Hi, I’m looking for some help with a potential purchase, I have found a Pikachu card that appears to have been signed by Mitsuhiro Arita but am unsure as the date on the card looks to be 20.8.23, as this was during COVID, I am unsure whether Arita would have been signing any cards, from what I have found online, any signings around this time would have been cancelled. If anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it
Trying to buy an autograph on Mercari without knowing what you’re doing is basically throwing away money at this point
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Thanks, a couple of things didn’t look quite right such as the date, and the fact that Arita is what I presumed is probably one of if not the most faked signature, but thought there’s no harm in asking around
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Luckily for you the Arita signature is one of the most common, so there are plenty of opportunities to pick one up. While not 100% foolproof, this day in age I would just recommend getting a PSA graded example unless you truly want a raw card and know with certainty the auto is real (in person event, a friend of yours you trust, etc.).
Good luck!
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aritas are common enough that you can get a psa authenticated one for a pretty reasonable price
Yeah the more I look, the more I see people saying to just get an authenticated one since it’s so popular, but have also heard that some forgeries still make it through (don’t know if that’s true), which grading company would people recommend? I’m assuming PSA
PSA had to fire their lead Pokemon autograph authenticator (see PSA stopped authentication of Pokemon autographs? )
Since then, I believe the overall community has felt that PSA has been a bit more sloppy on passing fakes. However, Beckett is in a really bad place on authenticating any Pokemon autograph.
If your only option is going through 3rd party authentication, PSA older cert is probably your best bet…or CGC signature series where the CGC is in the presence of the artist.
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Cool, thank you all for your help, going to look for an older PSA cert in that case, I’m assuming that CGC signature is harder to come by since they have to be there at the time of signature. I’d love a jungle Cubone, but it doesn’t seem like the most popular card to get signed 
Are the people at Beckett just not very knowledgeable on Pokemon signatures?
And also, as I’m in the UK, is eBay/Cardmarket still the best place to look, or is there any other site/marketplace that anyone could recommend for something like this?
The best thing to do is probably to look on eBay, but who you buy from is more important than what platform you use. I wouldn’t touch any auto auctions on consignment, from low-feedback sellers, or ungraded autos. As others have noted, graded definitely doesn’t mean authentic, but it means it’s at least passed a cursory inspection.
Buy from an experienced seller who can give you provenance on the card: when they bought it/where they got it signed, who they bought it from, etc. etc. You will pay more for this but if you want a real auto that’s what you have to do.
You could also consider traveling to get a card signed by Arita himself. It will be expensive and you might have to wait awhile for a slot to open up, but Arita is one of the most accessible Pokemon signers. Then you can get exactly the card you want signed, and it’s an amazing experience!
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