Genuine, and nothing more

What the label means

PSA's own definition is short. The Authentic label means that, in its opinion, the item is real "but nothing more."

That covers very different cards. Some are genuine cards that have been trimmed, recoloured, restored or cleaned to look better than they are. Some are simply too damaged to grade. Some were submitted by owners who asked for no number at all.

PSA also uses a second label, Authentic Altered, for cards it has found to be altered. But a card that could receive Authentic Altered can also be labelled plain Authentic, and PSA treats the two as interchangeable and of equal value under its guarantee. Before 2010 its labels often said why a card had failed, Authentic Trimmed for example. Since then they do not. Collectors have also found dual-graded PSA/DNA labels that read Authentic on the slab while PSA's online record for the same certificate says Authentic Altered.

So a buyer looking at an Authentic label usually cannot tell whether they are looking at an honest wreck or a doctored card. The price has to absorb that uncertainty, and this index treats both labels as one class for the same reason PSA does.

How we compared them

For each rookie with Authentic copies on offer, we took the median asking price of the Authentic copies and set it against the median ask for unqualified PSA 1s of the same card. A ratio under one means Authentic asks less than a PSA 1. Over one, more.

These are asking prices, and Authentic copies are few. Only a handful of cards have enough on both sides to say much, and we flag the thin ones below rather than leave them out.

Jordan and Mantle: below a PSA 1

Three cards put Authentic at or below the lowest grade.

1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan: Authentic asks about 0.93 of a PSA 1, on the most Authentic copies of any card here.

1952 Topps Mickey Mantle: about 0.72.

1953 Topps Mickey Mantle: about 0.69, against the deepest pool of PSA 1s on the index.

On these cards, buyers would rather have a genuine card PSA was willing to grade, however worn, than one it would only call real. The discount is the price of not knowing what was done to it.

Mays and Gretzky: above a PSA 1

The picture flips on the Mays and Gretzky rookies, though here the evidence is thinner, often a single Authentic copy.

1952 Topps Willie Mays: Authentic asks about 1.9 times a PSA 1, on two Authentic copies.

1979-80 Topps Wayne Gretzky and 1952 Bowman Mays: about 1.3 and 1.4 times, on three copies and one.

1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Gretzky: about 2.1 times, on a single Authentic copy, which is too few to lean on.

Price alone does not explain the split. The 1952 Topps Mays and the 1953 Topps Mantle ask about the same in PSA 1, and land on opposite sides. One possible reason is eye appeal: a trimmed or restored card can look far sharper than a PSA 1, which by definition looks rough, and on some cards buyers seem willing to pay for how a card looks in the hand. The cheapest cards here, the two Gretzkys and the Bowman Mays, all lean that way. We would not push the point further than these few copies allow.

A second finding at the bottom of the scale

The same comparison shows something about the low grades themselves.

On the 1986-87 Fleer Jordan, PSA 1, 2 and 3 copies all ask much the same. At the bottom of that market the buyer is paying for the card, and the grade hardly moves the price.

On the 1953 Topps Mantle it is the opposite: each step from PSA 1 to PSA 3 adds well over half again. There, even at the bottom, the grade still matters.

What to take from it

Look up the certificate. PSA's online record can say more than the label, including whether a card is recorded as altered.

Treat Authentic as a warning, not a grade. PSA's position is that the card is real and nothing more. Some Authentic cards are simply worn out. Many are altered, and the label does not tell you which.

Do not assume Authentic is a bargain. On the Jordan and both Mantles the market prices it below the lowest real grade, and there a PSA 1 at the same price is the safer buy.

And where Authentic asks a premium, know what you are paying for. If an Authentic copy asks more than a PSA 1, the premium is for how it looks, and how it looks may be the alteration.

We have measured what other labels cost in what a PSA qualifier costs, and how far apart identical grades are priced in same card, same grade.

The thing worth sitting with

A grade tells a buyer how good a card is. Authentic only tells them it exists.

On the Jordan and the Mantles, the market has decided that a card PSA would grade, however badly, is worth more than one PSA would only vouch for. Genuine is the minimum. On its own, it is not quite enough.

This index tracks every grade of these cards separately, including Authentic. You can read how we work the numbers out.

Sources