The south Florida office of James Spence Authentication is a busy place. Each week, thousands of autographs come in, and they are authenticated as real or rejected as fake.
There's a lot of work to do. There are great forgeries done by people who know that getting a JSA letter is a license to print money.
But there's one signer who is as easy as it comes: Jack Nicklaus.
Why? Because JSA's database reveals that 96 percent of Jack Nicklaus autographs, the most of any personality submitted to the company, have been graded authentic.
For his entire career, no matter how great he got, the golf legend has been an extremely generous signer. Even as autographed memorabilia turned into an industry, Nicklaus, 84, has never stopped signing, and the importance of putting his name on something hasn't waned.
And it's all for free.
"We don't take cash, and we don't take donations for autographs either," said Kendall Tveter, who runs Nicklaus' autograph program. "If they want to donate, we send them a form, since we are a business, and they are a 501(c)(3)."
When Nicklaus is approached by crowds, the 18-time major champion is rarely overwhelmed.
"They'll meet him at the airport or jump out of bushes," said Scott Tolley, who has worked with Nicklaus for 26 years. "Sometimes I've been around him and have tried to direct the crowd. I'm always impressed by how calm he stays. Nothing flusters him."
The Golden Bear often gets through lines by trying to promise one autograph for every person he sees. For mail-in requests, it's two per household.
How does the Nicklaus family office know? They've been logging autograph requests by address since 2013.
Rules can be broken, however. A nice note goes a long way. Even at 84, the Golden Bear remembers.
"Some person will say my father caddied in the '60s, and (Nicklaus) will remember, or he'll look at a photo that has no markings and he'll remember by the outfit that it was the 1963 U.S. Open," Tveter said.
Nicklaus' contemporary Arnold Palmer was very much the same way. He, too, was a generous signer. But Palmer has been gone for more than seven years, and many more of his signatures failed after an autopen was discovered to have been used on items sent to Palmer's office in Latrobe, Pa.
Tveter said Nicklaus does four to five private signings a year at the Nicklaus family office, which happens to be located in Juno Beach, Fla., just 60 miles north of JSA's offices. The sessions last for three to five hours.
He won't sign inappropriate items and, more recently, stopped signing golf balls (because it's hard to uphold his standard of giving a good autograph) and trading cards (he doesn't want to have to make his signature smaller).
His most popular item? A Masters flag.
On any given day, more than 300 Nicklaus-signed Masters flags are for sale on eBay. They typically sell in the $300 range, compared to a Masters flag signed by Tiger Woods, who is much less generous with his autograph ($1,000-$3,000, depending on the year).
"It's a great testament to Jack's brand that his autographed items command so much," said Jimmy Spence III of JSA. "Considering how much he signs, they should be worth $0."
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.