The Importance of Context in Autograph Authentication: The Case of Roy Foster, Jr.

[dgo71]

Originally Posted by theshleps

Just look at it as a fallible but educated opinion that can always learn more

I agree with that in principle, it's just unfortunate that the prices don't reflect the margin of error. It seems like even very common signatures can see 1000% increase in price once they are slabbed. I realize that's the fault of the secondary market and not the authenticators themselves, but it would be nice if people didn't automatically assume a slab equates to authentic and vice versa. It can be very misleading for new collectors and frustrating for long time collectors who understand the context the OP mentions. I'm quite sure I have dozens of signatures in my collection that were signed right in front of me that would not pass because they are atypical.