OA certification and encapsulation is it coming soon?

[Eric Seffinga]

Wow.

[lb jefferies]

Wow.

+1

[Cbone3-migration]

COAs are often generated by the seller. Not sure how ANYONE would be willing to rely on that.

 

Encapsulation and certification certainly has some value, though I think the costs vs. the benefits will make it unattractive to most collectors.

[AKA Rick]

I do agree with this statement about C.O.A.'s and their value in a "consider the source" evaluation. In the early wild wild west days of eBay, people would give themselves a fancy sounding company name and issue their own C.O.A.'s to autographs by celebrities, which were not even worth the paper they were printed on.

 

As for the "experts", I do recall one major trading card company announcing that their trading cards which had their guarantee of an athlete's signature were compromised by use of an auto-pen yet failed to pass their initial QC process. Also, there was one trading card where the wrong stickers featuring one player's autograph were stuck onto another player's card.

 

In the comic world, wasn't there an issue with CGC itself and books submitted that were actually "trimmed" yet did pass their initial QC process? I also hear stories of collectors who have slabbed books that unslab them and resubmit them to get different (often time higher) grades.

 

So, there's no consistency when it comes to authentication, certification and grading when there's humans involved and either subjective bias can enter the picture or flat out fraud.

 

The only thing we can hope for are increased odds of confidence that what's in front of you is real and in a condition of quality.

 

So, for comic artwork, whether original art, or sketches it's fairly tough to guarantee 100%, especially with artwork today.

 

You see so much post-production digital work done to embellish art. I've seen a lot of "inks over blue line" where if nobody said anything, the artwork looks standard, as well as "pencils only" artwork that looks nothing like the finished product (inked or colored in post production) yet that is the original art piece.

 

I think the publishers should issue their own artboards with a hologram on the back, certifying it's use for that publisher, similar to how the companies used to ink stamp the backs of the art, to at least bring authentication a step closer to having a safe guarded system.

 

 

 

COAs are often generated by the seller. Not sure how ANYONE would be willing to rely on that.

 

Encapsulation and certification certainly has some value, though I think the costs vs. the benefits will make it unattractive to most collectors.

[Garf]

and there you have it

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=953305&GSub=137239

 

 

 

... don't get the chance to go to cons so it's the first time I happened to notice this whilst browsing CAF.

[Bronty]

Huh.

[drdroom]

Recently there was a scandal with some important manga pages being forged with a high degree of accuracy. They benefitted from the unavailability of the real originals, & I believe they were sold mainly to foreign (i.e. not Japanese) buyers. But even so, they got caught out.

Now, unpublished stuff, that's wide open. Who knows how much is already in circulation?

[kav]

Yes I know about fake commissions or pin-ups.

 

But are there fake original pages?

 

Like can you find a fake of a intricate Perez cover with a gazillion characters?

 

Or a fake Romita Spidey cover?

 

It is easy to fake unpublished art, but I don't think published art can be faked in a credible way - even if lightboxed.

 

I think a fake panel page from Hulk #3 was discussed here a few months ago. There was also recent talks of Kirby recreation covers being faked/ghosted (not sure if that one fits your criteria)

 

Also, there is a fake of this one out there:

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=746062&GSub=99676

 

I know because I own the original, and when I was tracking it down I almost agreed to purchase the fake. I made a thread about it but removed the pics from the hosting site (tinypic)- now for some strange reason there are pictures of nature and stuff in their place on the thread (pics I never took), which makes me wonder what is up with tinpic (slightly off topic, but it has me curious)

 

that flash page is the closest i have ever seen or heard of published page art being forged and a close analysis gives the game away. I agree with those who say it is impossible to effectively forge an original published page because you can never trace exactly the line shapes and widths. with older art and hand lettering it is really hard-copying letters exactly is from what I have seen, impossible. It would be easier to forge a painting because there are not hard distinct black lines which cannot be off by even a millimeter.