Messi's brother doing his on-card signing during 2017-18

[crdbored]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

BGS are garbage these days

(no offence meant)

PSA can't seem to decide what's authentic and what's not.

Check out this PSA 10 "Messi" auto.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/15685235289...Bk9SR6D3gdvEZQ

[703dispensary]

Originally Posted by crdbored

PSA can't seem to decide what's authentic and what's not.

Check out this PSA 10 "Messi" auto.

In fairness they were only asked to grade the card.

[crdbored]

^This is true.

Funny how they won't grade an auto but have no problem grading a card that has a potentially fake auto as long as you're willing to pay the fees/upcharge.
Scummy.

[YayNJ]

Yup. At the end of the day, none of these companies are there to help you. Just their bottom line.

Of course there's good people at the companies, but you get my point.

[crdbored]

Messy auto on a pink napkin going 2 da mooon lol

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12705536460...Bk9SR8bKu_7HZQ

[Jwax13]

PSA just refused to grade this because of the auto.

[crdbored]

Originally Posted by Jwax13

PSA just refused to grade this because of the auto.

They refuse to grade the auto? or refuse to grade the card?

Those 2024 Messi autos do not appear to be authentic. Every auto looks the same.

[Jwax13]

Originally Posted by crdbored

They refuse to grade the auto? or refuse to grade the card?

Those 2024 Messi autos do not appear to be authentic. Every auto looks the same.

They refused to grade the card. Card grade only.

[crdbored]

Wow, talk about inconsistent.

PSA graded a 2024 Mania Messi auto, I posted here on the top. MANIA
It's a PSA 10 with an identical auto. I'm sure you can find more graded cards on eBay.

I would complain to PSA about the grading inconsistencies then to Topps.

[YayNJ]

It's 100% Topps / Fanatics that are at fault. They guarantee that the signatures (on card or sticker) are completely real beyond any doubt.

This is untrue. PSA comes down to human error, but at least they are doing something. More consistency is needed.

Either way, as I've been saying for years, this goes well beyond Lionel Messi.

[703dispensary]

Originally Posted by Jwax13

They refused to grade the card. Card grade only.

Did you have any other questions... ? (per the email response).

[Jwax13]

Originally Posted by 703dispensary

Did you have any other questions... ? (per the email response).

Not my sub. A friends.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[boxbuster7]

You think messi would care more about his fans

smh

[ThatGuyPal]

Originally Posted by boxbuster7

You think messi would care more about his fans

smh

You’d think the card world would care more about this beyond that one (nicely done) mainstream article and some people on forums.

Turns me off cards how scumminess is just widely accepted and we move on, still can’t believe how quick the fake autos from Topps faded

[YayNJ]

It's just how it works sadly, from consumerism to politics. Just ignore anything put to you and carry on like it never happened. Eventually, a large enough number of people will get tired of people complaining, and it ends up the people that are in the right start getting chastised for 'not shutting up' and should 'give it a rest'. Then in it's final form, people will just straight up defend it, or at least make excuses for it - mainly for selfish (financial) reasons.

It's a sad state of affairs.

[crdbored]

New 2024-25 Chrome UCL with a good ol MESSY auto.

Superfractor 1/1

[auburn35]

Adding to this "Mess"i, and for those trusting the leaf signatures, there's now several laughable counterfeit cards in circulation to avoid.

Assuming the group making these fakes aren't using/reusing legit autograph stickers, they seem to be doing a better job on their forgeries than the person (brother?) signing for Topps and Panini.

https://t.co/fqhqEFS1PH

Just a couple examples of the counterfeit leaf cards.

[SouthEastCards]

Originally Posted by auburn35

Adding to this "Mess"i, and for those trusting the leaf signatures, there's now several laughable counterfeit cards in circulation to avoid.

Assuming the group making these fakes aren't using/reusing legit autograph stickers, they seem to be doing a better job on their forgeries than the person (brother?) signing for Topps and Panini.

https://t.co/fqhqEFS1PH

Just a couple examples of the counterfeit leaf cards.

The leaf ones look real as the LEO is small characters imo and to clarify it wouldnt be a random group doing the autos just members of his entourage or family whenever hes not free through his company.

[auburn35]

Originally Posted by SouthEastCards

The leaf ones look real as the LEO is small characters imo and to clarify it wouldnt be a random group doing the autos just members of his entourage or family whenever hes not free through his company.

Those leaf cards are 100% fake, which is why I mentioned the group creating those autos are doing a better job than the people signing the Topps/Panini cards for Messi.

Here's another recently sold counterfeit leaf Messi. There's several differences, but it should be really easy to spot, looking at the text on the reverse.
https://ebay.us/m/F8rqwe

[crdbored]

Originally Posted by auburn35

Those leaf cards are 100% fake, which is why I mentioned the group creating those autos are doing a better job than the people signing the Topps/Panini cards for Messi.

Here's another recently sold counterfeit leaf Messi. There's several differences, but it should be really easy to spot, looking at the text on the reverse.
https://ebay.us/m/F8rqwe

Yeah those Leaf ones you posted look like a "real" Messi auto but the card themselves look sketchy.

The card looks so small (miscut) in that magnetic holder and the leaf sticker looks worn out like it was scratched off.
Definitely suspect and would avoid buying any card that has these 2 issues.

[SouthEastCards]

Originally Posted by auburn35

Those leaf cards are 100% fake, which is why I mentioned the group creating those autos are doing a better job than the people signing the Topps/Panini cards for Messi.

Here's another recently sold counterfeit leaf Messi. There's several differences, but it should be really easy to spot, looking at the text on the reverse.
https://ebay.us/m/F8rqwe

Ah ok I thought you meant the auto.

[JWBlue]

People are making counterfeit Leaf cards?

[auburn35]

Originally Posted by JWBlue

People are making counterfeit Leaf cards?

That was my reaction, when I first heard about the leaf counterfeits.
Desperate times, when scammers are making fake leaf garbage.

The manufacture/cards aren't named, but this same individual is also linked to some counterfeit leaf cards in a different legal issue.

https://sportscollectorsdigest.com/b...-trading-cards

[JWBlue]

Originally Posted by auburn35

That was my reaction, when I first heard about the leaf counterfeits.
Desperate times, when scammers are making fake leaf garbage.

The manufacture/cards aren't named, but this same individual is also linked to some counterfeit leaf cards in a different legal issue.

https://sportscollectorsdigest.com/b...-trading-cards

Maybe the thinking is.."Nobody would believe there are counterfeit Leaf cards."

[auburn35]

Originally Posted by kingofsnake

An objective and plainly written article by Larry Holder - good job.

Must be a constant headache for grading companies like PSA to decertify all the mistakes that have made (and continue to make) - like a never-ending game of whack a mole.

Topps and Messi got a follow-up article today.

Topps remaking more Lionel Messi autograph cards following its own ‘investigation’

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/639...utographs-psa/

If you hit a paywall, this might work.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250602...utographs-psa/

Thought this was fun. No comment.

Topps declined interview requests related to this situation. A PSA spokesperson said they would check on a possible interview, but never responded after The Athletic followed up. A representative for Messi also did not respond to a request for comment.

Topps collector support senior manager wrote in a March 28 email viewed by The Athletic: “Following our investigation, we will proceed with remakes of the Topps Dynasty Lionel Messi cards.”

Topps has not publicly acknowledged the issue, outside of correspondence initiated by affected card owners. It appears the only way to determine if an autographed Messi card can be remade is to submit the card for grading, have PSA refuse to authenticate it, and then negotiate with PSA and Topps about the next steps.

“For a company like Topps, you would think they would do a little bit better,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just disappointing and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

Mike Denis of Salem, N.H., ran into a similar issue in early May, when PSA wouldn’t authenticate a Messi autograph on a 2024 Topps Finest MLS card. In that instance, a Topps representative pushed the blame to PSA. In the transcript of an online chat between Topps and Denis viewed by The Athletic, the card company’s rep said, “Recently Messi has changed the style of his autograph, which it seems PSA has not updated their standards.”

PSA has since seemed to soften its stance when explaining to customers why it’s not authenticating certain Messi autograph cards, telling multiple card owners, “To be perfectly clear, our authentication team is not stating that the autograph is a forgery; they are simply not comfortable rendering an opinion on this particular signature style. In rare cases such as these where our team opts to refrain from issuing an opinion, PSA will return the item unprocessed at no charge to the customer.”