Collecktion.com

Thoughts on Authentication

Steve Hart

For the vast majority of my collecting career, I have resisted having my items authenticated or graded. Recently, however, as I pondered the possibility of selling parts of my collection in the future, I reliazed that authentication was the best way to achieve top dollar for many of my collectibles. That said, I have never sent anything to PSA, GAI, or AFA. I have, however, started to send Steve Hart at the Baseball Card Exchange my rack packs for authenticated. Steve is widely considered the world's foremost expert on unopened sports cards. His seal of approval for rack packs and wax boxes is akin to "it's real." The great thing about dealing with Steve Hart is that he carefully describes his process and shares all of his thoughts on your items via email. There are instances with at least two of my rack packs in which I disagreed with his assessment. His assessment wasn't necessarily that the items were tampered with, just that he wasn't 100% confident with putting them in holders with his labels on them. Unless he is 100% sure they are untampered with, he won't authenticate them. Steve's prices and turn-around times are very reasonable and I have enjoyed and learned alot from our interactions. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to send all of my items to Steve because of the COVID-19 crisis. Hopefully when the crisis passes, I'll be able to send them.

There are few problems, however, with the holdering of the rack packs. First, the rack packs often looked squished or crooked inside the "holders." When I brought this to Steve's attention, he said to bang them on a hard surface to straighten them out. I tried this with one, but was afraid that I could possibly damage the item or the holder. For some of my authenticated rack packs, they look better outside the holders. I did learn that you could request foam strips that hold the pack in place. This, however, is not automatic, even with very valuable rack packs. You have to specialy request it. Secondly, there is no record kept of rack packs that are authenticated. There is no master list, registrt, or anything like that. This really surprised me as it didn't seem like a big stretch to expect that some sort of record keeping would occur. I bring this up because it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that Steve's process could be replicated. The "holders" are just two oversized top-loaders, bound together by his branded wrap. If there was a registry, at least an item in question could be verified.

PSA

PSA is the best-known of the authentication companies and is usually the first choice of collectors. I have purchased PSA-graded cards and packs, but have never sent them in. From what I understand, the turn-around time can be as long as six months. To me, this is unacceptable. For the prices they charge and the money they make, they really need a more efficient system for getting customers their items back. I'm surely not the only person to have a problem with this, but I do wonder how many people simply don't send in their collectibles because of the ridiculous wait time.

AFA

AFA is the company that grades all of my Star Wars items. I have never sent anything to them, but I make sure every action figure I purchase has been authenticated, graded, and holdered by them. Their holders make for great, air-tight cases that are super easy and attractive to display.