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Authenticity of Dak Prescott signed cards being called into question
By Will Ogburn
Published:
When an athlete makes it big time, one of the most common annoyances is the influx of autographs that they’re expected to sign. For Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott, new allegations suggest that a machine has been used to replicate his autographs in lieu of authentic penmanship.
According to a report by ESPN business reporter Darren Rovell, the controversy started when an independent company called Beckett Grading Services refused to certify a set of autographs by the former Mississippi State QB. Five different clients sent in Prescott cards from Panini’s 2016 Prizm set, and their markings looked strikingly similar.
Here are four of the Dak Prescott signed cards that Beckett refused to authenticate, believing they were signed by machine pic.twitter.com/ECVwdo8ODW
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 5, 2017
Beckett believes that the signatures were duplicated by a process known as an autopen, something that has lost relevance in the age of such authentication services.
Steve Grad, the head authentication at Beckett told Rovell, “I immediately knew they were autopen. I’ve never heard of a modern athlete doing this.”
Although the buck always stops with the athlete that has agreed to do the signing, it is equally possible that Dak isn’t the one behind all of this. He has yet to publically make a statement, and this could all be the work of his agents, marketing team, or the card company itself. Regardless, someone in the Dak Prescott camp has some explaining to do for potentially defrauding fans.
It is worth noting that Panini had a similar incident around the draft with legitimate signatures by Falcons’ rookie Takkarist McKinley.
A former resident of both Baton Rouge and the heart of Crimson Tide country, Will Ogburn handles multimedia content and news coverage for Saturday Down South.
