Do you prefer Aftermarket or Certified Topps autos?

[hawaiian bam bam]

Do you prefer Aftermarket or Certified Topps autos for your collection? Vote now!

Aftermarket autos: (Autographs that are signed and then authenticated authentic/slabbed by TPAs, like PSA) (Ex: 1985 Topps signed Roger Clemens in a PSA Authentic Auto blue slab)

Pros:

as long as its slabbed, it will sell on ebay!

Cons:

50/50 chance the autograph is real (even if slabbed authentic)

if you like consistent looking slabs, PSA might change its design every few years.

Certified Topps Autographs:
(Autographs that one would get in a pack of cards, autograph is certified on card by Topps (Or Upper Deck, etc)

Pros:

As close to an authentic autograph as you will ever get (unless you get it yourself in person)

Cons:

low resale value as they seem to be in every other pack nowadays!

[bk400]

I prefer the aftermarket auto. I think it looks a lot better. The best are the vintage aftermarket autos.

[hawaiian bam bam]

Originally Posted by bk400

I prefer the aftermarket auto. I think it looks a lot better. The best are the vintage aftermarket autos.

Agree, I feel like the sharpies look better. to me, it looks like the card companied give athletes "cheap" sharpies to use as the topps certified autographs dont look as cool to me as a regular aftermarket signed card.

[packs]

My preference is after market autos for almost every autographed card I'm interested in, including modern players. Mostly because there are a million certified autos but getting them in person is infinitely harder:





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[homerunhitter]

These look awesome!

[GoCubsGo32]

I like both options. As the OP mention each have pros & cons.

Aftermarket is great for more vintage autos or 90s. Get the autos on the cards that you personally like.

Topps or other companies w/cert. autos are great for modern (~2010-present) because saves time from trying to get IP autos and some cards looks nice and rather cheap. Even those the risk is much lower of fakes certs, the penmanship is awful and much harder get PSA if done IP.

The hobby sadly, whether it's getting TTM or IP access is much different today than even just 5-10 years ago.