Quote:
Originally Posted by Hankphenom
A few observations:
1) How good are you at your job? Are you perfect? Is everybody at your company perfect? I will take a wild leap and say that for just about everybody here, they're about as good at what they do as the top TPAs are at what they do. Are pilots perfect? Do you still fly? I rest my case.
2) However imperfect they might be, TPAs on both the card and autograph sides have cleaned up the hobby a LOT. I don't know the percentage, but I do know that collectors can rely on their purchases a hell of a lot more now than they could 25 years ago. Those of us who have been around that long know that it's the difference between night and day.
3) What's the total of forged cards discovered? And even granting there are many more forgeries that will never come to light, what's the total percentage of forgeries that have gotten past the top TPAs compared to the ones that haven't? I think a guess of 1% would probably be way too high.
4) In conclusion: when it comes to forgeries and fraud, things aren't perfect in our world, but they're so much better than before the TPGs came along. So how about we get back to enjoying the hobby. Or get out, if you can't stand the imperfection of it, that's everybody's choice. But for God's sake stop all the bitching and leave the rest of us alone.
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Hi Hank, it’s JoeT and I hope all is well. FYI, you are 100% correct regarding TPGs. Before we had them, Operetion Bullpen was the first extensive effort to try and clean up the hobby. While they did a decent job of weeding out numerous fake autographs, it wasn’t until the hobby adopted several TPGs that the autograph collecting market steamrolled ahead. No authentication process is perfect but the TPGs have instilled a strong level of confidence that has resulted in a very strong hobby as we stand today. This includes card graders and autograph/game used authenticators. Like you, I don’t expect everyone to sleep well at night with regard to the process being perfect, but it sure as hell stands light years ahead of where it was. Whenever there is serious money involved there will always be thieves (autograph forgery, card doctors, etc.), and collectors will simply have to move forward and work around the acts of these malicious scumbags. Corporate America has survived serious insider trading, Enron, etc., and the memorabilia circuit will likewise continue to forge ahead.
Happy New Year to you & your family!