Part of the treasure trove I "inherited" when I bought Sports Warehouse consisted of more autographed items than I could shake the proverbial stick at. Some of these items (mostly the bats) have been labeled with the name of the signer, but many, many items (notably the batting gloves) are unidentified.
Next week we are putting a few autographed items on eBay from the lot that was labeled, but the big question is what to do with the others.
As background, Robb would hire folks to stand around at spring training (mostly in Arizona) to gather these autographs on bats, balls and batting gloves, but the folks he hired were not always great on documentation -- not a good thing if the signature comes from third string catcher who ends up in Chatanooga.
Recently there was a post identifying a couple guys who were good at fixing broken bats. Does the group have a similar recommendation for someone who may be able to identify and/or authenticate autographs? Cost would be a factor for me simply because there are so many of them. I'd hate to watse time and money in a fruitless attempt to identify that third string catcher, but would also hate to pass up and/or toss some classic-though-illegible autograph.
One more thing and I'll shut up for awhile -- is it even worth the effort? The one thing I found when searching this board before posting was that fraud runs rampant these days. Will someone take a chance on my auction for some batting glove signature obtained by some unknown, long gone individual?
I am looking forward to selling the game used stuff I got in the Sports Warehouse purchase, but the autographed merchandise has always worried me. If I didn't get the signature, how can I be sure it is real, and how can I assure others that it is?
The key is the source of the autographs. I'm not familiar with the Sports Warehouse, but if they were respected, honest and were known to gets player signatures in person or otherwise obtain autographs in legitimate situations, that would suggest that at least many of the autographs are legitimate.
The average forgeries on the market will be of Derek Jeter, Joe DiMaggio and such, not the backup 2nd baseman for the Twins. It's less of a headdache when you're dealing with minor players or career minor leaguers.
If you can read the names (or many of them) and feel they seem to line up with known legitimate samples, then you can deal in bulk through an auction house like MastroNet or Robert Edward. If either accepted the consigment, they would handle the formal authenticatoin as they hire PSA/DNA, GAI or similar to assign LOAs for the auctions. Also, if you wanted, authenticators like PSA/DNA, GAI and James Spence Authentication will do bulk authentications at discount price, giving a COA for each genuine item. You can ask any of them for a quote.
PSA/DNA autograph examiners regularly attend shows and such around the country. If you are within the close vicinity of one of their stops, you can get an appointment to have someone at PSA/DNA literally stop by your home or office to examine a large collection.
The mindless drivel about a player's stats and career accomplishments have NOTHING to do with the item being sold! Tell us about the fabric, the size and a detailed description of use.
Even better: a full disclosure of a consignor's impeccable source of provenence.
"...he's a lock for Cooperstown"
If I didn't realize Michael Jordan was a great player, why would I drop 20 Gs on his gamer?
If, as a non-autograph expert, you want to make an informal assesment if the collection seems legitimate, check on the signatures on some of the minor players. You can find legitimate examples of their real sigs for comparison on those modern certified autograph cards or perhaps a team ball from a good seller/authenticator. Many top online auctions, like Mike Gutierrez Auction, will have pics of modern team balls. If the sigs of minor, backup players compare well to their known leit sigs, that's a sign that the collection is overal good.
As I noted earlier, minor players aren't often forged. And, even if they are, the forger isn't going to spend hours and hours and hours of practice so he can mimic a Gil Meche autograph. They spend that practice for mimicing Mark McGwire and Tiger Woods. The average Gil Meche forgery won't even resemble his real sig.
This is why team autographed balls are hard to forge well. The forger has to mimic all the player's signatures and even coaches on the team, not just Mickey Mantle's and Yogi Berra's.
So, a rule of thumb for making a quick if not expert check on authenticity, is to assess the nobody's autograph, not the big star's.
