any pitfalls in buying certified autos from card companies?

[DJR]

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[slidekellyslide]

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...
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"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]

djr--have a link to that thread?

[drc]

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."

[DJR]

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