Quote:
Originally Posted by Pickles
It is easy to get discouraged (Hauls of Shame) about some of the stuff that goes on in the hobby, and, without interaction, it is even easier to be cynical about motives by TPAs, auction houses, etc, who do have a lot of skin in the game. I'd like to think that carrying out this discussions allow the INDIVIDUALS a voice whcih, when compiled can be a greater voice. Thanks for taking te time to put thoughts. I may not agree with them all, but they are respected
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Good points. The HOS articles about Ruth forgeries are very good, and well worth your time to read - Nash steals a lot of stuff from our forum, and also from discussions he has 1st or 2nd-hand with experts in the hobby, some of whom he credits, and others he doesn't, but he knows who is worth stealing from.
I don't know one way or the other if the two main TPA's are experts. The fact that they authenticate obvious forgeries makes me wonder; however, it could be that they are motivated by other things that end up masking their expertise. Regarding AH's that sell obvious forgeries, it is important to understand that they really can't auction expensive autographs that do not come with COA's - Lelands tried it for a while, and I bought most of my autographs from them back then, but most collectors require the security of a COA. Having said that, once an auction house chooses a TPA to be their authenticator, they have to go with the TPA's opinion. I have contacted a few of the large AH's when I was positive they were auctioning a forgery that had a PSA or JSA COA, but they felt that their hands were tied - they either accept everything the TPA tells them, or they fire them. Is their some collusion going on that fills the pockets of both? Probably. But it really comes down to collectors accepting the TPA's and paying for their pieces of paper.
Finally, compiled individual voices in this autograph sub-forum do not create a "greater voice" - it creates a compilation of voices of various knowledge levels, some that sound very confident and convincing, but shouldn't be.