The autograph on a Michael Jordan 1984 Star rookie card, being auctioned off at Goldin on Thursday night, has been questioned by its own authenticator.
Believing the signature on the card was fraudulent, Wesley Gretah of G.O.A.T. Authentics, a Michael Jordan-only autograph authentication company, submitted the autographed card to Beckett for a quick opinion this week.
The response? "Unable to render an opinion."
The autograph was previously graded a 9 on March 13, 2023 by Beckett, which also graded the card as a 7.5.
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"I have looked at thousands of Michael Jordan autographs, and I have never seen one that looks like this," Gretah said. "The 'M' is like a mix of a secretarial and authentic signature, and the body of the 'ichael' is very questionable as well as the spacing. The formation of the 'J' alone is something that I've never seen. The first loop of the 'J' is noticeably shortened, and the bottom loop is noticeably elongated.
"In my mind, I feel 99 percent sure that this is not in the hand of Michael Jordan, and if this is the one atypical Michael Jordan signature out there, it's gonna be hard to prove."
When Gretah submitted the card for a quick opinion, he purposely cropped out the card out of the case so Beckett didn't see the company had previously authenticated it.
Beckett did not return cllct's request for comment.
While Beckett's quick opinion didn't fail its previously certified autograph from 21 months ago, per se, the questioning of the signature is concerning. The last Jordan Star No. 101 in a Beckett 7.5 sold for $31,001 on eBay on Sept. 27.
The autographed Beckett 7.5 sold for $80,520 at Goldin Auctions, meaning the signature alone added nearly $50,000 to the price.
Last month at Goldin, a similar autographed Jordan Star card, also graded 7.5 by Beckett, sold for over $100k more at $183,610.
When reached, Goldin founder Ken Goldin told cllct he reached a representative of Beckett, who guaranteed the autograph and the card were good.
Beckett's Signature Review opinion costs $10, and a decision is promised in 24-48 hours. It is not meant to be nearly as comprehensive as the opinions the company renders when it see cards in person.
However, as Beckett points out in its own description of the service, consumers can use this to get peace of mind if they "don't want to risk hundreds of dollars by purchasing the item without it being reviewed by expert authenticators." An inconclusive decision on a big-ticket item would certainly steer most collectors away.
The responsibility of third-party authenticators, such as Beckett, has been a topic of debate for years. In one particularly noteworthy court case, in which Beckett was sued after a card it previously graded as a BGS 9.5 was later determined to be trimmed by PSA, BGS then confirmed the card was trimmed, leading to a lengthy legal battle.
Earlier this month, Paul Lesko, an attorney who often breaks down card-related lawsuits, explained a court had determined that whether a card is trimmed is "at least somewhat objectively measurable,” unlike condition grades. This new ruling could potentially add a new wrinkle if a court were to determine an autograph’s authenticity falls under the same category of “objective” as trimming.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.