Pricing for a PSA/DNA Certified Authentic (autographed) vs. a Graded PSA

[Exhibitman]

I don't think you can establish an easy formula to answer this. There are too many cross-cutting factors:

--Vintage or modern signature? Many collectors (I am one) value a vintage signature over a modern one, especially for the players who lived well into the card show age and especially if their signatures became stylized over the years. Like Willie Mays. An early Mays looks nothing like the stylized scrawl he developed for signings. Or this very early Maurice Richard:



His modern signature while still very nice was simplified and stylized by comparison.

--Significance of the card? There is a growing market for rookie cards signed. I know that Hank Aaron has signed a lot of lower grade RCs in some recent private signings and they've sold at a premium to the RC in comparable grade. Yet some other cards sell at a discount signed because the autograph 'ruins' the card. At one National I bought a 1958 Bell Duke Snider, signed, at a discount to a comparable raw one. I also happily paid up for a Don Drysdale card signed back in the day (postcard mailed from Brooklyn in 1957). Drysdales are readily available signatures but the vintage provenance made this one special for me.



--Signature medium? Some favor sharpie, some favor ballpoint. Some like paint pens.

--Signature placement? There are some players notorious for signing across their faces, which 'ruins' the item. I was so disappointed when I got a TTM back from Stu Lantz, the Lakers announcer, and he'd signed right across his face (something he often does).

--Signature quality? Depending on the circumstance of the signing, the signature might be fugly or truncated. I got a Lennox Lewis in person on a 1991 Kayo that no one will ever believe is him because he was on the move and scrawled it.



Some players, especially the old-timers who were trained in cursive penmanship, had beautiful legible signatures that enhance any card they are on.




--Card and signature aesthetics? Do they work together? I wanted a Wilt Chamberlain signed card. Easy enough to find. But The Stilt usually signed in ballpoint pen, and many of his cards have significant dark areas that 'eat' ballpoint autographs, or (like his 1970) are close-ups where he ends up writing on his face. I looked at quite a few before finding this one:



Here's one where the pen used was a terrible choice:



--Illnesses? You don't have to worry about the player when buying a card but you definitely have to account for human frailty in autographs. An example is Carl Hubbell. King Carl had a stroke and signed a lot of cards in a choppy hand post-illness. The exact same vintage card with a pre-stroke signature is worth more than the post-stroke version.

In terms of what to bid, that is not an answerable question, other than you need to do your homework as to how many of that item are out there. I watched for my Satchel Paige signed card for a long time before I found what I wanted (RPPC with vintage provenance) so I knew how tough it was and that I would have to pay up for it when I bid.