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Trouble on the Sports Collectible Front: PSA/DNA and More

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THE HAUSER REPORT: Misrepresentations and forgeries are common in the sports collectibles market. Within that environment, many buyers rely on PSA and PSA/DNA for authentication.

PSA focuses on authenticating and grading sports cards and other trading cards. PSA/DNA focuses on authenticating autographs and the overall memorabilia market. According to the PSA website, the two companies “have processed over 20 million cards and collectibles with a cumulative declared value of over a billion dollars.”

The PSA/DNA website states that PSA/DNA was founded by PSA in 1998 “in response to widespread counterfeiting, forgery, and piracy of autographed collectibles.” The website further states, “PSA/DNA is the world’s leading third-party authentication service for autographs and memorabilia,” and adds, “PSA/DNA experts conduct ink analysis, structure analysis, object evaluation, and side-by-side comparisons. Experts may also use a video spectral comparator to further evaluate the autograph.”

Impressive. Right?

Wrong.

A photograph currently listed for sale on Ebay is described as follows:

“Michael Dokes Authentic Autographed Signed 16×20 Photo . . . This is a 16×20 Photo that has been hand signed by Michael Dokes. It has been authenticated by PSA/DNA and comes with their sticker and matching certificate of authenticity.”

The eBay page screen capture appears below:

collectibles market

 

Confirming the authenticity of Michael Dokes’s signature, the PSA/DNA website reads as follows:
PSA/DNA Certification Verification #T14814
It is the opinion of PSA/DNA Authentication Services that the signature(s) listed below is/are genuine. According to the Certification Database, this item is defined as follows:
Item:    Photograph

Primary subject: Michael Dokes

Result/Grade: Authentic

The PSA/DNA website link is:

https://www.psacard.com/cert/t14814/

Now we come to the problem.

The “authentic autographed photo that has been hand signed by Michael Dokes” and “authenticated by PSA/DNA and comes with their sticker and matching certificate of authenticity” isn’t a photo of Michael Dokes signed by Michael Dokes. It’s a photograph of Michael Grant signed by Michael Grant.

 

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WORDS OF WISDOM FROM FIGHTERS

Art Aragon (boxing’s original “Golden Boy”): When you quit the ring, if you’re a big success, you’re only a few thousand dollars in debt and only a little bit brain-damaged.

Jorge Arce: People want to see fighters fighting, not dancing. They want to see blood. I give them blood. I love that. If it gets on me, I get more motivated and excited.

Earnie Shavers: Thank God, I was a puncher. I had no fear. I believed in myself and thought I could knock out the world. The only time I remember a little fear was when I fought Roy “Tiger” Williams. I’d been promised a shot at Ali if I beat him, so I took the fight. But I knew it would be tough. Right before I went to the ring, I looked at some pictures of my little girls and said to myself, “This is what you’re fighting for.” I wore Williams down and knocked him out in the tenth round. After that, I feared no man.”

Alexis Arguello (on being counted out in his second fight against Aaron Pryor): It’s hard to accept, but it’s good to accept. I did it with grace and just accepted that the guy beat me. Even though I did my best, in the tenth round I accepted it right there. I said, “This is too much. I won’t take it. I‘ll just sit down and watch Richard Steele count to ten.”

Seanie Monaghan: You need a mean streak to be a fighter. But it’s not just fighters. There are rich people who’ve never thrown a punch in their life who are just as mean and cruel as any fighter. Sometimes they’re worse. It just comes out in different ways.

Johnny Nelson: In boxing, if you’re a fighter, it’s all about you. It’s the chance to be completely selfish and not have to explain why you’re being completely selfish.

Roger Mayweather: Do I have injuries from boxing? To be honest, I don’t know. If you’ve had that many fights, somewhere along the line, something happens. I just don’t know what the f— it was. But that’s the risk of doing it. I took my chances.

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel.

Thomas Hauser can be reached by email at thauser@rcn.com. His most recent book – A Hard World: An Inside Look at Another Year in Boxing – was published recently by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism.

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Thomas Hauser is the author of 52 books. In 2005, he was honored by the Boxing Writers Association of America, which bestowed the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism upon him. He was the first Internet writer ever to receive that award. In 2019, Hauser was chosen for boxing's highest honor: induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Lennox Lewis has observed, “A hundred years from now, if people want to learn about boxing in this era, they’ll read Thomas Hauser.”

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