Even the authenication services make mistakes. Happens all the time. As long as the autograph looks close enough to the known real thing, it could very well pass. Even PSA/DNA. On the other side of the coin, I've heard about people who have gotten someone IP and had the authentication fail. Go figure...

home made coas are worthless, but you can get them officially authenticated by a company. They put their official sticker on it
and have professional coas. which are not worthless. Most popular sites are psa/dna and global authentication

lorraine1980 wrote:It's crazy if they are worthless, I've seen people on Ebay posting for the likes of Avril Lavigne and they charge AT LEAST £50 for a signed photo with a COA, that's the equivalent of roughly $80.

That's because all they are probably doing is trying to sell you a guaranteed POS!

Khackdrums

It's crazy if they are worthless, I've seen people on Ebay posting for the likes of Avril Lavigne and they charge AT LEAST £50 for a signed photo with a COA, that's the equivalent of roughly $80.

I would say it would be wrong to produce a self-made COA for someone you got through the mail. Unless you actually saw them sign the photo you can't say 100% that it is an authentic autograph. You would simply have to admit in your listing that you got the autograph TTM.

Now as for an autograph you got in person, I can see making your own COA. At least you saw the person sign and can be sure it was signed by them.

However, I almost always disregard COAs. Like someone already posted (and took the words out of my mouth), they are just plain worthless the majority of the time. About the only time I will take the COA into consideration is if someone attended a paid signing, or if the COA is issued by the celebrity. Even then I won't put my full faith into it, but it does help.

Some people won't buy autographs without COA's. I say go ahead and make them!

Khackdrums

legendwithoutaname wrote:There are many sites you can visit to "make" COA's and this is why they are not worth the paper they are printed on

Wow, I didn't realise that! I guess it's not really worth it then, why pay for something that someone can just 'make' that's pretty sad.

the_uk_collector05 wrote:Just curious....why are you giving up this great hobby??

Well, although it's a really great hobby, it's very time consuming, I always put a lot of effort into my letters and another hobby of mine is penpalling, so I spend so much time writing, and I really can't give up my penpals ;)

I'm keeping the autographs that mean the most to me, but I think in all fairness since I'm ending this hobby there will be people out there now that can appreciate my obtained autographs more than I can.

I am sad to be giving it up though, had a lot of fun doing it

the_uk_collector05 wrote:Not unless you want to spend a fortune, which in my opinion is worthless, as certificates are useless....did you obtain them in person?

Unfortunately not in person, I got the majority TTM, I have a few IP but not from major celebrities

There are many sites you can visit to "make" COA's and this is why they are not worth the paper they are printed on