Gehrig JSA

[prewarsports]

Also, I am NOT pro third party authentication as the business model sits today. I have used PSA/DNA and JSA myself about 5 times total in 10 years with one amazing story I could tell of imcompetance but I am not going to share it here. I am 100% positive I know more than both of them combined about vintage (Pre WW2) autographs from baseball, Football, Basketball and Hockey. So for me, it is a total waste of time, and money and I just Guarantee everything I sell for life and dont worry about it unless its a Hall of Famer where the buy s going to demand it anyways (Say a Frank Selee or something like that).

I do think they have helped in some way keep SOME of the bad Ruth/Gehrig/Ott/Foxx/etc. off the market, and that is good, but I also think they do get it wrong a lot. I estimated in another thread that if they are right 60% of the time on Kurt Cobains autograph I would give them a thumbs up and I stick to that. It is just not an exact science and some are easier to nail than others.

What I do have a problem with are the fees. $150-$200 to authenticate a Ruth? $90 to authenticate an obscure pre-war signature that they have to ask you for examples of anyways? It is way too high and their services have priced the average collector who could really benefit from such a service out of the market so they take chances on stuff and get burned. AND of course those auction LOA's which serve about as much purpose as toilet paper.

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by prewarsports

What I do have a problem with are the fees. $150-$200 to authenticate a Ruth? $90 to authenticate an obscure pre-war signature that they have to ask you for examples of anyways? It is way too high and their services have priced the average collector who could really benefit from such a service out of the market so they take chances on stuff and get burned. AND of course those auction LOA's which serve about as much purpose as toilet paper.

This tells anyone all they need to know about the alphabets. They are not really authentication companies; they are marketing tools. That is why they want fees correlating to the potential sale price of an auto. Some of their most expensive fees are for the easiest to authenticate, but what they really want is a percentage of the sale price that sellers are going for. Use them or not with this in mind.

[bender07]

Originally Posted by mighty bombjack

This tells anyone all they need to know about the alphabets. They are not really authentication companies; they are marketing tools. That is why they want fees correlating to the potential sale price of an auto. Some of their most expensive fees are for the easiest to authenticate, but what they really want is a percentage of the sale price that sellers are going for. Use them or not with this in mind.

Well put. This always turned me off to those companies.

[prewarsports]

There is no doubt we are all here for the same purpose, which is to encourage the collecting of Autographs, eliminate as many forgeries as possible, emphasize the ethical dealers and sellers, explore all options for collecting/selling, and make the hobby a better place. Like any work or social environment with a goal in mind, there are differing opinions on the best way to do this, but we ALL want the same things and that is healthy for the hobby no matter how you interpret the individual opinions and methods! I just hope that we can emphasize the POSITIVES of the hobby I love as much as the negatives. As long as its balanced between "Here is the Bad" WITH "Here is the Good" so we are getting BOTH aspects of this hobby, its a healthy environment!

Rhys