The autograph subject seems to have gotten attached to the end of a previous thread. I figured that it might be good to start a new thread so that more people will have a chance to read it.

I'm not a big autograph collector, but I have purchased a number of autographed pucks and pictures over the years. They all came from Frozen Pond or HockeyInk, who hosted the players themselves. (Mostly Hall of Famers from the 50's and 60's.)
Most of those autographs were sold for $15-$40. I always figured that if I were going to buy an expensive autograph of a deceased player, I would want it to be PSA authenticated. According to the IsItReal website, PSA isn't very reliable. Mastro proved that he was unreliable and dishonest at times.

Autographs are definitely risky, especially with deceased players. Now we read about autopens and secretaries/wives signing for the players. It's definitely a risk! Considering the money involved, it's not really a risk that I plan to take too many times. I know that my rookie cards are authentic, even though the player never held it in his hand.

Are there any collectors on this forum who have had bad experiences buying auto's?

Earl

With the amount of stuff I have dealt with in the past, there have been some bad experiences, but not many (I believe 3). All of them were early in my collecting and I try my best to stay away from those situations now. Two ended up working out in the end and I got my money back. The other was with Jason Bobbit (Crazy Canuck Ltd, arrested last year for stealig over $300K in multiple memoribilia schemes) and I have not gotten my money back from that.

Sean

Who is considered the most reliable auto authenticator these days? Is it James Spence (through Beckett)?

On a similar note (and speaking of deceased players) has anyone ever seen an auto of the late Don Ashby on either one of his two cards (77-78 and 78-79)?