Quote:
Originally Posted by Bcwcardz
Here is my question with TPA. What are their qualifications for saying a signature is authentic? What makes you qualified? There is a lot of money involved here and that makes everything these authenticators do suspicious. Many take their word as gospel and spend lots of money are signatures that are deemed authentic.
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The answer is complicated in some ways but let me say that their only qualification that is required is having some background in the hobby , having a fairly clean reputation AND Mainly having the buyers and sellers faith . Unlike a doctor , dentist , lawyer , CPA , broker or any profession that requires licensing and a board to have oversight over the profession the TPAs rely on a trust created by the illusion of expertise . Any person can call themselves an autograph authenticator or expert but there is no standard by which that statement can be validated in our hobby . It is an illusion of trust created by the TPA. Money rules our hobby to a great degree and much rides on these opinions from TPAs and they know it and they wield their power , influence and the knowledge that deals happen or not depending on them with a knowledge that there is little or no recourse to them. Also their responsibilities lie in an opinion but that opinion has no validity if at times the authenticator moves to a different company .
As always the best advice is to try to educate yourself, find people you trust to help you, but remember you are ultimately responsible for your purchases; buy legal documents when possible , get items signed in person when possible BUT mainly don't buy an item if you can't afford to lose the money you spent to buy an item if you find out later that the item isn't authentic regardless if it comes from a TPA because getting money back from them can be an exercise on futility.