JSA Story on Autographalert.com

[whitey19thcentury]

Originally Posted by Lordstan

Plus, I also point out guys like Simon, Keating, Cocoran, Stinson, etc, who buy and sell all the time without any third party certs. These guys rely on their reputation that they will stand behind every auto they sell.

Second, I really am concerned with the seeming lack of youth in the BB Card/Sports memorabilia market. I wonder if in 20-30yrs if there will be people like us around wanting to spend they type of money that is spent now. Will a cert mean as much, if anything, if the marketplace contains far fewer people? I know people have been worrying about this forever, but as stuff gets more and more expensive, I think it does block entry into the marketplace of more people.

Well, I am 31 years old and have been actively buying and selling vintage sports memorabilia since, literally, in the hall of high school. I am fortunate to be born into a collecting family. My earliest memories of Christmas were my parents getting each other not clothes, not perfume, not jewelry, but antiques. In fact, my parents, myself, and wife still get each other antiques and whatever we collect for Christmas.

My dad has assembled a simply FANTASTIC collection of vintage oil cans and advertising porcelain and (VINTAGE) metal signs that would make the American Pickers weep.

I was born in '79, so my first steps into the sports collecting world was during the card boom of the 80s. Like any kid of the era, I couldn't get enough Canseco rookie cards. However, I noticed a few dealers at shows who sold nothing but older stuff. My mom and grandma bought me some older Pirates memorabilia (Clemente-era stuff). Soon, I was reading books about baseball history and was hooked. In high school, I was fortunate to sell my card collection for a decent price and started to buy and sell vintage (pre-1970 sportscards). I attended my first live Hunt Auction when I was a senior in HS, and still remain the youngest attendee at their auctions. It was then I became strictly devoted to selling vintage baseball memorabilia, and, especially autographs, which I began studying diligently during this era.

I see my younger cousins nowadays not collecting sports cards, but all that Pokeman stuff. The few card stores that remain within reasonable distances from me seem to have more Pokemon and non sports cards than baseball cards. I cringe at the prices on modern insert cards. I don't feel bad spening over $3,000 for a Honus Wagner cabinet photo when I Pujols refractor signed limited edition whatcha-ma-callit is "valued" at 5x that. I have yet to honestly run across anyone my age, or just a few years older/younger that deals with vintage sports stuff, let alone "quality" vintage material.

As for the first part I quoted, I strive one day to have my name known in the hobby as those guys. I can think of five guys off of the top of the head that weren't listed, but I trust with all my heart and soul. I am also not one to get caught up in 3rd party authenticators. Sure, I may buy stuff every now and then with a cert from them, but I have to feel good about it. I have seen too many slabbed fake Maris and Mantle sigs on eBay for my liking.

My first PSA horror story I ever heard was an area guy acquiring 3 Tiger Woods signs on 3x5s early in Woods' pro career at a tourney. I saw all three, one looked a bit rushed, which is common, the other 2 were textbook examples of early Woods sigs. He sent them to PSA, 2 came back slabbed, the other was deemed unauthentic. Funny that the rushed sig was one of the ones to come back slabbed!

Anyways, I do think about how the vintage hobby will look like in 30-40 years, let alone 20-30.