What would you do?

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Posted By: 1934Tour

I don't normally chime in here, just a long time lurker who enjoys reading the board. Let me start by saying that I am an autograph collector. I can understand why cards are desirable however they have never "done it" for me. Often, posts on this board leave me scratching my head. This is a card collector crowd so we can assume that the majority are working on a rudimentary knowledge of autographs which is the same as my level of knowledge regarding baseball cards. Just as many of you wonder how anyone can lay down good money for an autograph which could be a well executed forgery, my jaw drops at the prices paid for cards even though I am convinced that most high grade examples have been doctored even though placed in a PSA or SGC holder. My point is not stir the pot - rather to illustrate that to comment on a particular field of endevour while only having a layman's knowledge means that the only conclusion that can be reached is one that is uniformed and thus probably (at least partially) wrong. Just as many of you are able to put years of experience to work and assess a card regardless of what holder it is in, I can look at a signature and do the same. That being said, it all boils down to a matter of degree. There are signatures I can view and be 100% confident are authentic, these are the pieces I add to my collection. There are others which I will have only a certain degree of comfort with and thus will pass. I assume that many of you card collectors are the same way. In the end I have built an enjoyable collection which I am sure contains a forgery or two just as I am convinced that all of those world class card collections out there which have been well screened contain a card or two that have been doctored.

It sounds as though you have been pursuing this particular set long enough to know more than the average Joe which leaves you more than equipped to asses your comfort level. Without knowing exactly what piece you are referring to (although I am pretty sure I have a good idea) I would say the fact that the collector against whom you usually compete layed off this sale is pretty telling. If it is the card I am thinking of, we both know that the recent offering represented just about the only chance either you will ever have to add that piece signed in that manner to your collection. Surely, the competing collector would have jumped at the chance to outbid you.