How can JSA authenticate this?

[Lordstan]

Originally Posted by hawaiian bam bam

I don't buy tpa for my own confidence in an item. I buy so 40 or 50 years from now when my kids sell my items they won't be taken advantage of done scummy loser buyer that is looking to take advantage of people that don't know the hobby like we do. To prevent someone from telling my kids oh this mickey mantle autograph is not authenticated so I'll give u $10 for it or hey that Ted Williams autograph isn't authenticated so I'll give u $20 for it! I feel if items are authenticated it's a lot harder for people to take advantage of a situation when my kids do sell my items one day .

There is a big problem with you plan stated above. The problem is that you have no idea if PSA, JSA, SGC, or any of the other TPAs are going to be considered reputable 5, 10, 20, or more years ago. This is not TPA bashing. This an objective fact.
The TPAs provide an OPINION as to the authenticity of autographs. The objective value of their opinion is only as good as their reputation. As we have seen in the past, in many industries, the reputation of a company may change on the fickle whim of public perception. This makes the money you spend on their services now a gamble on whether they will continue to be considered reputable when your family decides to sell those items.
How will your children be served if all the money you spent getting things certed by PSA now be wasted because of a scandal or even just a poor business decision with them going out of business.
There is even a possible negative impact if you consider the case of GAI. At one point they were considered the number 2 firm behind PSA. One or 2 scandals later and now all items with a GAI cert/sticker are assumed to be fake. Suppose all of your real IP graphs are now, by default, considered fake because the company you chose to cert them had something happen. In this example your kids could be bilked into selling real autos cheap, because "they are probably fake being certed by XXX company."
My opinion is that if you are only using the TPAs for resale value, then cert them just before you sell them. That way, you guarantee that whomever is selling them uses the company that is considered the best at that time. This also allows you to have more money right now to buy more autographs.

Again, none of this is TPA bashing. Whether or not I think their service is good or not has nothing to do with the above. The quality of their service only comes into play if you rely on their opinion to decide to buy or not buy an auto. That is a totally different discussion as you stated above that you don't use TPA for your confidence level.

[hawaiian bam bam]

Thank you for your post. U made a ton of really good points that really opened up my eyes when it comes to tpa. I just always thought a company like psa will go bad in the next decade or so. But now I have to rethink it. Thank u again for your help .

[Lordstan]

You are welcome.
Please understand that I don't know any of them will go bad, but what happens if they do? It can happen, especially if you are looking 20-30 yrs down the road. That is a loooong time to gamble.

[Duluth Eskimo]

I should be done with this discussion, but I will add one more thing to the mix. Let's say you are collecting HOF baseball photos. Take any common guy, say Johnny Bench. You can find a non-authenticated photo of Bench for around $20-25. If you want a PSA photo, you might have to pay $30-50 or more. If you want to get it in person, you might have to pay $79 or more to get it in person, plus the price of the photo, parking, time, etc.

All of those add up to the exact same thing, the same Johnny Bench signed photo. If you really want to help your family, do your homework and buy the non-authenticated one and put the rest of your money in some other investment or buy three photos for the price of one.

[Gary Dunaier]

Originally Posted by Duluth Eskimo

You can find a non-authenticated photo of Bench for around $20-25. If you want a PSA photo, you might have to pay $30-50 or more. If you want to get it in person, you might have to pay $79 or more to get it in person, plus the price of the photo, parking, time, etc.

All of those add up to the exact same thing, the same Johnny Bench signed photo. If you really want to help your family, do your homework and buy the non-authenticated one and put the rest of your money in some other investment or buy three photos for the price of one.

Another option is to pay to get the photo signed in person, and take a picture of the player as he's signing it, making sure the item is clearly visible in the shot. Nothing beats photo proof.

[Duluth Eskimo]

Yes. Please take a photo of the $25 item you just paid $79 plus $8 for the photo, $15 for parking, and $10 for the food, plus whatever travel expenses to make it easier to sell down the road. This is what's wrong with autograph collecting nowadays.