Jan 23, 2012

Hall of Famer signatures are a staple on First Day Covers from 1939, but are they real?

Before the year 2000, Jimmy Spence was a relatively unknown in the hobby until, almost overnight, he became the self-proclaimed ”guru” of baseball autograph authentication for PSA/DNA with the likes of hobby heavyweights Bill Mastro and  Alan “Mr. Mint” Rosen singing his praises. Mastro raved about Spence’s “skill and work ethic” and the Mint-man went a step further extolling the virtues of Spence’s uncanny ability to help line his pockets with cash.  Rosen said, ”When I get my stuff PSA/DNA’d not only do I know its real, it’s much easier to sell. Not to mention the extra thousands I make.”

Thanks to Mastro’s genius in devising the plan to institute a third-party authentication system to protect auction houses like his from liability and from ever holding the bag after selling a forged autographed item, Spence became, in some people’s minds, the Babe Ruth of autograph authentication.  Even Sports Collectors Digest reported in its September, 2000, issue: “Spence is the Main Man at PSA/DNA.”

Spence was excited about being affiliated with a big company like PSA/DNA.  He told SCD, ”They’re a solid company with a great reputation, and this is nice for me because I can do this with confidence, and stay away from litigation on a personal level, which I’ve been subject to in the past.”

In that SCD interview Spence also boasted of the resources PSA provided to protect collectors and to insure that what he authenticated was the real-deal. Spence said, “I have a certificate in forensic document examination. It was a course that I recently completed. I also have training in a video spectral comparator, a $20,000 machine with all sorts of magnification capabilities and different lights that are used, such as UV. It’s in my office and I use it regularly. It’s helped me determine the origin or the make of a certain item. A lot of times, the labels of a ball have been rubbed out, and I’ve been able to uncover that.”

Early in 2001 Spence made his rounds as PSA’s main man and travelled to Watchung, New Jersey, to authenticate items for Rob Lifson and Robert Edward Auctions.  Lifson had recently merged his auction house with his old-friend Bill Mastro’s company to form the auction-biz behemoth MastroNet.  Spence, armed with the technology of his spectral comparator and the peace of mind afforded by PSA backing up his opinions, authenticated-away on hundreds of baseball-only items ranging from Babe Ruth signed baseballs to a baseball card signed by Ty Cobb.

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