Question about PSA/JSA "Guarantees"

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

Quote from Adam in post 39:"I didn't see it signed, so I don't know (if it is real). But if PSA is willing to slab it, as a seller I really don't care."




Boy if the top quote is not one of the major things wrong in the autograph hobby then I don't know what is. I know I really, really care if something is real when I sell it, my reputation is on the line with every sale, and if someone GAVE ME a slabbed PSA piece that I believed was not real, I would drop it down the chute of the incinerator room on the floor of my apt. bldg.

What I wrote was: "Is the one in the slab forged or real? I didn't see it signed, so I don't know. But if PSA is willing to slab it, as a seller I really don't care."

Your example is colorful but it assumes facts not in evidence, as they say in my profession. I did not say that I do not care if something is fake. If I believe something is fake I certainly would not sell it; arguing against that straw man is a misrepresentation of my views. My point was and is that in the absence of evidence I can understand--like a card made after a player's death with a signature or a preprint mistakenly labeled as genuine--if I do not know the answer and if I hired an expert to opine for me, I will not contradict the expert's opinion with my own guess and I therefore am not concerned with whether an objectively unknowable fact is true. I hire a professional whose work is accepted in the market and I rely on that professional's expertise, just as someone hires me to explain the nuances of a commercial lease. The entire autograph business is based on opinions rather than facts, and when nobody knows the ultimate fact [whether the person really held and signed the item], it becomes irrelevant.

Anyone who collects or sells autographs has a very simple choice: collect only what you get yourself in person or through trusted associates and friends or rely on [presumably] expert opinions including your own as to what you are buying. But if you decide to collect or sell anything not signed in your presence, then let's not continue to pretend that establishing the authenticity of such items is objective in nature. It can't be objective given the lack of hard facts and by definition you are relying on an expert's opinion. Now, if you want to accuse me of hiding behind the opinions of professional experts, OK, you got me. I plead guilty to doing the same thing with sports memorabilia that I do with my car, my computer, my plumbing, etc.