To Good To Be True

I collect Ken Griffey Jr. cards and memorabilia, which can be very difficult task for a collector on a budget. To keep my costs within reason I stick with his base cards, inserts and common relics along with a couple of figures to add to my collection. Over the years I have added some bigger autographed items like jerseys and bats but these have been on special occasions.

 

So in my search for reasonably priced Griffey cards I came across a 1990 Post Griffey card that had been autographed. What caught my attention is the autograph, it is a fake. To make it worse is that the card is PSA certified; once again the people at PSA have failed the collectors. I checked the cert number and sure enough PSA has it listed as an authentic Griffey autograph.

 

This guy is currently selling three Griffey autographed cards and there are three different signatures (none of them are real) on the cards but this one is the most obvious fake and the only one that was authenticated by PSA.

 

As bad as this autograph is, it has fooled three bidders already with a day left in the auction. I guess when people see PSA or Beckett certification they assume that it is authentic without giving it a second thought not realizing that these companies get hundreds, if not thousands, of cards to grade and authenticate each day and fake cards do pass through.

 

The best defense is knowing what you are buying, spend some extra time and do the research.