Mail time!

I've recently been looking at Pristine Auction after doing some extensive research about it.  Before I get into the autographs themselves, I think it's extremely important to really look into any and all online autograph retailers before making any type of purchase.  There is an unending pall over the industry when it comes to forgeries, and to avoid any regrettable purchases it's important to look into each and every autograph you want to acquire.  With that caveat out of the way, I have been picking and choosing the items I get from Pristine, mostly based on how strong the authentication company is.  They work with JSA a lot, and in the past there was some suspicion that they could be selling non authentic items that were given certificates of authenticity by JSA.  I try to buy things that were signed in the presence of an authentication expert, which the COA will state.  It's not always possible to do so, so sometimes I have to rely on my own expertise and past experience.  Here are some items I recently received in the mail after ordering them from Pristine Auction;

This Trevor Hoffman signed HOF ball was authenticated by JSA as part of the "Witnessed Protection Program" meaning the ball was signed in their presence and it is certified to be authentic.  This is the third Hoffman ball I have signed.

This Duke Snider signed baseball is authenticated by PSA, and is the first time I have received a ball in a PSA/DNA ball holder.  Adding Snider to my HOF collection was a nice bonus.  This ball was signed on a National League baseball which adds to the coolness of it.

The old Yankee Hall of Famer Phil Rizzuto signed this photo.  I like the old school guys.  This photo was authenticated by JSA but not as part of the witnessed program.  This means it is the opinion of JSA that this is authentic based on their knowledge of his signature.  I used my extra knowledge of what his signature looks like, plus the fact that there are so many Rizzuto items out there, to come to the conclusion that it would not be likely to be forged.  The forgers will only forge the players they can make money on, and when there is a player with items that are all over the market, they won't waste their time.

This Giannis Antetokounmpo jersey is actually one I first won a couple of years ago but never posted about it.  The story behind this one is I was learning how the Pristine site worked and mistakenly made a bid.  I was certain the bid was going to lose because I didn't think it was that high of a cost, but it ended up winning.  When it arrived I stuck it in my closet and it has been there since.  To be honest, I was lucky with this one.  In the two years since I won this, Giannis' value has a player has skyrocketed because he is arguably the best player in the NBA right now.  His signed stuff is going for a much higher cost than it was at the time.  I'll probably end up trading this to someone at some point though because I don't have much room for jerseys anymore.

Lastly, I purchased a mystery puck box for around $25 with the hope it would be a star player.  It ended up being a HOF goalie I know little about named Gerry Cheevers.  This was part of Schwartz mystery puck series, in which people can win Gretzky, Lemieux etc.  I rarely purchase mystery stuff because you usually end up getting junk.  I wouldn't call a Hall of Famer junk, but I can't say I was excited by this get either.  After reading some more intel about Pristine Auctions after purchasing this puck, I see that a common complaint people have is that they get mostly blah items in the mystery purchases.  It is kind of a way for the company to dump players they have a lot of extra inventory of.  There is also scuttlebutt that the star players in the series are removed from promotions like this before they release the rest for consumption, but that would be very difficult to prove.  If you go to the site you'll see that a lot of the highest selling stuff are the mystery boxes and sets, so people must be pulling something decent out of these.