POLL: Who is responsible to reimburse collectors for bad autographs

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by Bilko G

Casey, the quote above, i noticed you have mentioned it on 3 different occasions in this thread, so it must be something that you truly stand behind. So i was just curious, how you know "in your experiences" they are roght on the money 99% of the time? There is no way you can say this, unless of course everything you are submitting is all in-person, signed right in front of your very eyes.

But this, in turn, brings up the question of how many authenticated autos have been proven, after the fact, to be inauthentic? I mean iron clad proof, not just another opinion? It happens, but is very rare. Much less than 99 percent of the top authenticators' examples.

Every company should invalidate it's authenticity marker and refund the price of authentication if something can be proven bunk. But if it sold for 20k, how can the company be on the line for that? As someone mentioned at the onset of this thread, these are not insurers we are discussing.

[mschwade]

Here's, I think, a legitimate question... How many times do you think a TPA wavers on whether an autograph is real or not and gives an authentic opinion based on the reputation of the submitter or the dealer that the submitter purchased from?

I would like to see a TPA held somewhat responsible for giving an authentic opinion so they're less likely to deem something that they are up in the air on authentic based on anything other than the autograph itself.

If they're held somewhat responsible, they'll be forced to be even more thorough in their process, as well. That should make for a more comfortable market for buyers.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by mschwade

Here's, I think, a legitimate question... How many times do you think a TPA wavers on whether an autograph is real or not and gives an authentic opinion based on the reputation of the submitter or the dealer that the submitter purchased from?

I would like to see a TPA held somewhat responsible for giving an authentic opinion so they're less likely to deem something that they are up in the air on authentic based on anything other than the autograph itself.

If they're held somewhat responsible, they'll be forced to be even more thorough in their process, as well. That should make for a more comfortable market for buyers.

Do the TPA's actually know where an autograph came from when it is submitted?
My authentication business is small and I never want to know where an autograph came from when it is submitted to me for authentication. My main business is still buying and selling.
Though I want to repeat a statement from another post I made. I was asked, in another thread, if pressure was ever applied to me by an auction house. Yes pressure was put on myself and the crew I worked with by American Memorabilia.
That was one of the reasons we stopped working for them.
Is pressure applied by other auction houses, or dealers, to authenticators? I don't know the answer to that question except for my own experience. I did work for other smaller auction houses and pressure was never applied.
In light of recent stories on the net, I could start another poll and ask "do you think auction houses put pressure on authenticators to ok high ticket items?"