PSA incorrectly authenticates '97 Legends Donnie Shell autograph?

Futureman

It is my understanding that one of the reasons PSA requires PSA/DNA authentication on autographs cards from pre-1998 is because of the card companies being lax on authentication processes. On the back of the 1997 Legends cards it states that, while a UD rep. did not witness the signing, the cards were sent directly from the player to UD. People have noticed that the autographs on the Donnie Shell cards come in two different versions: one with a more triangular style, especially with the "D" and the "S;" the second version is more "loopy," with a clearly different appearance from the other version.

To my knowledge, it is widely accepted that the more triangular version were the cards signed by Donnie Shell, in other words, the authentic version. The other, "loopier" autographs were signed by Mrs. Shell. I have seen a lot of the Shell autographs, and it seems like a fairly even split of whether they are the triangular or loopy version. Looking at some of the completed auctions there are some other Shell autographs that were listed by a seller that looked to be reputable; those Shell autographs were the triangular version.

Recently a PSA/DNA slabbed Shell autograph was listed on ebay: 1997 Legends Autograph Donnie Shell PSA 5 It appears to be of the loopy or "Mrs. Shell" variety. Am I seeing things? Have I been wrong about which version was signed by Donnie, and which was signed by his wife? Did PSA just miss this one?[

dude

I have no interest in this card or if the autograph is real or not, but it sure is nice to see an action shot of Donny Shell. That guy could put the hurt on anyone. I can remember one game when he leveled Earl Campbell and took him out of the game and Campbell wasn't a pushover by any stretch of the imagination.

Ullr

Wow Futureman good eye. There was a thread late last year about the Donnie Shell Legends auto. It was concluded that the triangular "D" was the real one.
Looks as if Spence and Grad are not as accurate as I had hoped.

I wonder if PSA/DNA will make an effort to buy this card back and get it out of circulation!

goodriddance189

thats gotta be a chicks handwriting

shouldabeena10

Hey Future,

Here's the old thread that shows a scan of what is thought to be the real autograph.

Shell Auto thread

I've always wondered what kind of methods the autograph authenticators use over at PSA/DNA?

I heard they have a database of examples to match them up against, but outside of that, I really don't know.

Mike

Howitallbegan

Futureman

Nice work

Futureman

Thanks for the link, shoulda. In there it was said that the Mrs. Shell autographs outnumber Donnie's with every 2 out of 3 being Mrs. Shell's. I guess that makes the authentic Donnie Shell autograph a SP!

shouldabeena10

I always thought I had one of each, but after looking at the scans again, I think I might have two of the real ones. I had origionally thought the first one I got was the Mrs. version because the D didn't point as much as the others do, but now that I have the 4 different examples to look at... it seems that the S is more of the give away. It's definately two different handwriting styles on the S's.

This may be the only time you'll ever hear anyone say this; "I wish I had gotten the fake!"

The whole point of me buying the second one was to have a full set with the (cough) error card.

Mike

glmueller

If you remember correctly, Shell put a cheap shot on Campbell. Campbell was playing with cracked ribs and Shell speared him on the way down.

Futureman

So does anyone know if PSA is going to buy this card back to correct the situation? Does PSA need to take action here? It kind of defeats the purpose of requiring pre-98 cards to be PSA/DNA if they don't get it right.