For those who put your absolute trust in 3rd party authentication...

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mrmopar

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http://cgi.ebay.com/1984-DODGERS-SI...ultDomain_0&hash=item3a670f521d#ht_500wt_1156

I wish the letter was larger so you could see the error, but I can still barely make out that they mention Garvey as being on the ball. Now I am no professional authenticator, but I do know Dodger signatures pretty well and can plainly see that Garvey is NOT on this ball!

There is a scan of a sheet that lists the signatures by panel as well, and it notes Garvey on the panel with Pedro Guerrero. I'll let you guess who the signature really is, if you even need to. To me it is blatantly obvious!

The date of the ball (1984) and the names should be the first clue that Garvey wouldn't belong with this group if it was really a team ball from that era. I'm sure the ball is real and it looks good to me otherwise, with one major error. The "Garvey" signature looks real, if you know what you are looking at and realize it's not Garvey.

It just goes to show one more time that these autheticators do make mistakes and don't always know what they are doing. You best bet is to be your own expert. I informed the seller of the error, but let's see if they use their own eyes and believe me, the unknown ebay samaritan, or stick with the JSA letter that goes with the ball!
 
Not much of a surprise that they would mess it up.These companies charge you big bucks but it still comes down to human error.Kinda like silver coins and the chinese counterfeit morgan dollars that were geetting high grades.Buyer beware....
 
I have also found that the letters are just a quick opinion. Mind you with quick opinon auth. they do not hologram the items, and some ebay sellers will use the letter over and over to sell forged items, while they kepp the real item. Also with quick opinons thats what you get. Not a true authentication IMo. I never buy items that do not have the hologram and only have a letter that can be used over and over. Nice catch on this one.
 
I emailed the seller when I found the listing, so it probably just happened that they were online when I did this.

That's pretty quick revision after the start of this thread. Looks like a member of The Bench is selling that ball.

I am going to try to win it anyway, for two reasons. 1. I like Dodger autos and at the opening bid, it's a decent deal. 2. I want to have documented proof of the JSA flub for the fun of it. It would make a nice conversation piece later.
 
mr mopar,
thanks for that interesting read link on your post, i found it a great eye opener in regards to james spence authenticators (jsa) i always assumed that jsa an psa/dna were the worl wide leaders in authentication, after looking at the posting you posted.,it looks like they is a lot of bad going on with jsa....if i read the article right, maybe other can comment their finding as well. as for now i think i am going to stop buying anything with a james spence sticker on it..and focus on psa dna..your thoughts please.
 
I don't buy after market certified autos specifically, but if one I want happens to be certified I won't avoid it. The site I posted was merely for those who were interested to read more and form their own opinions. I don't know anything about the site, who runs it, etc. It could be propaganda, it could be the truth or even a mix of both.
 
curt,
what are after market cert autos? i that autos only that come in packs considered before market? and autos such as ip/ttm autos that get like psa/dna or jsa auth considered after market autos?please educate me on this as i have never heard of after market certified autos. thanks
 
I just meant that any 3rd party authenticators are taking previously uncertified autos and making them certified, like an after market seller of original manufactured goods. Not sure it's an "industry" term though, just me babbling.
 
For these companies to really give every customer faith in them, they need to start a program such as this: if they authenticate an autograph as being legit, they should have a "buy sheet" that lists what they will pay for the piece. I know that is turning them from a 3rd party authenticator to a potential buyer, but at least it gives the owner of the autograph some options. Obviously, the buy price would be so far under market that nobody would want to sell their legitimate items to them, but would the company want to buy possible fake Ruth cuts for $250-$300 a pop?


Tim
 
I'd be happy with a full refund if anything I had authenticated could be proven as a fake (like the Sal Bando incident) or a mistake was discovered, such as this ball. That way, they are spending a fair amount of time viewing the items and if they mess up, they do the work for free. The implications of the authentication to a 3rd party purchaser are greatest though or to those who might use their opinion as a basis for a purchase, otherwise if I send an item I already own to JSA and it comes back fake or real, I am not out anything but my price to have them examine it either way. If it's deemed real, I can sell it for a premium perhaps. If it's deemed fake, then I am stuck with it.

They are merely providing time to review the signatures, possibly do some research against known exemplars (I would assume they would have built a vast library of them by now) and an opinion, but one that carries enough weight to deem the item authentic to the masses. You don't spend the time to do your job properly, you don't get paid!
 
Shouldn't they be required to have insurance on items the say are real or fake ?After all it is a PAID service they provide and there should be some kind of conciquence if they fail to do there job.If a item is not legit and they have certified it and I sell it to someone else it would effect my reputation and ebay rating etc causing me possible finacial ramifacations.Also if i purchase something and part of the deal was that item was to be certified by third party before purchase and it was confirmed real then months later I found that the item wasn't that would effect me finacially .I'm sure there are instances where legit items were called fakes and that would cause other issues.
 
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