[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Thankfully, many reading this will agree with the following, but we know it's not the prevailing attitude for most these days.

This applies to your own collections and has nothing to do with maximizing profits when it's time to sell: Whatever you wish to collect, be it cards, autographs or memorabilia, relying solely on a TPA's opinion is ridiculous. Learn as much as you can and become your own authority. After all, it's your collection, so try and take some personal responsibility for it and not buy blindly into a third party opinion. How is there even any fun in that? Doing this with any sort of confidence takes years, and no matter how long you're involved with it, you'll never know everything. It's a constant, wonderful study.

I have encountered people who have collected for 50 years who can't seem to get the basics down pat and keep getting burned on common forgeries. It's always made me wonder why they're still in the hobby. Unless the person's motivation is purely financial, why would anybody immerse themselves personally and financially in a field of which they're completely ignorant? I'll never understand this, but have seen it so often over the years.

It's entirely possible to successfully collect, buy and sell without LOAs or plastic tombs clogging up your collection. For many ungraded, unauthenticated items, you actually can achieve similar prices to their TPA-certed counterparts. It may take you more time to find that buyer, but if you're not in a huge rush, you'll be fine. How many times have you found yourself being able to sell something uncerted, yet couldn't because it was languishing on a shelf for months or more at some TPA, waiting to get entombed? (I'm strictly involved with autographs, so this last bit of advice applies mostly to that end of the hobby.)