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Need advice on autograph authenticity

 

I have been a fan of mostly all sports and a collector for most of my life. I have recently had a renewed spark of interest in collecting sports memorabilia (mostly cards) and with a little luck would like to start a business if at all possible. I recently made a large investment in baseball, basketball and football cards of which there were several autographed items. I was assured all autographs came with a certificate of authenticity, which they did, although I wasn't familiar with the companies: ASGA All Star Grading & Authentication, CAS, Authenticated Ink, PSASCERT (Pinpoint Signature Authentication Services). I happily took a few pictures and started posting the cards here on Ebay with hopes of making a profit in order to repeat the cycle. I knew the rule of thumb is to stick to the big 3; PSA, Beckett and SGC but I thought maybe it had expanded since I last was involved in the memorabilia world. You see, it has been roughly 15-20 years since I was really involved in collecting. I was expecting the autographed cards would sale with relative ease but I noticed they were not getting any views and worse, no buyers. Now I am rethinking this investment I had made. I have taken down most of the autographs from Ebay except for a couple just to see if I'd have any takers. I am afraid I have made a huge mistake. Can anyone provide some insight on these other authentication companies and tell me if they are legit? I have done some research and it has been 50/50 on the legitmacy of  their autographs...which isn't that great! Thank you for your time and assistance.

 

Sincerely,

Joe

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Need advice on autograph authenticity

I was at an auction a couple months ago and there was a 10' table covered with the monster card boxes stacked 2 high. Thats 5000 cards per box and there were probably about 20 boxes on the table. Thats about 100,000 sports cards! They sold for one bid of $50. The guy that bought them said he is going to use them to make acrylic covered table tops for sports bars. Smart guy!

I would suggest staying out of the card business unless you can buy the cards for practically nothing. And autographs are just as bad. There are more fake autographs than real ones and that has really hurt the value on most autographs. People just are not 100% sure they are real even with a certificate and they dont want to pay a lot of money for a possible fake.

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Need advice on autograph authenticity

A few years  ago my son was going to school in Boston.    He worked part time for Starbucks and they were catering one of the Red Sox charity events.

 

At the event,  they were selling autograph balls and pictures.       Big Papi went for insane amounts.      As they were cleaning up,    there were 2 balls left from minor league players and my son asked the event planner how much did they want for the 2.   He said 10 bucks  and my son bought them.  

 

I am the proud owner of a Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr.   autograph baseballs.   They have certificate of authenticity from ASGA.   

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Need advice on autograph authenticity

@mycardboardidol

 

eBay has some recommended companies to use for grading items (the three you mentioned, for trading cards). 

 

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/policerelated-items-policy?id=4659

 

Here is a link for more information about autographed items and COAs. Click on all the links to expand and read all the information. There is a list of grading companies that are not permitted.

 

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/autographed-items-policy?id=4283

 

For the inventory you currently have, you might want to research what the selling prices would  be if they are authentic and graded by a recognized company, to determine if it is worth sending any of them to be graded.

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Need advice on autograph authenticity

 I don't trust buying really any graded cards unless they are by the top three companies.(PSA, BGS or SGC) But if you get it at a decent price and it looks good in the pics you can always crack them out and then resend them to one of the big three. I've had good results doing that.  

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