Question of the Century: To Authenticate or Not?

[Klrdds]

The only pro to slabbing with a TPA cert is when it comes time to resell . Some buyers will only buy if it is slabbed from a TPA , but even then if the collector ( buyer) is educated a certed slabbed TPA holder is not a factor.
If you are worried about "dying" then make sure you leave detailed instructions for the disposal of your items. Also do some educating of your family.
I use slabs, ultra pro sleeves and Wilson- Jones archival sleeves and ultra pro hard plastic holders for all my items. As far as protection remember excessive handling, light, moisture, and temperature are the true dangers to any memorabilia...not slabbing it. I would not slab unless you plan to handle or show the items otherwise if you are worried then buy good protective material as I listed above.
I totally agree with Mark ( Lordstan) that TPAs offer an opinion only, and check their guarantee policy. Why pay for them to make a lot of money off you when they will give preferential treatment and pricing to an AH over you.
Save your money and put it to good quality pieces for your collection.

[Scott Garner]

Excellent advice by both of the previous posters!

[parker1b2]

FWIW- I hate items that are slabbed. Just don't really like the look of it. The few autos that I bought that have been slabbed I have cracked open.

And like others have stated, I wouldn't even pay to get it authenticated until you were ready to sell. Look at GAI as a perfect example, they were at one time one of the leaders in authenticating, now if an auto comes with a cert from them, most educated collectors stay away.

[hawaiian bam bam]

Thanks guys I appreciate your responses. I'm not worries about dying as I'm still young. I'm more worried that when the time comes, some scumbag dealer might try to take advantage and say hey these autographs aren't worth much I'll give you $100 for that babe Ruth autograph! And that Roberto Clemente autograph is not authenticated so I'll give you $20 for it! Because unless they collect like we do they aren't going to know the difference between a mickey mantle autograph or a Ron cey autograph. I guess I could maybe put little price stickers on the back of the top loaders with a value of the item on it or I can just tell them to take everything to pawn stars in Vegas and be on tv!

[drcy]

All you have to do is to give your family a list of auction houses they can consign the collection to. Even if you had the autographs LOA'd, they'd still have to go through the trouble of getting them sold.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by drcy

All you have to do is to give your family a list of auction houses they can consign the collection to. Even if you had the autographs LOA'd, they'd still have to go through the trouble of getting them sold.

Also, when you consign them, the AH will almost certainly get them authenticated and they can do it cheaper. If you give them to them already authenticated, they may re-authenticate them anyway.

[theshleps]

My son just sold almost 200 items of mine on ebay- vintage signed cards. Some slabbed some not. I was alittle disappointed in the prices but even some of the slabbed ones were disappointing. The non slabbed went for alittle lower but slabbing is such a frustrating process. The main benefit to slabbing is if you have a fake and they slab it which often happens it will inflate the price but otherwise like the others say just wait till you sell and give to a good AH