Mmmm thats pretty sad its come to this. Personally Id probably only trust autographs that I was given cause it would mean something special, but it does hurt when youre looking for your favorite artists card, and you know its been forged. With todays market Id probably avoid signatures altogether.
3 Likes
The submission that included that white ink blastoise was over 100 Aritas too. Not enough of an expert to make a statement one way or another on them, but that’s a big number.
Certs are 84544027 to 84544151 I believe.
2 Likes
That Blastoise was simply signed when Arita was going through his graffiti artist stage
4 Likes
Personally have no interest in signatures unless I was there myself.
If people so desperately want it slabbed, then signature events should come with photographic proof/ticket stub something so that PSA will slab it. If you don’t have that, no slab. But then you’re asking a company to reject free money so that won’t happen.
I’ve said this before but there are a lot of cards PSA (and all grading companies) should be rejecting outright but short term money is more important than the environment. My renewed idea to start would be, if it doesn’t get a 10, they won’t slab any modern common-holo and reverse holo cards. You will still pay for the appraisal though and submitters should pay a premium to get worthless cards slabbed in plastic because that ‘right’ is not commensurate to the damage to the environment.
3 Likes
That’s why I’ve always appreciated CGC in regard to autos. If it’s not witnessed then they don’t touch it. PSA and Beckett have let thousands and thousands of fakes get through over the decades
4 Likes
While autos might not be an interest of mine, reading all of this and seeing what has been happening is terrible for those who are actually into them.
4 Likes
Agreed. No method is going to be flawless, but I would have a lot more faith in a CGC witnessed signature.
Very interesting read…I havent been fortunate enough to attend a signing event. Especially now with the hype/competitiveness of these events, I just started to look at the secondary market to pick up something for my collection. Coming from collecting vintage baseball HOF autographs when I was younger, PSA was always the gold standard for autograph authentication. I guess I was naive to believe PSA didnt pass through many fakes.
I can visually see though the inconsistencies brought up in the thread
3 Likes
After having time to compare these close up there are differences between the one in question and a verified real auto. The one on the left is from the 2004 World Championships, and the one on the right is in question.
If you look at a side by side of the beginning of the signature, you can see the inconsistencies:
The confirmed authentic one on the left flows. The one on the right is more rigid and has a pause point, which is unnatural, and typically indicative of a forgery.
7 Likes
Just wanted to note that Harada actually changed her signature in recent years. The old Harada signatures from Worlds in the 2000s consistently look like your copy, whereas the newer sigs look more like the right copy.
As an example:
Harada from Worlds 2004
Harada from 2023 Signing Event
1 Like
I agree the Magikarp is horribly off and Harada confirmed that one wasn’t legitimate, but it would probably serve as a better example using a modern autograph style, since it’s changed a bit in the last 20 years.
2 Likes
2004* Harada wasn’t at 2008 Worlds.
1 Like
Yep, typo!
The flow is the point. If anything using a different era emphasizes how the flow of a signature is more relevant as all autos will have some stylized differences.
Also those new autos still don’t match the magikarp.
The left is a real one from 2023, the right is the one in question. The same flow issues exist regardless of era.
1 Like
If we are going to break it down here’s what I’m seeing
Good^
Hmm 
v
In the alleged forgeries, there seems to be too much hesitation at certain points:
Where as the actual autos are generally one smooth scribble. The “humps” are also very prominent and consistent that is not really seen in a legit auto:
The fact that the same magikarp is consistently drawn twice is suspicious. The strokes on the lips are also very strange. Harada generally will draw curves in one motion and not in this sketch-style little line segments
vs:
Again, you can never “prove” a forgery. But there are things you can look for and if too many inconsistencies pile up, you can make a determination from the weight of the evidence. Personally I would not have allowed these magikarp into a slab. And I guess someone at PSA agreed because the certs are now deactivated.
7 Likes
What event would the fakes even be from? Did she do something on october 21st? I was at her nycc comic con thing she was doing cards from the 12th-15th there not sure if i heard of something shortly (examples from NYCC)
And this one was done 8 months before at her time square event (just for another example)
1 Like
Yeah maybe if PSA paid him and other authenticators better they wouldn’t be trying to have all these side hustles like waiting with mules to get cards signed and then cutting additional autos from mail to create a second signature-based revenue stream. It seems like every time someone from one of these slabbing company gets caught grading their own shit or doing something “grey” it’s almost always because they are trying to find a way to subsidize their income. It’s not just grading companies but also TCG tournaments. Anything that makes a significant amount of money for an IP should just stop leaning so heavily on volunteers and good will from “fans”
4 Likes
I fully agree that PSA should pay their top experts more but I’m not fully convinced the end result wouldn’t be the same in this situation if they did.
2 Likes
