Scrupulous fans of autographed sports collectibles will be familiar with the letters PSA/DNA, a division of the California based company Collectors Universe. This company has long been the gold standard for authentic sports memorabilia, claiming to have a team of unfoolable experts and even, as the name suggests, using DNA verification technology to authenticate autographs. But a recent, blistering articles in Pen & Quill magazine alleges that the company may be blatantly letting their standards slip.
The article says that instances of PSA/DNA giving known forgeries the stamp of approval are "not uncommon." The article exposes over a dozen cases of mistaken claims of authentic sports memorabilia. One collector purchased a game-used, autographed bat from Ernie Banks. The bat arrived with a PSA/DNA certificate of authenticity, but the bat had no signature at all. In another case of mistaken authentic sports memorabilia, an autographed Mark McGwire card, complete with certificate, was clearly just a rubber stamp.
A former Collectors Universe employee, William Miller, recently took the company to court in California, claiming that the company had sent out over 14,000 blank certificates of authenticity in his name. Mr. Miller was awarded $14,060, a $1 per certificate rate. But Mr. Miller is appealing and asking for $10 million, citing irreparable damage to his reputation. Not to mention potential profit-the certificates could be nearly as good as printing money and that whatever they were sent out with was automatically considered authentic sports memorabilia.
All memorabilia (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, etc.) sold at BaseballJump.com is guaranteed authentic.
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