Posted By:
Tom HuffordPSA, JSA, or anyone else who puts these stickers on an autographed item, should be strung up by their boots, shot, run out of town, or receive some other suitable punishment.
The first thing that is taught in Paper Conservation 101 is not to put any sticky adhesive substance, such as tape or a sticker, on the paper. Yet these "authenticators" insist on putting these stickers on everything they can get their hands on.
Lately, I've seen a grouping of 1920's Yankees checks come on the market, each with an authentication sticker on the reverse. Does anyone who sees one of these checks actually have any question about whether or not it is genuine, and if so, will the sticker change their mind?
I'm firmly convinced that the purpose of these stickers is not for authenication purposes, but simply for publicity or self-promotion of the authenticator, who has no concern for presevation of the item. Does anyone really believe that someone who might purchase one of these items 30-40 years from now will have any idea what this sticker means? At least the lettering on the PSA sticker is legible. The Jim Spence signature that makes up the design of the JSA sticker is as illegible as any modern player autograph. If someone in 2045 buys such an item, will they know what the sticker with scribbling and a number on it even is? And even if they do, will the records of these authenticators even survive that long, or be available, so that someone can check them?
If someone must have a Certificate of Authentication, and if authenticators must issue them, the best I've ever seen were issued by Mike Gutierrez several years ago. They were high-quality certificates that included one or more photos of the item being sold (or authenticated). Anyone looking at the certificate and the item in question could tell what was going on - without a sticker defacing the item.
Go ahead and get your autographed items authenticated if you must, but if any authenticator with those stupid little stickers comes within a mile of my collection, I hope I'm not alive to see it (or if I am, I hope I've bought a shotgun by then)!