Is PSA/DNA reliable? The best?

doog71

Hello all,

Still new to the board. I've appreciated everyone's help in answering my questions thus far! I'm sure this has come up on this board many times, but is PSA/DNA reliable when it comes to autograph authentication? Are they considered the best? Any thoughts are appreciated...

Thanks,
Doug

jrdolan

I'm not an auto pro, but this much I have learned about buying signatures.

When folks look for autos on eBay, their search words usually consist of "PSA/DNA" and the name of the player. That should answer your question.

But there are other authenticators considered reliable, too: GAI, for example. And many sources certify their autos as being authentic because they hired the athlete and were in his presence when he signed the items. These include TriStar, Upper Deck, Steiner, MLB Autos and more. They have hologram stickers with serial numbers that match a Certificate of Authenticity describing the item and the circumstances of signing. Some even provide a photo of the star signing their wares. These are pretty safe.

The thing to beware on eBay is a generic COA offered as the only authentication. The ones that say "This item is guaranteed to be signed by the player indicated" are pretty much worthless. For one thing, anybody can buy official-looking document paper and print their own COA's. For another thing, even the real ones that are just nonspecific form letters -- "This item comes from a lot examined by ..." -- can be recycled and used with fake autos.

Raymond

They are the most well known and that is important. Having an expert that you hire to authenticate may be more accurate, but if no one else knows them then it's a meaningless COA.

PSA/DNA has some issues to work out that has made me a little apprehensive. The main concern is consistantle linking the item to the COA. When they do buld items for auctions, the items are NOT marked by PSA/DNA as authentic and nothing links the items to the COA and there is no specific authentification number attached to the item. So it's like a quick opinion. PSA/DNA has NO WAY of knowing if something has been previously submitted to them in this manner. (I bought numerous cards from a respected dealer who bought a large lot of autographed cards and breaking up the lot. All were listed on the same COA. All were resubmited for slabbing. They authenticated 8 of the 9 and the 9th (which they had already authenticated) was deemed to be a forgery. Oddly, it was one of the cheapest auto's in the lot and the seller refunded my money.

The stickers they use are tamper resistant, but are not holographic and can be easily forged (although I do not know if this has ever happened). They have a feature on their site to check serial numbers but they never update it (the PSA numbers are, but not PSA/DNA).

So I feel they have some issues to address.

I like to submit my cards for their "Great Combination" offer. That way it gets slabbed and the PSA/DNA and the PSA certs are both on the label. Item is protected and certified and tamper proof.

Just my 2 cents.