Newbie about Leland's
 

Newbie wants to know if Leland's are great authenticators. I assume they are. Whadayathink. Humor me

They certanily have a strong reputation and seem pretty damn good in baseball to me, though I have only scrutized a handful of their baseball autos. The recent post about faked Rocky Marciano letters mentions that they had sold several of those in the past.

If I were buying autographs blindly;i.e-I wanted an autograph but had no personal ability to tell what was real or otherwise, I would go to Lelands over ANY other major auction house.

Leland's stands behind their autographs. Last year I bought an autograph from them for around $1,500 - it has no COA from anyone, and I'm thrilled with it. But I do my own research in advance, and I felt certain about the autograph, irregardless of Leland's opinion.

Edited to add: I only mentioned the price to indicate that it was a big purchase, so a good example as a response to the OP - for me it was HUGE :)

I hope so
 

Yes

I've noticed some autographs in the current auction that look a little off. Cant say they are for sure fake though.

I have also seen some questionable autographs in Lelands, but fewer than the other AH's that have TPA's backing their autographs. The Lelands formula has been working fairly well. The real benefit to the buyer is that Lelands is doing their own authentication, so if you have a disagreement, it's with Lelands as opposed to JSA or PSA/DNA via the AH. It removes a layer.

I have never had a complaint with Lelands, but when I had a problem with a PSA/DNA authenticated forgery, the AH backed PSA/DNA and I was SOL. That's an AH I will never again buy an autograph through. I don't think they realize how badly they screwed themselves by saying "PSA says it's good, so go away". I guarantee you that the lost business through word of mouth, far outweighed what it would have cost them to have simply taken care of the problem.

As a person who bought a bad signature from Lelands, I just want to say I couldn't have been happier with the way they handled the situation and was completely satisfied when all was said and done. Great auction house that I would do business with any day. They stood behind their guarantees and couldn't have been nicer when I raised a question about the authenticity of an item I purchased.

Mike and Josh know more about autographs than anyone at PSA or JSA would ever know.

Thanks for all the GREAT replies.They have an outstanding reputation. They seem like good people to deal with

I agree that Leland's is the best of the best. I bought a Hoyt Wilhelm signed 1952 Topps from them via an eBay auction last year. The description was wrong in that it stated there was no paper loss on the reverse when there actually was quite a bit. I wasn't disappointed enough to want to return the card, but I did feel like the bidding went higher based on the inaccurate description. They asked me what would make it right and I requested a refund of $200 (of a $1200 purchase price). Without hesitation they agreed. Not many sellers would have acted in that manner. I'm now a loyal customer and always recommend them.

Jason