The industry standard for Certificate of Authenticities or COA's has drastically shifted from when the industry first started years ago. Back in the day, every store and their mother had a Certificate of Authenticity. This allowed forgeries to run free and saturate the marketplace. You could go to Bob's Sports Shop and buy an autographed baseball signed by Player X and it was most likely accompanied by a Bob's Sports Shop COA. You personally may have known that Bob was a trust worthy guy, but when either selling the baseball or trying to get it appraised, no one else knew Bob making his COA worthless.
Once people started realizing this, the next advancement in the world of COA's was the accompanying picture. Take the same baseball you bought from Bob's Sports Shop. Now, instead of just getting a COA from Bob, you were able to get a picture of Player X signing a baseball. This worked great until people started realizing that just because Player X was signing a baseball in the picture; it wasn't necessarily the exact baseball you purchased. To this day people will still try and sell items based off having a picture of the player signing. If this is the only proof or COA avoid purchasing this at all costs!
The most recent progression in the COA world is the creation of holograms and stickers. These holograms or stickers are placed directly on the autographed item, usually in a place that does not take away from the signature. Some athletes have their own hologram/sticker COA and most of the major memorabilia companies have their own individually numbered holograms. Each piece of memorabilia has its own individual hologram and unique number that is also in a database and that can be retrieved online, usually by visiting that company’s website. The hologram is the best and most assured way of making sure your signature is real and authentic.
Another very important thing when purchasing autographs is that when you are purchasing an autograph, make sure the hologram comes from a company you know of and have a good reputation. Anyone can make a sticker or hologram and put it on an item, but if they are an unknown company not a reputable company, their hologram means nothing.
So often we will see that someone is ready to pay a lot less for an unauthenticated autographed item, only then to find out that the item was a fake and worth nothing. Don’t be afraid to spend a little bit more money on a guaranteed authentic item, you won’t regret it later
