Quote:
Originally Posted by markf31
If you eliminate TPAs, where does that leave the hobby?
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In preparation for Travis' response, grab a big bowl of popcorn and pull up a comfy seat.
You will soon be regaled with a tale of a magical time before TPAs when everyone bought from 5 trusted dealers, everyone studied for months before they purchased every autograph and everything was much better.
The reality that is being denied is that the Internet fundamentally changed the way collectibles are bought and sold. It created a channel for collectors to easily and inexpensively sell to one another. No more having to consign or sell your collection to a dealer to sell it efficiently. The middle man was cut out of the equation. The next logical step is that an independent party emerges that provides a service so otherwise unknown collectors could sell items with some measure of credibility. It has happened in every single hobby where grading and/or authentication matters.
The irony is we continually see some people bashing the TPAs and promoting good dealers such as Richard or Jim. But when it is time for them to sell, they bypass selling it to a dealer and they use a TPA cert to sell it themselves. You can't have it both ways.
Any reasonable observer will admit no company is perfect and there is room for improvement and constructive feedback should be encouraged. But overall, I believe the TPAs have made buying safer. If you are looking to buy a Mantle, Williams, Jeter, Puhols, DiMaggio, Koufax and so forth, they get it right almost all the time.
Regrettably, there appears to be no middle ground with some people. If you are not bashing them all the time or give them credit for anything, you are "one of the insiders."
I think Travis could add to the hobby. Unfortunately there is no balance. When he was on Autograph Magazine Live, he had many opportunities to help collectors with his opinion on Boxing autographs, however not once did I ever see him help in a positive way or offer his opinion (unless it was to note an item a TPA got wrong in his opinion.) He derailed thread after thread with his rants and now loudly complains that he was banned because someone was trying to "silence" his message.
Sadly, there is so much anger that it has impaired all sense of reason, fairness and proportion.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a space consultant for JSA.