My Pet Peeve With PSA on ESCO Photos; Am I Wrong?

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Since they've proven themselves incompetent, why use them at all?

I don't use them; I won an item at auction a few weeks ago and it was already PSA'd. I'd have bid regardless of the slab because I am an expert in the field and I know what I am looking at.

I do not need them but the percentage of collectors (buyers) who do not need them is vastly dwarfed by the percentage of collectors who do need (or feel they need) someone with expertise (cough! cough!) to opine on an item before they will feel comfortable paying for it. I've had raw photos sell for 10% of comparable photos in the PSA slabs, so it definitely pays off for basic photos.

My complaint is not that I need PSA, it is that if they are going to do the service and proclaim themselves as experts, they should be able to accurately describe the items they are authenticating. In the case of these Exhibit original art pieces they have consistently misidentified them as proofs.

Oh, and here is another one I just love:



Here's a side by side of the Mays proof (L) and the card as issued (R):