What is PSA doing?

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Posted By: dapitboss

How in the world could PSA/DNA authenticate a Muhammad Ali signature that looks like this. Are you telling me that they have examples to go off of that look like this. I think that my five year old son could just submitt some scribble and get it through them. This is absolutely ridiculus.

Ebay #8727689932

http://cgi.ebay.com/MUHAMMAD-ALI-AUTOGRAPHED-8-X-10-PHOTO-PSA-DNA-W-LOA_W0QQitemZ8727689932QQcategoryZ27273QQrdZ1QQcmd ZViewItem

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Posted By: tbob

Wow, compare that to his autographs of just 5 years or so ago. I guess his condition must really be worsening.

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Posted By: Anthony

There was an article in the LA TImes a few weeks ago quoting his daughter as saying he'd really taken a turn for the worse. Just too sad, I've never heard anything but great things from people that have met him.
I guess if the autograph is authentic they have to certify it, but it wouldn't be the one most would want to add to their collection.

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Posted By: Alan

probably an in person authentication. Ali probably signed it and then they affixed the sticker immediately afterwards. For a man in his condition, still gracious enough to sign, they probably set something up where he would sign as many as he could with a PSA rep present so that if he dies soon, or otherwise incapacitated, we can still have some real auto'd pics of the man. my two cents.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

like sign your nsme---answer questions under pressure--much harder than they normally would be. Having to write by itself makes your hands shake. (The disease can affect you physically or both mentally and physically). Bob has it. A real drag.

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Posted By: leon

Hey dapitboss,
You need to make yourself known if you start threads like this, please. Nothing personal it's just a board rule...thanks a lot......moderator dude

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Posted By: RC McKenzie

I am not a patron of psa and would never submit stuff to them, but in this case they are just verifying his signature. My signature is not much far afield from that Ali sig.

The worst celebrity sig I've seen is Nigel Mansell's. I love F1 but it looks like the guy spent 5 minutes on his sig.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

The in-person story makes the most sense, as I don't see how they could otherwise authenticate it. My Lennox Lewis in-person autograph looks far worse than most "authentic" LL autographs I've seen--he was signing while walking wearing hand wraps. My point is that I could never get it authenticated because of how it looks even though I know it is real because I was standing there while he signed it.

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Posted By: Bill Stone

It looks remarkably like a 1922 Howard Cosell signature ---I hope PSA got this right.

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Posted By: DJ

My best guess is that it came from a reputable and trusted source and PSA/DNA, knowing the source gave it the thumbs up. Ali hasn't done a public signing in over four years (where he charged $450+ per signature and the signature wasn't tis horrid). The problem with authenticating goes that if someone that wasn't a trusted source or friend of PSA/DNA, this piece would probably fail or be rendered without an opinion.

I have met Muhammad Ali a number of times and even met him as far back as two years ago and must say that while his conditioned has worsened over years, this is without question the worst Ali signature I have ever seen.

DJ

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Posted By: David Throb

Sorry Leon

DJ So you are saying that PSA authenticates based on their relationship with thier submitters and not on the merit of the autograph? That sounds really shady.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

PSA, Spence and probably GAI do in person signings, where the autographs are witnessed by the companies.