The people on these boards are a unique group of collectors. I feel like most people here have been collecting seriously for at least 25 years, with many people here collecting for 50+ years. You have some of the most knowledgeable collectors in the world here.
Most of the collecting world is not nearly that knowledgeable about the hobby and by the same token about detecting forgeries vs authentic copies of different players.
I feel like an absolute amateur here reading many of the posts here, and I've been in the hobby for 2+ decades. For people here, it's not a surprise that many don't see the need to bother with 3rd party authentication. For 99% of collectors though it's necessary.
For me, there are a few players and types of items I am comfortable picking up without authentication, but in many cases I want it as reassurance. I will pass on authenticated items that I don't like the look of.
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