Hard to know. Lucifer or whatever the hell he was most recently calling himself has been pretty shady for awhile. But in more general terms, fraud/theft/scams/crimes/hustles are usually a direct result of financial desperation. Would just be nice to see successful businesses paying people appropriately is all. Then it’s a lot easier to crucify them when they get caught doing some dumb shit.
If you can’t reliably authenticate signatures then you shouldnt allow them to be graded. Pretty simple. I feel like requiring proof that the signature is legit (a picture or something) is what they should go with because this is just embarrassing and rapidly degrading PSAs reputation.
These two Himeno’s auto are both legit and she dated in both formats in the event.
These 2 autos are owned by bsm777 on IG
I am not fully convinced in either direction. The use of different pens is suspicious but not necessarily proof of forgery. I have other concerns about it but not confident enough to make any real determination. My opinion is independent of who owns it and just on the features of the autograph itself.
In retrospect it’s not a good example of what I am trying to get at here so I removed it from the OP. Plus they aren’t even graded.
Just sent in two art pages, one from Masago and one from Arita. They didn’t give opinion on Kimiya but authenticated Arita. Not super happy
They don’t have anyone in there who even knows who Masago is
Ah, PFM removed the images. I know that one of the cards in that submission (cert number 84589971) is his, but I am not sure about the ones posted here. There is also a Yuu Nishida, a Harada, and a Shibuzoh auto in that sub, all to different names, which makes me think it is a Chinese auto mule’s sub.
Here’s the image. Again, I have some thoughts on it being suspicious but not confident enough to really make a definitive claim here.
Cert 84589968 is fake 100% no doubt but not sure about 84589971
Given that they are all in the same submission, PSA should might just deactivate the whole sub to be safe
FYI PSA seem to have halted or at least slowed right down their PSA/DNA services.
Myself and multiple people I have spoken to have their subs stuck in Research and ID. My regular sub was due to be completed on Feb 27th and it is not even in grading yet (one Arita autograph and one LOTR card signed by Ian McKellen).
No updates from PSA, but the timing of these fake cards being slabbed and then the grading times slowing right down likely isn’t coincidental.
I’m in the same boat.
Send in a submission on February 1st and it’s still in Research. ETA for completion date was suppose to be over a week ago.
No communication, no movement, nothing.
Yep, same timeframe for me. Cards arrived early Feb. Heard some people getting them returned as “unable to authenticate” even though the cards/autos were 100% legit. Honestly would have sent them to BGS, but alas PSA are being silent about these issues so we as collectors have to connect the dots ourselves. Shame.
Thanks for the info. As you said, at least we are able to put the pieces ourselves if PSA isn’t willing to
that cut autograph shit is heavily present in the sports and celebrity autograph world. you take a cut autograph stick it on some $100 walmart guitar then boom you have a “signed guitar”
Here is the progress on one Arita auto I sent into PSA. Still in research with March 8 anticipated completion date.
Value #1: Received 1/18
Regular: Received 2/29
Value #2: Received 2/29
First value sub went to grading this week. I think these autos will take a while.
I actually dont mind what was done here - the only slightly “bad juju” thing was
a) doing it without the artist consent
b) making it look like an official-ish Pokémon card-item
c) the fact that the person doing it was a PSA employee (conflict of interest)
I personally wouldn’t have found it an issue if it was just an autograph, stuck on a white card. Plus it is clear PSA need to pay their staff more so that stuff doesnt happen.
Nobody get your hopes up, but PSA actually authenticated a couple autos I sent in. Which is suprising since I believe they still haven’t hired anyone for Pokemon specificly.
Also this order was sent in at one of the lowest tiers possible, Value Plus, and finished before other auto orders I sent in at a higher tier, that have yet to be entered.
they probably just vet the sender at this point
easier than becoming an expert in autos, just learn who the experts are