Posted By:
T206Collector...and really indefensible. I have staked a lot of my signed pre-war collection on JSA's reputation. The problem here is that Sal Bando was signing at that show and then people would take those photos to the JSA table to have authenticated. Since the value of a Sal Bando autographed photo is not high, and the guy was there signing, the incentive to forge is basically nil -- and so JSA rubber stamped them okay.
But, frankly, that is a huge problem even under these circumstances.
I have always accepted that authenticated signatures are only as good as the reputation of the authenticator. If it turns out that James Spence is a hack, and the industry avoids him as a result, then I'll have to find another authenticator for my collection.
I wonder what Beckett thinks of this clip, since they just partnered up with him.
Edited to note that SGC and JSA went their separate ways prior to these stories coming out.