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Author
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Topic: Article on Forgeries
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fabfivefreddy
Member Posts: 1067
From: Leawood, Kansas USA
Registered: Oct 2003
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posted 02-13-2005 12:41 PM
   
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=487&ncid=762&e=2&u=/ap/20050209/ap_en_ot/autograph_fraud Tahir |
Kurt
Member Posts: 83
From: Santa Clara, CA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 02-13-2005 08:13 PM
Perhaps a good follow-up question would be "What percentage of PSA/DNA items that they authenticate are authentic?" and "What percentage of items PSA/DNA rejected are non-authentic?" My guesses would be 75% and 85%, respectively. Anyone else have thoughts on this? |
fabfivefreddy
Member Posts: 1067
From: Leawood, Kansas USA
Registered: Oct 2003
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posted 02-13-2005 08:29 PM
That certainly was my thought too.
But like ANY industry- car manufacturing, engineering, etc. there is always a "margin of error". Autograph authentication is no different.
We cannot blame any "experts" for being wrong some of the time. The question is how often does an item "slip through"? We will never know.
-Tahir |
Bob M
Member Posts: 1744
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 02-14-2005 01:10 PM
In the article, PSA/DNA's experts are said to have authenticated more than eight (8) million items! They have really been busy! If my math is correct, at, say, 200 appraisals per day, 7 days a week, that would take over 100 years to accomplish!? Perhaps the article has the total wrong. But whatever, they must be a huge operation and their revenue must be gigantic (for example, they charge $150 to appraise an Apollo 11 crew signed item). But going by some recent PSA/DNA astronaut autograph appraisal slipups, maybe they should start taking a little more time with astronaut autograph appraisals, at least. Bob Mc. |
Kurt
Member Posts: 83
From: Santa Clara, CA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 02-14-2005 05:52 PM
Tahir,
Well, I think part of PSA/DNAs problem is their COAs are authenticated by 1 person. I've seen some very strange (read non-authentic) autographs slip by and get their seal of approval. I believe if a group of experts looked at the item, most of the time the majority would convince the other(s) that something was wrong with the autograph. This is standard procedure in engineering. They're called peer reviews, where results are presented and potentially challenged by outsiders. I think a better approach would be for several experts to look at an item before issuing a COA. Less errors would be made. Certainly there will be errors in any authentication company, but I think the percentage at PSA/DNA is way too high for me to ever trust any autograph just because PSA/DNA said it was good. |
fabfivefreddy
Member Posts: 1067
From: Leawood, Kansas USA
Registered: Oct 2003
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posted 02-15-2005 07:29 PM
I agree. A panel would be ideal.
The cost would be prohibitive for most, though. That is why you basically need friends and fellow collectors to help out.
Tahir
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Mark Zimmer
Member Posts: 289
From:
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted 02-17-2005 09:38 AM
I don't know that the cost should be prohibitive; peer review and review by committee of experts is how stamp expertizing is done by the Philatelic Foundation and American Philateltic Society's expertizing arm. They charge based on catalogue value of the stamp, with the minimum between $25 and $40, which seems reasonable to me. |
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