Kobe & Shaq Ball Likely Not Genuine

PSA looked at the Kobe & Shaq ball listed below and rendered it Likely Not Genuine which is not surprising as the signatures are pretty bad.

Having said that, we need to make a very important statement about PSA-DNA Quick Opinions.

1. PSA is the premier authenticating service in the industry and they do an excellent job with authentication.

2. The Quick Opinion service is exactly as its name suggests -- a very "quick opinion". Remember, someone is looking at an image on the Internet for a very short period of time and giving their opinion on it.

3. Just because PSA says that something is Likely Not Genuine, doesn't mean that they have taken the time to analyze the autograph with detail and with the proper due dillegence.

4. We have seen real-life examples from our readers who have submitted authentic signatures without holograms or any other accompanying COA to the Quick Opinion service and PSA has declared them Likely Not Genuine (remember these are real, authenticated signatures from private signings).

So is PSA always right? Absolutely not. It is a good place to start because they are going to be able to pick off the obvious fakes. But the Quick Opinion service is not the end-all to autograph authentication. You should still go through the many steps we suggest in this blog to determine if an item is questionable or not.

Fake Kobe & Shaq Ball?

This ball is being offered by The Consignment Shop, an international seller on eBay and the signatures do not look good to us.

1. The seller makes no mention on where this item was signed. Shaq was with Mounted Memories for a long time and Kobe is with Upper Deck. So unless this was signed in the locker room (highly doubtful -- and even if it was I would not buy stuff like that) where was this ball signed?

2. The seller is also offering items from John F Kennedy Jr. with no mention of authenticity (he is dead and that would be worth a lot of money). The other items are usually a telling sign on eBay. Legitimate sellers usually only carry items from reputable dealers (not a mix between authentic dealers and unknown autograph companies).

This is what an Upper Deck Kobe signature looks like:

Again, the best way to get autographs on eBay is to buy from reputable dealers. Having said that, we are noticing a trend of fradulent sellers forging Mounted Memories COAs. Keep an eye on our blog for news on this.