PSA/DNA - My First Submission Report

Knuckles

I posted this in Sports Cards & Memorabilia Forum as well but it should be in this forum too.


The following is a progress report of how my very first PSA/DNA submission went. (and also to show off what I have )

I thought this would be helpful for first time submitters.. hopefully answer any questions that they may have regarding the process before or after sending a submission to PSA/DNA themselves.

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Autographed Items:

One custom cut Terry Sawchuk card (card made by myself) $50 to authenticate Terry Sawchuk items

Before the exacto knife






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One custom cut Jacques Plante card (card made by myself) $50 to authenticate Jacques Plante items

Before the exacto knife






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One signed vintage 1950's Jacques Plante postcard before he changed his autograph to the nicer one above. $50 to authenticate



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04/01/2005 at 5:00pm
Shipped items to PSA/DNA's PO BOX in Newport Beach California.

04/09/2005 at 10:43am
Items arrived at their PO BOX

04/11/2005 at 8:41am
Items were picked up

05/02/2005 at 8:10pm
Received e-mail from customersupport@collectors.com stating that they have received my 'grading' submission and it is in process. Submission number: 140898

05/04/2005
Noticed my credit card had been charged but for only $96.78 CAD when it should have been charged $175 USD.
I phoned customer service and they told me I was charged just $20 per item. Sawhuck and Plante items are $50 each according to PSA/DNA's prices online. Bonus



05/18/2005 at 11:00am
Checked my PSA/DNA order status on psacard.com, no change still just shows the date received.

Same day at 8:30pm
Checked my PSA/DNA order status on psacard.com to find:



WooHoo! I assume that they are all authentic since they received certificate #'S

Same day at 8:35pm
Received e-mail from customersupport@collectors.com stating that "The grades on your recent submission have been finalized. You may view them by clicking on

the link below. etc... etc.."


05/19/2005 at 8:00pm
Checked status, now states Date Shipped: 05/19/2005
I checked on the form for 2 day FedEx shipping, lets see what happens (I live in Canada)

05/20/2005 at 9:00am
Phoned to talk to a very sleepy sounding rep. to get the tracking number for my order. It was shipped by USPS tracking # ev005568093us
I didn't bother asking why it wasn't shipped by FedEx I'm just happy that they're on their way.

05/25/2005 at 8:00am
Checked tracking. Found that the item has arrived in Vancouver. I expect to receive everything by Friday, maybe just maybe tomorrow (Thursday)

Same day at 9:15am
Knock on the door.. It's Purolator. Thought it was going to be makeup my wife ordered or something but no it's my stuff! Woo!



So in the end..

It took 37 business days in total from dropping everything off at the post office to receiving everything back today.

It took 15 business days after receiving my submission for them to get to processing it which is my only gripe.
It took just 13 business days from the time they actually opened and processed my submission to the time they shipped my submission back.

Just 9 days of shipping in total from me to PSA/DNA, from PSA/DNA to me. Which is pretty good considering I live in Canada and I didn't have to pay any customs fee's which was great, I expected too.

It ended up being way cheaper than it was supposed to be as mentioned above. It came to just $96.78 CAD when it should have been $175 USD. The shipping ended up being more money than what I calculated but the items were $30 USD cheaper each.

I could be happier.. (if I got my stuff back sooner) but I really can't complain after the awesome break I got on the rate of authenticating these three autographs.



How my items were shipped back to me (the box was in the Purolator bag)



Excellent packing.




Grand finale..











Now to make more!

DirtyHarry

Awesome post.....awesome results!! Care to share a little bit about how you went about creating those customized sig "cards"?

magikbilly

Hi
thanks for writing. Your post is excellent! Thank you! And, you got some nice results. Please don't take the following comments personally just sharing me honest opinion and experience.
To be completely honest I must say, for me, that the idea of trimming a signature so closely that its value is potentially reduced makes me very nervous. And there is the mounting. Even acid free board eventually becomes acidic, and the adhesives used - most framers don't know enough to use rice-paste or another fully reversible adhesive - other adhesives will damage the sig and its value. I would literally die if someone trimmed my Lugosi so closely. Also, I must say that as a collector seeing them all rotated to apperar to have the same baseline removes the original appearance of the signature, and also quite permanently removes one of the characteristics used to determine authenticity - the original slant, which is very much part of the original autograph and reflects the mood and personality of the signer. What would a vintage Bette Davis look like were its baseline forced horizontally? Please don't be offended by my opinions. I just think a lot of collectors are starting to appreciate "original" - I have myself rejected many items simply because they were recently trimmed or improperly mounted. I can't imagine my attitude being limited to the vintage Hollywood/Theatre arena alone.
A story - the signed Judy Garland candid I have posted - it was originally mounted as were the hundreds of other signed TV candids from that huge auction - the original collector had them all mounted in a similar mat shaped like a 1950's TV. I spent about two hours cutting it out - but it was well worth it! I and everyone else I know that bought from this collection had to carefully cut away the matte which had been sandwiched and glued, and then remove the photo which was taped down with Scotch tape! One wonders who did the thinking when mounting time came around as the materials were skimped on so badly. The entire collection was so matted just before auctioning and PSA/DNA certification. I saw this mounting hurt the sale tremendously. Items were selling for less than 20% of value in some cases. Some cases even less. My Garland was $68! Should have been $680! 14 other people also bid on it - but all stopped - because of the presentation!

Best and thanks!
Billy

wick70

NIce custom cards, Knuckles! They are beautifully made and something that can remain so personal. I remember reading your original posts asking questions on the process of submitting and also explaining a few techniques that you were attempting to try. What type of adhesive did you use to put the two sides of the cards together? Also, if I may ask, what weight stock did you use for the cards? When is the Maurice Richard auto being submitted? I think I was looking at that same auction and debating whether or not to get it. I passed on another auto of his about a month and a half ago. Mainly because it went for $25.00. Thanks and once again.....Nice Job !!

Wick

Knuckles

Thanks DirtyHarry.

Without going into too much detail (sorry lazy)

I designed the cards after these signature cut baseball cards upper deck made awhile ago..

I created the similar design from scratch in Adobe Photoshop..

I burnt the front and back images to cd in 4x6 size.. with a lot of white border around the actual image of the card since cards are not meant to be 4x6 of course.. and took the cd to a photolab for them to develop the images as a regular 4x6 picture.

I cut out the rectangular box where the autograph will show through with an exacto knife and cut the perimeter of the card out with a paper cutter that my wife uses for her scrap booking to ensure a straight edge..

I cut the autograph out the same size as a regular card and used 'Ross Stik' non-toxic, acid free, washable glue stick on the reverse side of the autographed piece and not at all directly behind the autograph

I stuck it to a 2002 Topps Heritage card..

Example:


I then applied the glue to the back of front piece photo with the window for auto. to show through.. stuck it on top of the autographed side.. did the same for the back.. done.

Knuckles

Billy:

I'm not at all offended by your opinion and it all comes down to different strokes I guess.. I perfer and enjoy my autographs more this way rather than as they were. In my above post you'll see glue never came into contact directly behind the autograph.

I totally see your point of view but these are for my own collection which will never be up for sale unless I'm in dire need of money. I couldn't be happier with them.

Knuckles

Hey Wick,

Thanks for the praise! You'll see what I used in my post to DirtyHarry.

Unfortunately the Richard autograph is just a tad too long and I won't be able to use it for one of these..

magikbilly

<< <i>Hey Wick,

Thanks for the praise! You'll see what I used in my post to DirtyHarry.

Unfortunately the Richard autograph is just a tad too long and I won't be able to use it for one of these.. >>



Hi Knuckles,

well, I have to agree - I would not have my Garland if it were not for a huge collection just like yours! They look really nice which is obvious. I guess I just miss the original slants. It is a very attractive presentation though and well done. One thing tho - did I understand you to say the adhesive is applied to the reverse of the slip the sig is on? Perhaps I am misunderstanding you. But be careful, Ross-Stik is made by Elmers and is an inexpensive acrylic glue intended for school and office use - not for long term conservative use and I don't think reversible (very important). I would not use it for this application as it may cause problems down the road. Sealing paper and ink in a slab is one thing - adding adhesives from a conservation or archival standpoint is an entirely different matter. I say this because I know you care about your items as do I, and these suggestions are meant in the nicest way There are many other adhesives (try Linenco) that are fully reversible and will not damage the paper. Thats a nice Dimaggio check - and I should keep my mouth shut but to most hardcore collectors more than half the value of that check has literally been cut away. It is now a SIG as opposed to a BC or what some term a DS. Very different value. To me. And sports may be very different than Hollywood. Again, nice sigs!

Best,
Billy

Knuckles

Thanks Billy,

I'll take your advice and pick up Linenco adhesive. I thought this glue that I used would be fine since my wife got it from a scrapbook store and it says non-toxic, acid free on it.

I agree with about the cheque.. I would never cut up a cheque/document/photo (photo not signed on the back but on the front). Even if one of my auto's had "To whomever good luck - signature" I wouldn't be able to cut it up.


<< <i>One thing tho - did I understand you to say the adhesive is applied to the reverse of the slip the sig is on? >>


I applied the glue as pictured here in purple (more evenly of course) to the reverse side of the cut piece of paper which was then stuck to a 2002 Topps Heritage card.. then the front design glued on top of it.. with the signature showing through the cut-out 'window'.

magikbilly

<< <i>Thanks Billy,

I'll take your advice and pick up Linenco adhesive. I thought this glue that I used would be fine since my wife got it from a scrapbook store and it says non-toxic, acid free on it.

I agree with about the cheque.. I would never cut up a cheque/document/photo (photo not signed on the back but on the front). Even if one of my auto's had "To whomever good luck - signature" I wouldn't be able to cut it up.


<< <i>One thing tho - did I understand you to say the adhesive is applied to the reverse of the slip the sig is on? >>


I applied the glue as pictured here in purple (more evenly of course) to the reverse side of the cut piece of paper which was then stuck to a 2002 Topps Heritage card.. then the front design glued on top of it.. with the signature showing through the cut-out 'window'.

>>



Hiya Knuckels
Ahh, that is what I thought you meant. You could get away with a small spot in two or three corners as long as the "sandwich" is held together tightly and the sig doesn't slip. Even a tiny bit of Linenco acid free document repair tape would do, and be reversible too. The idea being that is could then be seperated in the future and remounted. Should the glue fail, there would not be a great loss if discoloration needed to be trimmed.
Yeah, that check was mutilated. It is a shame - a check is a great example.

Best,
Billy

magikbilly

And Knuckles,

thanks again for the most impressive all-around post yet to hit the Autograph Forum

Billy

Knuckles

No problem, it was interesting and fun recording the progress.. Thanks for educating me a bit on adhesive.

magikbilly

<< <i>No problem, it was interesting and fun recording the progress.. Thanks for educating me a bit on adhesive. >>



If I care I share

Billy