The future of the autograph business has been changing and evolving ( whether for good or bad only time , as well as customer feedback will determine ) ever since Steiner, and PSA and in some respects JSA entered the market . Auction houses with their tacit complicity and involvement with PSA and JSA have dramatically altered the buying and selling habits of veteran collectors, and especially the new and inexperienced collectors who rely on the "blessings " and "approval " of PSA, and to some extent JSA before buying.
I know when Jim Stinson was selling some items for me over the past few years the first words out of prospective buyers mouths were "Will it pass PSA or JSA " regardless of Jim's opinion. They wanted a PSA LOA in some cases before buying and for the seller it was an added expense , Jim never charged me for those PSA opinions; but as you know the rarer the autograph the more expensive it was for the PSA letter. This added overhead to his business. I am sure that Bill, Rich, and Kevin had to deal with this issue also, which can be very frustrating after all the years they put into their businesses and after the debacle with Grad at PSA this was a perfect time for PSA to reign in some dealers and eliminate competition in an indirect way.
I believe, and it is only my opinion that the spectre of PSA for dealers like Bill, Rich, and Kevin became too much to deal with indirectly because their expertise as solo dealers was being constantly challenged by customers. Perhaps PSA made them a deal they couldn't refuse to give it up and join them.
I believe that we and our hobby/business will continue to see some changes in the autograph business happening and perhaps sooner than we can imagine.
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