Fake Shaquille O'Neal Autographed Jersey
This autograph was determined to be Likely Not Genuine by PSA-DNA and you can see why.
Unfortunately this auction went for $89 on eBay.
The last known autograph company that Shaq was involved with was Mounted Memories.
You can see a real Shaq autograph at this MRAK Sports auction.
An important tip on eBay: If you have any doubt that the item you are bidding on is not real. Do a search on eBay for that item. For example, we did a search for Shaq Signed Jersey and came up with a list of jerseys. We then found that there were several Mounted Memories items for sale.
If you notice that a player is signing for a particular company, this would lead you to believe that the player is under contract. Especially if it is a big company like Upper Deck, Steiner, or Mounted Memories.
Searching eBay doesn't always work, but it is a way to see what others are selling. Then you can compare the signatures and see for yourself. Remember, most athletes don't go around signing things for people on the street. They know that their autograph is worth too much money. Most times, if they do sign on the street, they will personalize the autograph so the person can't turn around and sell it on eBay.
Beware, there are still TONS of fake autographs on eBay, it has actually gone downhill since the Operation Bullpen bust a few years ago. These fake sellers are back online and they have no fear and they want to rip you off with their fake goods.
We have a lot of info on this blog. If you are ever in doubt, do a search with our search bar on the right side for information you are looking for. If not, leave a comment and one of our loyal readers will probably answer to help you out!
19 Comments:
all authentic is so right on this.in fact many players(esp. nba brats)wont sign much at all in person.for exmaple kobe bryant if you bumped into him at the mall and just happened to be wearing his jersey(highly unlikley)he might sign it for you but i guarantee you he wont sign it on the number like he does at signings.he would probaly just sign a very unneat scribble on the shoulder of it.most of those big name guys know the vaule of there auto and dont like signing premium items like jerseys and balls.it all goes down to them trying to protect the intgerty of there signature.if everybody knew that willie mays would sign a baseball at starbucks for them and put the say hey inscbition on it who would buy one off his site for 800 bucks???in fact ebays a very risky place to buy autographs from but it is sometimes the cheapest place to steal a deal on very expensive memorabilia.you can often find very nice and vauleable stuff on there that another dealer is just going to take a loss on as high dollar stuff goes undersold every night on ebay.for example you might find a derek jeter ball that steiner sells for 400 bucks and sold it to a dealer at wholesale for 200 and for some reason you stole it at 150.just make sure like AA was saying about find out who works with who and if that player has a contract look for the companys hologram or coa.theres no such thing as a barry sanders football for 50 bucks or a jordan 8X10 for 40 bucks.i myself used to be one of those guys that got all of my autographs for free in person but i never sold a one just a hobby.now i contract my own signings with players and attend serval other dealers signings as well so i know what im talking about here.heres a great tip for collectors to bypass all the online ebay bs .check out signingshotline.com that is a site with allmost every dealer in the country listed and allmost every single private and public show will be listed on there and how to contact the dealer who is doing the signing.most dealers offer presale specials and you can save some money and find exactly the player or team you want to find and if your lucky you might find out about a public signing and get to meet your hero(for about 15 seconds)
Great comments and insight on the autograph industry! Buying items direct from show promoters on a presale basis is a very good way to go. You can still buy things on eBay, just look for reliable sellers who are known for doing autograph signings or sellers who are selling items from known dealers.
You can always tell a lot by looking at the sellers other items on ebay.
even at some of the smaller shows you have to be careful, like the ones in small malls. i know someone who bout some expensive autographs like pujols dimaggio and some others and they came with psa dna authentication. the problem was that dealer switched labels with some other cheaper autograph and ripped the guy off. so unless you know the dealer make sure you get all the info from them and check online for the #'s
IM THE ONE WHO LEFT THE COMMENT ABOUT THE INSIGHT ON THE INDUSTRY.YES YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL WITH PSA OR GAI ITEMS.THERE IS 2 TYPES OF COAS THEY ISSUE.ONE IS "SIGNED IN THE PRESENCE OF PSA OR GAI"AND THE OTHER IS ONE TAHST BEEN EXAIMED BY THEM AND THERE JUST GUESSING FROM THERE KNOWLEDGE ITS AUTHENTIC.THATS THE ONE YOU HAVE TO WATCHOUT FOR ESP. IF ITS FROM GIA WHICH MANY IN THE HOBBY AGREE THERE GOING DOWN HILL.WHAT YOUR WERE SAYING ABOUT SWITCHING HOLOGRAMS IS VERY TRUE.SEE ALLMOST ALL PROMOTERS USE TAMPER PROOF HOLOGRAMS THAT ARE DESTORYED IF REMOVED.IT REALLY BUGS ME THAT PSA OR GLOBAL DOESNT USE TAMPERPROOF HOLOGRAMS.I COULD GIVE YOU A VERY GOOD EXAMPLE OF WHAT COULD HAPPEN WITH THIS BUT IM NOT GOING TO GIVE ANY CONS IDEAS.ALL AUTHENTIC I FOUND A GREAT SELLER TO MAKE A EXAMPLE OF TO EDUCATE BUYERS ON ANYOTHER SCAN.I FEEL THIS GUY IS USING A "AUTOPEN" ON A FEW OF HIS ITEMS WHICH THE AVERAGE COLLECTOR KNOWS NOTHING OF AND MOST OF THEM JUST LOOK LIKE BAD FAKES HOWEVER SOME LOOK ALLRIGHT SO THATS WHAT MAKES ME FEEL IT MIGHT BE A AUTO PEN.THIS GUY SELLS OUT OF CHINA(SOMEWHERE WHERE THE BULLPEN CANT GO)HE HAS ALL THE MAJOR NBA STARS AND MOST ARE DUAL SIGNED.SHAQ,KOBE,TIGER,T-MAC,WADE,AI,JACK NICKLAUS,LEBRON,RICE,MARINO,FAVRE,ELWAY,BIRD,MAGIC,PUJOLS,ETC YOU GET MY POINT LIKE YOU SAID YOU CAN TELL A LOT BY WHAT ELSE THE SELLERS GOT UP FOR AUCTION.DUAL SIGNED ITEMS ARE RARE AND MOST PROMOTERS DONT LIKE TO DO THEM BECAUSE ITS OFTEN HARD TO MAKE MONEY ON THEM WITH SO MUCH INVESTED.THIS GUYS GOT CARMELO/LEBRON FOR BUY IT NOW AT 76.00 AND KOBE AND IVERSON AT 54.00 NOW IF I COULD GET KOBE&AI FOR EVEN JUST KOBE FOR 54 BUCKS I WOULD BUY 1000 OF THEM RIGHT NOW AND I BET ALL AUTHENTIC WOULD BUY 2000 OF THEM.I JUST THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN THEM SINCE THIS GUYS GOT SERVAL PLAYERS YOUVE CONTRACTED WITH BEFORE HOWEVER THE ONES YOUVE CONTRACTED THE AUTOS FOR THEM LOOK VERY REAL(ESP MAGIC&RICE) BUT PRICE MAKES ME THINK FAKE ALL THE WAY.AND REM. SELLERS IN ASIA CANT CLAIM THEY GOT THE AUTOS IN PERSON ARE YOU KIDDING ME???JORDAN AT A SUSHI RESTURANT IN CHINA.KOBE AT A ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET IN KOREA??THIS GUYS USER NAME IS fzf2136 also notice that many of the dual signed items have the autos signed with 2 different color pens so you know they didnt come from promoters because they would never have a auto sined in gold and one in silver.this guy may have even bought a real magic auto photo reprinted it and then signed jordan on it
Hi, I'm relatively new to collecting autograph and have been looking at sellers on Ebay. One seller that caught my eyes and look to be a authentic seller is schwartzsports.com. I have looked around on the internet to see if they were actually an authentic seller and came up with nothing. I also happen to notice that their company didnt happen to be listed under the list of trustworthy sellers or on the site mentioned in the first comment, so I was just wondering if anyone can help me determine if they are authentic or not? I would appreciate it a lot and I think its great what you guys are doing here. Keep up the good work.
Hello, yes SchwartzSports.com is a reputable dealer. They have exclusive contracts with athletes and they are very concerned with authenticity. If you purchase from them please tell us we referred you to them. Thanks!
schwartz is one of the countrys most trusted dealers.they have a exclusive with barry sanders so that right there should say a lot and they are very vigalante in protecting the names of there exclusives on ebay.for example if you see a questionable barry sanders auto with ss holograms, at the top right of the page it says email this auction to a friend.send it to isitreal@barrysanders.com and they will tell you if it is and if its not the item will be removed
yeh schwartz is a great dealer. i live in illinois and go there once in awhile for their signings. they got some pretty good deals as well. ben grodon was there last year and was $20 a signature!
I would like to respond to the person who states that PSA labels are not tamper proof. That is farthest from the truth. The labels are designed to break apart the moment they have been placed on the item, which means if you try to take it off, it comes off in pieces. The second form of protection used by PSA is Internet Verification whereby you can verify the authenticity of the item online before bidding or buying it. So if the description doesn't match, don't buy it!
Oops, i forgot to mention the DNA! Which is visible under a specially calibrated laser.
my coment is for the guy who thinks he knows everything about psa stickers(not holograms)your are totaly wrong about psa using tamper proof hoolgrams.they DO NOT use a tamper proof hologram that breaks into pieces.in fact they use a cheap sticker that can be peeled back with a razor blade on the corner and pulled right off and put on anything a crook wanted to put it on.ALL the main authenticatiors use these cheap stickers like global and online coa.about the only thing you got right is they do or so they have always said they mark them with a invisiable ink and they claim it can only be viewed if you send it back to them to use under a "special light"they are refering to a 1 dollar blacklight which you can buy at a local walmart to save the trouble
oh by the way i have seen both psa and global stickers removed with my own eyes.at a private signing i watched 2 dealers who had the same jersey numbers signed by the same players 1 with a psa sticker and 1 with a global pull off each sticker and swap them.why did they do that?why didnt they just trade the numbers??because 1 number was a different style "problock" number and they dealer with the problock number refuses to endorse global since there company is going down hill.did they do anything wrong???my opinion no they didnt.both autos are real and thats the what it all goes down to is authenticity of the signature not the trimming surounding the auto.you could get screwed with anything no matter what the coa says.for example someone could have a jordan auto jersey with psa.he could then take of the sticker and put it on the same style jersey sign it and steal your money and then take the orginal jersey send it to global and get a coa issued again for it.that is why i dont trust third parties
Concerning the peeling of labels. If what you say is true, than you pretty much can peel off ANY label or hologram not just 3rd party labels. In that case, the DNA plays a vital part in the authenticity of the item and THAT process cannot be replicated or tampered with. Yes you can view it with any black light...so what. If PSA daubed the item with DNA, I definitely want to see the proof any way possible. You see, vendors want to say that there items are "guaranteed for life" or that they've been in business 25 years and have been doing "private" signings and get their products from reputable sources and belong to these exclusive autograph club etc... That's all great except that you're trying to SELL me the collectible!. Of course your going to say those thing! I would too if my lively hood depended on it. 3rd party Authenticators make no money on the sale. True they influence the price and the purchase by rendering an opinion. But that's it! They make $150 on items that sell for 5 figures! They provide peace of mind to the consumers who want to believe an item is real. Vendors should actually work with them to give the public what they want. An honest, respected opinion of the authenticity of an item from a 3rd party non-partisan authority
I am responding to Anonymous who states he's seen them switch label on privately signed items. My feelings are that if a person wants to trick you, they'll find any way possible to do that including swapping labels. With PSA/DNA you not only get the label, but more importantly the DNA process. That DNA process can not be replicated which makes the item safe from deceit. Yes you can see it with any blacklight..so what?! As long as that DNA is there and visible, the product is deemed genuine. As for 3rd party authenticators, I believe they play a vital role in keeping the sales transactions honest and professional. Vendors shouldn't take it too personal when a 3rd party authenticator renders an opinion. They're providing a service to the consumer where an honest opinion on the authenticity of an item is rendered. If it gives the consumer peace of mind then what's the harm?
dna??you guys make it sound like it came of somebodys body.fly i to everyone.....they use a pen to mark it with,a pen you can buy at some stores but for sure online.my old roomate worked for gai/dna global and belive me the stores ive heard,the things ive seen dont belive everything you see.no matter what you should only buy from the countrys top dealers not just a dealer who sells psa or whatever but really this might sound stupid but the dealers who charge the most are the ones you can trust(usally)u get what you pay for.
..do you know anything about ksports1966/the history of the game. they have a lot of nolan ryan psa/dna autos. i would love do get one..they certainly appear authentic..any thoughts?
I have several autographs from Shaquille when he was in high school and also when he was a freshman at LSU, on the cover of SI and team posters.
Not certain I want to sell yet, but am curious as to value.
Any ideas?
I have an autographed Chicago Bulls 23 Michael Jordan Jersey from the 96-97 championship team. Autographs included starting lineup including Michael Jordan and coaches including Phil Jackson. Wandering value and where to go to sell or appraise.
Does anyone here know where I can get a list of what athletes have exclusive contracts and with what companies? I am mainly concerned with football autographs. Anything would be a big help. Thanks!
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