any pitfalls in buying certified autos from card companies?

[chaddurbin]

so i thought collecting modern sigs would be a fun little side hobby. instead of spending big bucks like prewars, for the cost of a lunch i can buy some modern sigs of guys i liked growing up and watching everyday.

now i find myself starting to drop some t206 frontline hof money on these cards so i'm wondering if there's anything to watch out for. they're certified, and they're from reputable cardmakers...but nothing is 100% fool-proof. scoreboard going out of business and lots of blank kobe/tim duncan auto cards got out and i read on here even to watch out for some fake jeters on topps cards. is it safe to just buy upper deck stuff all day?

[slidekellyslide]

Almost all of these cards state that they were signed in front of a rep for the card company so I think that's about as good as it gets...it's better than an opinion from a TPG. IMO these types of autos will hold future value over auto'd 8X10s, regular cards, and index cards with TPG COA's.

[thetruthisoutthere]

They are probably your safest bet when buying autograph cards but you still can't take them for granted. Don't forget the number of forgeries in the Upper Deck "Legendary Cuts" from 5-6 years ago. See the below Jeter/Rolen "1998 Topps Co-Signers" autograph card with the Topps "Certified Autograph Issue" stamp. Collectors assume that the autographs are legit. But the one below contains both Jeter and Rolen forgeries. Someone "backdoored" the masters of these cards and then forged the autographs. This also occurred on the Jeter/Karros card.


JeterRolenFake.jpg

[steve B]

The big company cards should nearly all be fine. Even most of the small company ones are good even if they're nearly all lesser players. I've been collecting the signature rookies stuff for fun since they were new.

They (SR) did have one football player the first year where about 700 out of 10,000 were not his. I think the story was that the player got some help from a relative while the rep was in the bathroom or something. Supposedly the numbers of the wrong ones are known, although I've never been able to find the info. And they changed the proceedures after that.

Unsigned sig cards do get out, but I think that's unusual. I have a stack of Kordell Stewart unsigned 5 sport cards, but the card was never issued signed.

Steve B

[scmavl]

I'd think they are safe too... but take a look at this Mantle: http://cgi.ebay.com/MICKEY-MANTLE-Si...item27b93cfb12 I've never seen a Mantle sig remotely like it...

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by scmavl

I'd think they are safe too... but take a look at this Mantle: http://cgi.ebay.com/MICKEY-MANTLE-Si...item27b93cfb12 I've never seen a Mantle sig remotely like it...

jarrod this one was hand-signed later and was not certified by pinnacle/score.

[scmavl]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

jarrod this one was hand-signed later and was not certified by pinnacle/score.

Ah... Probably "hand signed in person by Mickey in 2003" or something.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by scmavl

I'd think they are safe too... but take a look at this Mantle: http://cgi.ebay.com/MICKEY-MANTLE-Si...item27b93cfb12 I've never seen a Mantle sig remotely like it...

That seller "had" a "500 Homerun Club" signed bat up for auction the other day. Ugly.

[Orioles1954]

I assume TPG means third-party grader? I would recommend only signed "on card" autographs from living players. Several cut autos from modern companies have eventually been found to be fake.

[chaddurbin]

funny bathroom relative helping story, that's hilarious!

i never get the big value/demand of the cut autos either. buy a $80 ted williams postcard, have upper deck or topps cut it up and somehow it's worth $800 now...weird logic.

i'm a total autograph newbie so i'll be sticking to certify stuff for now. the feeling of not knowing how to differentiate between the good mantle ball from the bad in another thread is akin to many other new collectors here who want to jump right into a '33 goudey ruth . thanks guys!