Automated Card Authentication

[kevinlenane]

Originally Posted by JunkyJoe

It might be challenging, for various reasons, to run the process using digital images (smartphone photos). I think the only fail-proof way to electronically authenticate a card would be to develop a system that uses a 3D scanner to get all sides and edges of the card, with absolutely precise measurements all around.

This would involve the 3D scanning device taking both photos and measurements of the card, and then sending the scanned information to a PC application. The PC application would then process all the measurements and other photo data (common print marks, coloring, fonts, etc) against a database of card attributes for the given set.

Of course, you would need to have the actual card physically available, to be able to place it in the scanner. There are just too many variables involved with using digital images of cards.

JunkyJoe, you can pick up quite a bit from a basic phone picture including edge chipping etc. It obviously won't be perfect and will give confidence levels but the raw data along w a fingerprint should be pretty useful to some collectors.

[JunkyJoe]

Originally Posted by kevinlenane

JunkyJoe, you can pick up quite a bit from a basic phone picture including edge chipping etc. It obviously won't be perfect and will give confidence levels but the raw data along w a fingerprint should be pretty useful to some collectors.

I agree there's plenty of good stuff that could be used from a phone picture, especially from a grading perspective, and from an authenticating perspective to a certain degree. For someone wanting a "slab-free" grade, or to verify a card's grade before making a purchase, I think the smartphone app idea would definitely work.

It would also be great for archiving the history of a card as it changes hands through the years (as long as a couple of the sellers subscribe to the app, at least). I think this could be a particularly valuable service of a smartphone-based app. Maybe the app could assign an ID for the card, the first time a card is photographed and graded, and any future transactions/grading/verification could be done using that specific ID for that specific card.

Although, I don't think it could be 100% accurate in terms of authenticating. Especially when dealing with higher-dollar cards, you would still need a human expert (or two, or three) in order to validate the finding of the automated assessment, on various levels. So in the end, if you want a 100% guarantee that a card is authentic, it would need to end up in the hands of grading pros, IMO anyway. Since this would still require shipping the card to a grading company, this is where I think the 3D scanner/desktop computer/database system concept would still be necessary. Imagine the investment $$$ required for a new or existing grading company to integrate this type of a system into their grading process.