any pitfalls in buying certified autos from card companies?

Lordstan · #1 03-15-2011, 04:13 PM

Even with the big companies be careful.
Recently a 1927 NY Yankee fold-out with signatures of the starting nine was found to have questionable signatures of Ruth and Gehrig as well as others.
I can't find the link with the story right now, but I'll look later and post it.

Not to reopen the discussion from a previous thread, but considering that the big companies either use the TPGs or in house personnel who have even less expertise, I would make sure you educate yourself on what you are buying.

chaddurbin · #2 03-15-2011, 04:26 PM

yes good advice. i would never buy anything "cut" from the card companies, only what they can actually oversee or authenticate themselves. plus i don't want to pay the 1000% markup on sigs that have unknown origins.

danc · #3 03-15-2011, 05:36 PM

Chris Perez purchased a one-of-a-kind Topps card, a fold-out booklet with the signatures of nine 1927 New York Yankees attached. The two biggies? Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, while the seven other autographs are the rest of the starters in the legendary lineup known as "Murderers' Row." The cost? A mere $20,000.

"This is definitely a nice little gift I'm giving myself for my new contract," Perez said from spring training in Goodyear, Ariz. "Some people buy cars, jewelry, houses. I wanted to buy something a little different. I could barely talk my wife into letting me bid the initial $20,000 let alone get in a bidding war."

In an interview about the card and his collecting habits appearing in the latest issue of Beckett Sports Card Monthly, Perez admits that he does chase his own cards -- though they're not quite as expensive. He appears on just 235 cards, according to the Beckett.com database, and they're worth an average of just $3.51 apiece.

"I own every one of my own cards, except the 1/1s [where only one copy is made]," he said. "But I do check out eBay to see if there are any printing plates or other 1/1s."

Perez, who made his big-league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008, said his biggest previous card purchase was an autographed 2001 Bowman Chrome Albert Pujols rookie card -- a card that typically fetches about $4,000

"I have made some big purchases before," he said, "but nothing of this magnitude."

DJR · #4 03-16-2011, 10:30 AM

.

slidekellyslide · #5 03-16-2011, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJR

From another message board, "I frequent the message boards over at sportscollectors.net. The subject was brought up about certified autographed cards and whether or not you preferred them or just regular base cards that are autographed...
***"

"The companies don't witness the signings and not all are signed by the players. I sat at a table doing a signing and happened to mention to the player the "certified" card of his I had seen that looked different from the items he was signing. He said 1 day a package arrived from the company of 500 cards with a note to please sign and return. He said he signed about 100 and his secretary at his business signed the rest....

Another time I went to a players room who was a friend of a friend. When we walked in there were 4 guys sitting around a table full of cards laughing. The player said they were sent to him by a company and they were all signing them and laughing about it.... He even invited us to "grab a stack and join in".

I don't know how anyone could authenticate modern signatures...let alone read them. Compare any team signed ball from 1930 to 2010...I could probably read every single name on the 1930 ball whereas I probably couldn't decipher a single name on the 2010 ball.

chaddurbin · #6 03-16-2011, 12:18 PM

djr--have a link to that thread?

drc · #7 03-16-2011, 01:15 PM

In an interview for my wesbite a few years ago, I specifically asked James Spence about modern certified auto cards and authenticity. He said, other than a few issues, the autographs he'd seen looked good. So overall, he gave this area a thumbs up. This was back when he head authenticator at PSA/DNA.

Most of the big issues I've heard of are where the sig is a vintage cut from a check or whatever, not where the athlete was paid to sign. I have heard of one or two instances, where the athlete had his brother or whomever sign and I believe Jack Kemp used an autopen on one card-- but these aren't rare odd events and weren't even baseball.

In short I wouldn't be a blind, nothing-can-go-wrong buyer, but the area is one of the safest areas for authentic autographs, as the the signer is under contract to sign and often there was a card company witness to the signing. With the major card companies (Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Upper Deck, etc), you should be the safest. And, of course, it's always a good thing to ask questions like, "Does this look like Nolan Ryan's signature? Let me compare to some of the signatures."

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