[mighty bombjack]

This is a very interesting situation.

First, I want to point out that this might not be the same postcard that was purchased originally. That's the thing with these auction LOAs, they are designed to be good for one purchase only and give peace of mind to the auction customer only. I have purchased items on eBay that came with one of these letters, but they are worthless and I have always thrown them away. Anything I purchase that has a full JSA will stay with that letter because some people love (demand) those and I imagine that the situation you describe wouldn't happen because the auction house wouldn't resubmit (I could be wrong about that; perhaps REA submits everything they are consigned regardless of previous letters). This is also why they push you to pay up afterward and upgrade to the full letter with a photo and all that. I think, but am unsure, that there is a time limit for upgrading, or maybe it has to be done before the item is sent? Has anyone ever asked for the upgrade but then been told that the item is no good? The auction house should refund in that case, but this one is less clear only because the auction house can claim that a switcher oo was made, I guess. Can this thing be definitively be photo matched to a catalog?

If it is the same item, we can say that JSA has made an error, either in this judgement or the previous one. The question is which one. I mean, isn't it desirable that an authenticator would reconsider and be willing to reverse a previous judgement? We would hope that the answer is always the same, but we know these companies use multiple authenticators, and some have to be better than others. The question is, how many times have they changed their minds on an item the other way?

Auction houses love the alphabets, don't they? These certs are like shields for them, they need make no judgements or be held liable for issues of authenticity because they lean on a third party. It certainly seems that if an auction house is going to say that they trust a company, they should trust them all of the time, even when the decision isn't in their favor.

If your friend can prove this is the same item (which shouldn't be that hard), it would seem that the auction house should either refund the purchase or stop using JSA.

Like I said, an interesting one.