Some helpful suggestions for new collectors

[DaClyde]

For an absolute beginner, on the subject of autographs, I would also recommend someone learn to tell real autographs from facsimile autographs that are simply printed as part of the card.

--Learn which sets already have facsimile autos on them. Pay special attention to those team-issued photos that might have a blue facsimile signature on a black & white photo...those seem to trip up a lot of sellers.

--Find some resources for knowing what various players autographs look like (Google images at the very least).

--Be able to tell the difference between an real autographed baseball and one of those team-issued printed facsimile auto baseballs (that have all the signatures nicely lined up, all in black, all the same relative size).