I've collected autographs for quite a while. There is, no doubt, a lot of fake autographs. It would be hard to place a percentage of fake vs authentic autographs. I find that if you look beyond an autographed card, and look at items from the 50's and prior, there is a much higher percentage of authentic autographs than fakes. I try to put all the pieces in perspective when I buy an item. If it's a group of items let's say from the 50's, and there is an autographed score card that contains the autograph of Warren Spahn and other autographs from the Braves - and it passes the "sniff" test (a real signature, compares with other known examples you have, etc.) - then it probably is the real deal. I try to take everything in the group into consideration; other items from the period such as cards, letters, pennants, etc. When I do this, and send the item to PSA it is ALMOST 100% authentic.
If someone buys an autographed ball that was made AFTER the player that supposedly signed it was deceased - SHAME ON BOTH THE BUYER AND THE SELLER! The buyer made a very uneducated purchase and the seller committed a crime (if he knew it was fake).
I do think that PSA, JSA, etc. sometimes take the easy way out by stating a particular autograph was "Secretarial". That's kind of like grading a card an 8 and then adding "MC". The autograph is real but it's "Secretarial" and the card is an 8 but it's Miscut. Crazy stuff.
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