Steve Grad

So I think in this day and age, this is regardless of the player, but once you get up to a certain amount, you may want to get multiple LOAs, multiple opinions, because all these autographs are just opinions.

And I did notice that a few cards in this auction that they do have the Steve Grad letter in here.

He took a snapshot letter for his opinion, likely not genuine.

And the Ruth card, that passed.

it, I think this is considered a disappointment, and I think that this having a lot...

Some people in the chat were saying like, "Eh, not everybody listens to, uh, what somebody like Steve Grad says." They listened, because this ended up going for under 55,000, where literally the last one, which was a one with an autographed nine, sold for 91,000 nine months ago.

Most people would think that they would go higher, uh, an autographed Mantle, compared to nine months ago, and this is considered one of the earliest signatures they've ever found.

So I think that it's pretty easy to see because it was such a significant amount that it ended up going for less than what the last one sold for, it was tainted with the news that came out about this.

And then finally, I thought we'd take a look at, this is Uncle Barry's signed '52 Bowman Mantle with the autograph that is, you know, there's the autograph right there by Mickey Mantle.

That's the one that Steve Grad says was not Mickey Mantle but was like a clubhouse signature.

We're, we don't know one way or the other, but that's the card, and it's fun to watch.

It's currently at $42,000, which is 51,000 with the buyer's premium.

Mm-hmm.

So right now, it's at 51,000 with buyer's premium.

Obviously, there's a little bit of, uh, a cloud over this just because we're gonna find out if it matters or not, of what Steve Grad said, you know, when we have-

Yeah

Right, 'cause one guy can't do both.

both.First, he brings in Steve Grad, a specialized autograph authenticator.

I want to pause and explain how an authenticator actually does this, because it isn't just guessing.

Grad doesn't just look at it and say, "Looks good to me."

I can't believe how I found this card.

So on Saturday, I'm walking around with my son at the mo- at, like, the area where there's modern and also vintage, and I ran into the, to the Steve Grad booth just by accident.

And my son's looking at modern, we just happened to pass it, and this...

It was like Moses parting the sea or a, just a spotlight shone down.

Well, what happened w- and PSA said that it's authentic.

What happened was a, a guy by the, a gentleman by the name of Steve Grad, who used to work for PSA, used to work for Beckett, is one of the most highly regarded autograph authenticators in the hobby, has come out on video and said that it's a fake.

Hmm.

So it's, it gonna be interesting-

They all have flaws.

Steve Grad is not infallible.

We already talked about this.

And also Simon had a video talking about Steve's Grad background, a lot of it.

That's all I'm saying about that.

All of them have messed up because it is exceedingly complicated.

And also, Steve Grad has worked for several of them.

Jim Spence came from around the same place as Steve Grad started with.