Perhaps not surprisingly, the FBI’s number one tip for authentic autographs was to watch the item being signed in person. While this is a great tip, there are a few problems in being able to get items signed in person. Baseball players today aren’t like the ones of yesteryear. They don’t have off season jobs where they can be easily found and they get bombarded with autograph requests most everywhere they go.

Thus, many players just don’t want to sign autographs for people outside of events that they’re being paid to attend. This creates another problem for autograph seekers. Many collectors live in areas where there aren’t shows with autograph signings, or, collectors want players who wouldn’t be at a show in their area.

While there is still the possibility of sending an item through the mail (TTM, which we will discuss in the future), it is generally met with mixed results, and no longer means the item has been signed in front of the collector. Therefore, for the vast majority of collectors, autograph items must be purchased from a third party in order to add to ones collection.

With the notion that most autograph items must be purchased from a third party there are some thoughts for one to ponder before buying their next autograph collectible. These include: pricing, certificates of authenticity, photographs of the signing, contracts with players, and provenance. We will look at these topics in depth in future articles and how Player Direct uses a combination of all of these things to ensure any item from Player Direct is unquestionably authentic.

—-
Collecting Insights is an ongoing effort at Player Direct to educate and inform collectors about topics relating to autograph collecting.