PAWN STARS Shoeless Joe Jackson signed book...

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Leon

Some hobby friends and I call that the "leap of faith." Obviously the shorter the leap the better. If I were collecting autographs I think the only way I could be comfortable is getting them in person, on legal documents or checks (most times). That's just me though and all you autograph guys probably have your own comfort levels. It's all good as long as you are happy and don't stress too much .

ps...I should have said, I am in agreement with you Scott.

I guess I would buy the checks and legal documents, but I prefer the handwritten letters with baseball content.

I did buy a 'leap of faith' autograph last month. It was a letter signed by Arthur Hardy, a black ballplayer back in the first decade of the 1900's who played on a team I am researching. His interviews regarding travel, playing conditions, etc., are priceless and a joy to read. So I broke my own rules and bought an autograph that is impossible to authenticate, only because it was a handwritten letter and I just had to take that leap. I was stressing a little before it arrived.

I was surprised when I received it - the back of the letter is the actual request for information about other black players who Hardy had played with. Good enough provenance for me, but still a minor leap of faith and nothing I would normally purchase.

The other provenance stress I underwent was a glove that Barry Halper owned. It had a typewritten notecard with Bob Feller's signature, but Halper's name still kind of gives me the willies.

[travrosty]

why would someone want to put the jackson autograph through the spectral machine now if they know its real, unless they have doubts now? the spectral machine is a glorified black light.

if you want to put anything through the spectral magnatomater spelunkometer machine, put the harry truman ball that sold at eac through the machine. the machine would probably explode. herman, could you ask john to find that ball and put it through the machine? why is there no comment from john anywhere when his name is on the provenance that eac listed when it sold the ball?

[alexautographs]

Actually, Travis, that machine would be ideal for the examination of that "foul" Truman ball. It would show right away any adulteration or addition to the writing.

I've known John for many years and would be surprised to learn he'd be involved in anything so despicable. I would expect he'd have some thing to say about it.

[travrosty]

i just wish he would say something, instead, its silence and i dont know why.

eac gallery's position is that it was 7 years ago, so just let it go.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by alexautographs

Actually, Travis, that machine would be ideal for the examination of that "foul" Truman ball. It would show right away any adulteration or addition to the writing.

I've known John for many years and would be surprised to learn he'd be involved in anything so despicable. I would expect he'd have some thing to say about it.

yes, it would be ideal to look at the foul truman ball, but the ball is so foul the machine will implode. since the ball had "provenance john reznikoff" listed with it when it was put up for auction by eac gallery, i would think eac vetted the provenance at the time, or at least looked at it.

[gnaz01]

Wonder why they took the Pawn Stars video down, can't find it anywhere.

[alexautographs]

Probably because it made Rick look like a greedy idiot?

Any event, he got stuck with what appears to be a bogus item with questionable provenance, but what the hey - he makes a kabillion bucks a year with his show so he can write it off, hop in his Bentley, sign a few autographs and go eat at the Brown Derby, Le Canard en Merde, or wherever those guys strap on the feedbag.

He'll likely be joined by the the same people who foist these frauds on unsuspecting suckers...like him...who are more driven by greed ("It's a steal!") than by intelligence.

And that, dear friends, is why the autograph industry, especially in baseball, rock, and pop culture, has turned to sh_t.

The hard truth.

[travrosty]

It really is a sad state of affairs, its pushing autographs for profit at all costs.

More and more people don't care if the autograph is really real, just that it can get a certificate, that it gets passed, that's good enough for them.

It's all treated as a game, you have to play the game. If Grad or Spence say good, it's good and you have won the lottery, if they say bad, then it's bad no matter if you saw it signed in front of you.

Two people get to decide for all of us whether or not autographs are good.

Both have passed wife signed sonny liston autographs as good until some "lowlifes" i.e. real collectors notified them and the auction houses that they were wife signed and not signed by Sonny. We get called rabblerousers and undesirables who are just interested in upsetting the apple cart that is called autograph authentication.

I would go to a long time dealer who knows his boxing all day and twice on sunday before having an abc service look at it and make their determination, because they get them wrong so often.

One of spence's authenticator consultants said the same thing, and when Jimmy found out, Jimmy took his name off JSA's website.

But he's got a lot more consultants who evidently work for free while the gods of authentication rake in a ton of dough by pushing through autographs at breakneck speed. PSA has four full time autograph authenticators, and last year they authenticated almost 200,000 autographs from what I can see. Joe Orlando can correct this number if it is error, but no one has ever heard from him. that's 50,000 autographs per year per man, a little over 4 thousand a month, over 1 thousand a week, over 200 per work day.

8 hours per day, that's 25 per hour. or 1 autograph every two minutes without doing anything else but authenticating, no printing out or signing certificates, no visiting the restroom or taking phone calls, nothing.

Who feels confident that your autograph is getting 120 seconds or less to be authenticated and can be done in a thoughtful and thorough manner? They can't even pull up enough exemplars in 120 seconds to properly authenticate, let alone actually look at the autograph, study it, compare, call or email other people to get a second opinion.

1 minute to glance at it and 1 minute to print and sign the certificate? Is that it?