from anyone. I could submit a Hagar Henderson autograph and they would put a COA on it. It's all a racket.
Since they are all just guessing, I don't think any company is better than any other. A forensic handwriting expert could easily spend 10 hours validating one piece of handwriting for a court case. These authentication companies couldn't spend more than 15 or 20 minutes each. The best way to get an authentic signature is to do your own research on each item you are considering purchasing.