James Spence Autographs

[danesei@yahoo.com]

http://live.autographmagazine.com/fo...ource=activity

That's a very odd situation with that thread. The thread originator is alleged to be the lead authenticator/owner of Global Authentics (Steve Sipes) posting under a fake name. The issue of the LOAs/COAs/stickers have yet to be verified, but it's fairly incriminating for JSA.

Essentially, the thread amounts to:

Trust GA/GAI zero percent of the time, as they're known for (and have admitted to) passing forgeries.

Trust JSA less than before, until this entire problem is addressed.

Trust PSA a little more than before, since JSA has lost a lot of credibility within the autograph community.

Something left out from all of this is that SGC is now authenticating, and they seem to be pretty strict on what they pass.

[lengthwise1]

thats quite a thread...

[Wrigley2010]

One thing I never understood when I was collecting autographed baseballs was why a PSA or JSA authenticated baseball would carry a premium in the secondary market over autographs authenticated by the likes of Tristar, JMI and Mounted Memories to name a few? I mean these guys witness nearly all their autographs but people prefer the opinion of someone else who didn't see the baseball being signed?

I understand that vintage autographs are a completely different ballgame but for current stars why would anyone buy a Jeter auto that didn't have a Steiner holo? Why would a Steve Carlton auto with a PSA sticker sell for more than one with a Tristar holo?

It honestly speaks volumes on the hobby itself and how much the average collector actually educates themselves about their hobby.

[Juan Gris]

One thing I never understood when I was collecting autographed baseballs was why a PSA or JSA authenticated baseball would carry a premium in the secondary market over autographs authenticated by the likes of Tristar, JMI and Mounted Memories to name a few? I mean these guys witness nearly all their autographs but people prefer the opinion of someone else who didn't see the baseball being signed?

I understand that vintage autographs are a completely different ballgame but for current stars why would anyone buy a Jeter auto that didn't have a Steiner holo? Why would a Steve Carlton auto with a PSA sticker sell for more than one with a Tristar holo?

It honestly speaks volumes on the hobby itself and how much the average collector actually educates themselves about their hobby.

You bring up some excellent points. Two factors I see for this discrepancy are 1) PSA being highly regarded for their authentication of older autographs (those which the "lesser" companies you mentioned could/cannot authenticate in person), and 2) Stories of these "lesser" authenticators letting bogus autographs be authenticated at shows where the signer is actively selling autographs. From what I've heard/read, the authenticators did not always see the items signed at shows and would blindly apply authentication stickers without being 100% sure the autographs were legitimately just signed at the show. These stories may or may not have appeared on this site but I know the rumors are out there and, for some, rumor is enough to ruin a good name.

[sportsnbikes]

I don't trust any of them. Not a single one.