Psa

[theshleps]

I have been unofficially advised that PSA is rejecting most signed vintage cards these days. I heard it was due to the higher volume of these on the market they are concluding many are fake. Unfortunately those of us that have held onto cards for many years and want to sell now and feel the need to slab them are getting many authentic cards rejected.
I have seen that happen to me with a number of cards in the past year that I knew were good and I confirmed it with Jim Stinson and others. Also on some rarer HOFers. Has anyone else had this experience?

[Republicaninmass]

I've had vintage, but players who lived well, and were great TTM well into the 2000s, fail. Also, one who is currently alive failed recently.

Any other LOAs are met with "will it pass PSA" from prospective buyers. Notice they never ask "is it real" mainly because it doesn't matter, long as psa says it is.


I'm sweating bullets with the 100 I have in for grading

[alifaxwa2]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

Any other LOAs are met with "will it pass PSA" from prospective buyers. Notice they never ask "is it real" mainly because it doesn't matter, long as psa says it is.

Because PSA passing it (like it or not) secures the value. "Any other LOA" doesn't do that.

[alifaxwa2]

Originally Posted by theshleps

I have been unofficially advised that PSA is rejecting most signed vintage cards these days. I heard it was due to the higher volume of these on the market they are concluding many are fake. Unfortunately those of us that have held onto cards for many years and want to sell now and feel the need to slab them are getting many authentic cards rejected.
I have seen that happen to me with a number of cards in the past year that I knew were good and I confirmed it with Jim Stinson and others. Also on some rarer HOFers. Has anyone else had this experience?

If simply a trend then fine, if its a conscience decision, this is ridiculous stab in the back by PSA/DNA to there customers. Their role is to know the difference, if they can't then they shouldn't be in business. If "due to the higher volume of these on the market" they are concluding many are fake, then they are not a neutral, un-biased opinion any more.

[daves_resale_shop]

Originally Posted by theshleps

I have been unofficially advised that PSA is rejecting most signed vintage cards these days. I heard it was due to the higher volume of these on the market they are concluding many are fake. Unfortunately those of us that have held onto cards for many years and want to sell now and feel the need to slab them are getting many authentic cards rejected.
I have seen that happen to me with a number of cards in the past year that I knew were good and I confirmed it with Jim Stinson and others. Also on some rarer HOFers. Has anyone else had this experience?

Had a similar experience... submitted a card for a friend (had been in his father's collection for well over 30 years) and it came back authct?

Several people in the hobby whom I trust and respect deemed it authentic

[packs]

Maybe they aren't authentic.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by packs

Maybe they aren't authentic.

I think that's the issue...in some instances, these are KNOWN real autographs that are being rejected. Like someone else stated, if PSA can't tell the difference, maybe they need to stop the autograph division. And yes, I believe forgeries are rampant.

[packs]

What does known to be real mean? I don't understand the criticism here. PSA rejected autographs they feel aren't authentic. That's their opinion. If you're saying that they shouldn't authenticate autographs unless they're able to make a determination without fail, wouldn't you prefer they err on the side of caution and reject an autograph they aren't comfortable with?

[Republicaninmass]

Hence why the say "questionable"

There was a slew of cards ending the other night, a few which I thought were questionable, so I didn't bid. I try to err on the side if caution as well. If my first inkling is a NO, I have to stop myself from asking "could it possibly be rushed, an off day, etc"

As far as modern guys who sign TTM there is no reason to fail them solely because it's an expensive, vintage card

[MrSeven]

I think the strangest PSA result I've ever seen was a Ted Williams autographed Gene Budig baseball from the late 90s.

The general consensus I've been told is that Williams stopped signing balls in 1993 after his stroke. I suspect any Budig baseball will draw additional suspicion right off of the bat by a TPA.

This ball had the saddest Ted Williams autograph I've ever seen. It was extremely sloppy & deformed and looked like it came from Williams shortly before his death. I have no doubt it was real.

Had a full LOA. I'm guessing they assume nobody would forge such a sad looking autograph. I just don't know how you'd authenticate an item like that.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by packs

What does known to be real mean? I don't understand the criticism here. PSA rejected autographs they feel aren't authentic. That's their opinion. If you're saying that they shouldn't authenticate autographs unless they're able to make a determination without fail, wouldn't you prefer they err on the side of caution and reject an autograph they aren't comfortable with?

Known to be real means I stood in front of Mantle while he signed it. We BSed about big breasted blondes whilst he signed my card.

[Leaf]

I believe very strongly that the reason for the mass fails is that it is safer for them to fail good items than pass bad ones.

I know the guys at PSA VERY well (and was a top 5 customer for many years)..

There is a reason however I am exclusive with Beckett Authentication now...

They can pull the trigger when stuff is good (regardless of value), they aren’t scared to fail items that are bad (regardless of who submits them) and they aren’t scared to pass on rendering an opinion (and refunding fees) when they aren’t sure...

Easy decision for Leaf


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[theshleps]

Just had a bunch of my cards submitted by an auction house to PSA fail. These include Harry Eisenstat who I corresponded with for many years and he signed this in one of our correspondences, Bobby Doerr (who would forge him??), Joe Cronin, 2 Warren Giles- all of which are good. People have seen my posted collection and these are easy guys that are easy to tell if they are legit. Again PSA seems to be saying they are going to reject many if not most vintage signed cards. A friend of mine had a Wagner exhibit with a full PSA (I had traded it to him and had gotten the full PSA for him). He lost the PSA letter and resubmitted the item to them- neglecting to tell them he had lost the letter. This happened recently and they said it was a fake (even though accepting it 2-3 years ago). PSA had previously rejected a Cobb, Lajoie and McKechnie and then after complaining on the forum and resubmitting, they were passed.
Being 66 years old- I wont be collecting forever. I wouldn't want my children to try to sell these after I pass away and have them (the unslabbed majority) all rejected even though folks like Jim Stinson and others have seen them and verbally told me they were good. I don't want to throw away $ on submitting them now if PSA will reject most. Everyone has some fakes but most of us who have been collecting since the 1960's and gotten their autographs IP, TTM and from reputable dealers like Jim, and Rich, and Bill, etc and some better auction houses and none from Coaches etc. We possible know authenticity as well as or better then some people working for TPA's. any advice?

[bobbyw8469]

Maybe use a different authenticator?

[HRBAKER]

And so now we live with the monster we helped create..............and complain about it.

Just submit them 5 or 6 times each until you get what you want.

If that is the real reason they are rejecting these certain players ("too many on the market") then they should refuse to accept them for review and not cash your check.

[Klrdds]

I think most autograph collectors erroneously believed that with Grad and some of the old authenticators at PSA gone and the Big 3 brought in that things would change , but as I have posted several times before concerning this there may be new faces at PSA but the song remains the same (forgive me Led Zepplin fans like myself ). Before Jim retired he and I talked many times for a long time over several weeks about how there would not really be any change at PSA with the Big 3 there now as PSA's saviors and in fact how It (PSA) would become harder in many ways to deal with especially concerning the rare autographs and anything on unofficial non-legal items . They are out now to cover their asses in as many ways possible after Grad's many publicized screw ups even if it means rejecting items in more numbers than before . Remember too that the Big 3 don't see every item or for that matter most items sent to PSA , so PSA's grading is still done by essentially the same untrained staff as before . Jim was right in so many ways about the future and the Big 3 and PSA, and we as collectors are left to suffer at their very whim no matter the authenticity of our items .
It will only get worse with time as long as AHs , dealers, and collectors give PSA , and JSA the power that they DO NOT deserve .

[tazdmb]

I have seen JSA pass some real slop lately, i hate to agree with the other poster, but perhaps you should try JSA instead. This is not an endorsement of JSA, but may get you the best chance of selling them for fair value.

Kevin Keating told me 2 years ago at the national after PSA failing a George Wright that he thought was good-"Go try JSA".

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

And so now we live with the monster we helped create..............and complain about it.

Just submit them 5 or 6 times each until you get what you want.

If that is the real reason they are rejecting these certain players ("too many on the market") then they should refuse to accept them for review and not cash your check.

Point 1 - How sad but true.
Point 2 - Funny,,but who wants to spend more than the autograph is worth
Point 3 - That would be what an ethical business would do.

[Klrdds]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Maybe use a different authenticator?

Even though Beckett and SGC may be good , the truth unfortunately is that PSA and to some extent JSA are still kings of the autograph authentication market .