Posted By:
E, DanielHey David,
You can be your own best expert in putting your collection together, you just can't ask anyone else to trust in that judgement.
A rubber stamped auto. certified as original is of course a horrible mistake, and the more you know as a collector the more often you can sieve out the more obvious mistakes.
Nonetheless, if you decide a shortened loop and missing flourish in an auto is insignificant and you have confidence you know an auto to be genuine.....well, good for you. I'm just not going to buy something based on your judgements unless others in the industry either employ and/or repect your opinion as to be expert enough to render such opinion. Otherwise I can ask my neighbour what he thinks.
I guess I might miss out on a steal because of it, but when an item has absolutely zero value outside of its perceived authenticity - I'll only shell out when I think a proffessional estimation raises the percentages my way.
This isn't a lagerfeld dress that as an orginal is worth 15k, and as a beautiful knock off is still worth 500 bucks as a well made dress.
An auto takes between 1.5 and 2.5 seconds to render, and so has no intrinsic value of substance or effort outside it's authenticity.
And if every joe shmuck can equally claim to know and verify said authenticity, well again equally the thousands of autos that will flood the market as newly opined real will have zero value.
In this instance I repectfully think your missing the boat.
Oh, and this has nothing to do with investing versus collecting. I just want to feel - when I look at the pieces of memorabilia i treasure - that they in all likelihood are genuinely as they represent. Otherwise I can replace the lot for $150 in fakes and be satisfied without the smell, feel and aura that old genuine items create inside of me.
Daniel