It seemed like years ago, but only earlier in January, where I went through my miscellaneous box of cards featuring Angels players I don’t have an autograph of - I had some unsigned cards of Washington, but sending one through the mail may have cost at least $15, through a glorified middle man.
I might have been bored and adding a little bit of spending money to my COMC account, relented to pay $6 for a random signed card of Washington - particularly on an Angels card likely supposedly certified by a third party authenticator that I’m not really familiar with at all.
Maybe I should have paid the premium for the secret address to send Washington TTM but I'll take my chances that the autograph I did get is otherwise authentic - there is a seal affixed on top of the semi-rigid holder and according to the fine print information printed on the back, if it is ‘tampered with or broken,’ the certification [spelled certiification on the label] becomes invalid.
Once I get the card in-hand, I’ll probably risk 'decreasing the value' by taking the card out of the holder - to add the Washington autograph with my other signed Angels all-time cards.
Image courtesy of COMC.com