JSA and PSA/DNA are the best things to happen to this hobby

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Lordstan

Personally, it's not the fact that they make mistakes. We all do. I would be willing to bet that every advanced autograph collector/dealer has bought and/or sold an autograph that turned out to be fake. I don't even care that much about the exact percentage. My biggest problem with them is the type of mistakes that they make.

1) Both certed a misspelled Ed Delahanty. Just a 30K mistake. How do you have a lot of faith in a company that can't get an opinion right where the name is spelled wrong? This is either sloppiness, which, considering their prices, is unacceptable or bias based on the relationship with the auction house.

2) Both certed and issued letters for a note supposedly written and signed by mid 1800s boxing champ Tom Sayers. They both pulled their certs AFTER it was pointed out that no one had an exemplar. They followed that by giving opinions, that the auction house published, that both felt the sig was real, even though they had nothing to compare it to. How could they have that opinion? It's not like it was a legal document or something similar. Perhaps, instead of all that, they should've seen they had no exemplar beforehand and stated they couldn't offer an opinion or issue a cert in the first place.

3) They have both issued certs for items in frames without removing them. Why? Lazy/Sloppy?

4) They both have rejected items they previously certed as real. Because the "in the presence" sticker was removed and the items were submitted back to them with letters from Chris Morales. Bias?

5) I have had at least two cases, personally, where PSA and/or JSA has rejected something I sold privately only to have them both cert the same item when submitted by a dealer that I wound up selling them to after the other deals fell through. Bias?

These and many other examples of similar types can be found. IMHO, They reflect sloppiness, greed, favoritism, and shady behavior. None of these things boost my confidence in the "service" they offer.

Now I don't mind having a service where, those who desire it, can send something in to get the opinion of someone who is more knowledgeable about autographs. Another big problem with both PSA and JSA is that no one has any idea who's opinion they are getting. For example, Jim Spence's name is at the bottom of every cert. Does that mean he sees every one? I doubt it. So I am supposed to pay for the opinion of some unknown person of unknown training and experience. Now, Spence may stand behind the opinion of his employee, but neither offers a guarantee or warranty on the items they opine on. Many sellers, including some big auction houses like REA, will state that the PSA or JSA opinion is final. So you buy it and you find out it's fake, the seller won't take it back and the TPA states you are only paying for our opinion. Now to be fair, I have heard of a situation where PSA has reimbursed someone for a wrong opinion, but it's at their discretion solely. IMO, a warranty should be part of their service agreement otherwise, how is that better than getting the opinion of the members of this or any other collecting board? After all, the original purpose for their existence was not to make the item sell for more money, but to ensure that the autograph being bought or sold was real.

M@rk Vel@rde

+++++

And to add insult to injury when they "authenticated" (using that term very loosely) the Delahanty letter, whether through ignorance or possible favoritism, they did not even note in their COA's that his last name was misspelled. And it was a big auction house where I discovered the Delahanty letter being sold. Starts with H and ends with t.
All dealers and TPA's make mistakes and that is part of the autograph business.
But the bias issue is where I have a big problem with TPA's.