I agree with most of what has been said, including the last post.
I think Professional Opinions by respected dealers and/or authenticators are a must for those people who are not experts thenselves.
My biggest complaint is that people tend to think the "opinion" of the top authenticators somehow trumps the "opinion" of others who dont take money for the service or who authenticate their own items and back it with a 100% money back Guarantee.
For example, Jodi Birkholm is no longer a paid authenticator (I dont think anyways) but I would trust his opinion along with a few collector friends I have on a rare/obscure signature than ANY paid authenticator in the hobby 100% of the time! Most people though would just assume the paid third party is right if there was a conflicing opinion.
I think that JSA/PSA do a pretty good job considering the volume of bad material out there and I know that Jimmy tries hard to keep up with trends and keeps large files of examples, no knocking them as I think they do supply a needed service. I just wish people would realize that they are not the ONLY option and trusted dealers opinions are just as good and sometimes better and they generally will stand behind the item where an authenticator does not.
Rhys Yeakley
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