What do you think of this Heritage offering?

[shelly]

Jim, why would you go through all that if you have two letters from the "the top two authenticator.'s in the world"
They just think that what ever these people say is fact. How many times will it take for any of these auction houses to realize that it is just an opinion and for that kind of money I sure would do a lot more than an opinion.
I still find it offensive that they would not allow a people that are respected in the industry to look at there items.
I think that they would appreciate someone else's opinion for that kind of money. If I where the buyer I would like to have a real exam of the ball. it might cost them a few thousand but worth it in the long run.

[travrosty]

They think they are setting dangerous precedent to let others look at it besides psa and jsa. They think that opens them up to the appearance that psa and jsa arent up to the job if the word gets out that others were brought in to inspect and investigate the items and/or autographs. They want the impression that psa and jsa are the be-all end-all to everything, case closed, no further authentication needed. period. End of story. PSA or JSA and nobody else.

They do that at their own peril. But its up to them. I dont see how it has been working out in their favor lately. Is it just me or do these old, valuable, rare balls and signatures seem to always have BOTH authenticators signing off on them. You would think that at least some of the time they would disagree and there would only be one of them that liked it, either just psa or just a jsa certificate. But it seems like they always have both.

I am wondering if the second company that looks at these items is told beforehand if the first one has passed it or not. It should be a blind study type of thing, where both companies are not told at all if the other one liked it. It is only fair to do it that way as to not give the appearance of the results being tainted by prior knowledge of the other authenticators decision.

Ivy won't come on here but Jonathan does so let's hear how these authentications work. Are they told if the other service has given it the ok or not before they look at it?

[shelly]

Travis, what bigger conflict of interest is there than having a man work for both you and the authenticator?

[David Atkatz]

Gotta agree with Shelly on that!

[travrosty]

I agree, I can't figure out why that is permissable. It's like the '84 Celtics and Lakers playing for the championship and your head referee tonight is Red Auerbach.

[Tom Hufford]

Whoever got this ball signed should have gotten Joe Giard to sign it, too. He's the key to the 1927 Yankees.

[shelly]

What I find most disturbing is that anyone one would pay that kind of money on the word of god knows who. Jim and PSA have a ton of people working for them. Who said the ball was good. I sure would like to know that. I would also ask Heritage if I could have at least two other opinions from people that I trust as well. If anyone of them said no that would be my exit from the auction.

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by shelly

Travis, what bigger conflict of interest is there than having a man work for both you and the authenticator?

This assumes that we fully trust the authenticators, thereby believing that their judgement need be impartial. Why doesn't Heritage just have Gutierrez do the authentications in house, and skip TPAs? Conflict of interest gone?

Leland's doesn't use third party authenticators. They use in-house people. For the most part, so does Coaches' Corner.

See my point? In the end, it is all about the item itself, just as it has always been. Do you guys think that if these TPAs didn't exist, Heritage would only be selling good stuff? I sure don't.