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Originally Posted by slidekellyslide
I pretty much assume that every autograph is bad now. The only autos that are good are ones you got in person, and as soon as you die or sell them they will be bad too.
I think the irony is that the people who start these threads all have some skin in the game and they are pushing people away from autograph collecting.
Are there any non-autograph collectors here who have thought about pursuing that hobby, but have now completely changed their mind? I know that I've toyed in the past with trying to collect all former Red Sox player autos, but I wouldn't even dare think about it now.
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Hi Dan. If you feel that my post here is out of line, please feel free to remove it and no hard feelings. I will try to keep this as short as possible.
I can tell you for a fact, Dan, that "I have absolutely no skin in the game." I do not own a website and I am not a major seller. I am a hobbyist.
I do what I do (whether on video or on a platform like this) because I care, and because I care, I have deep disdain for people like Chris Morales, Ted Taylor and Drew Max. One has the title of
"Forensic Investigator" and another one calls himself a
FDE (Forensic Document Examiner)." And the other one (Ted Taylor), before he started
"Stat Authentic," had to decide between being an authenticator or owning a hotdog stand.
Two years ago, out of the blue, tens of thousands of forgeries of Mantle, DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Muhammad Ali, Willie Mays, etc., flooded the market, all with COAs from yet another "forensic" person called Nicholas Burczyk (who never examined any sports autographs in the 1990's).
And how can we forget the GAI debacle and the Mike Baker signed GAI certs.
How can any hobbyist not be angered by what has happened to the hobby when it comes these "forensic authenticators" and the GAI mess.
Why is it difficult to believe that someone can just care about the hobby without having a vested interest? How can a true hobbyist not want to be vocal about the hobby that they claim they love and enjoy?
Unfortunately, what has happened, has probably pushed new autograph collectors away from the hobby. And that's really sad because the more collectors there are, the more activity there is in the hobby and it spurs competition, which is a good thing for the hobby.
There are a ton of authentic autographs for the active collector. Learn what you want to collect. Research what you want to collect and enjoy it for the short time we have on this earth.
And, Dan, I do what I do because I care.