We at Alpha Omega Certification Services hold true to several business beliefs, one of them being that an educated customer is a happy customer. With that in mind, we’d like to answer a basic collecting 101 question…what is a COA and why should I get one?

COA is an acronym that stands for Certificate of Authenticity. A COA is issued when an item has been signed and a record is desired validating the signature. Many companies, as well as individual sellers, offer certificates of authenticity. But what makes one better than the other? Each entity that offers them will tell you that theirs is the best, but that just isn’t true.

In today’s computerized world, literally anyone with the smallest amount of tech savvy can create a COA at home. But is this a legitimate validation? The answer is quite simply…no. To be truly legitimate, a certificate of authenticity has to meet several thresholds… – is each certificate individually numbered? – does the certificate offer multiple points of validation? – does the certificate possess the quality of fraud prevention? – is the certificate recorded in a 24-hour publicly accessible database? If a COA doesn’t meet and surpass these qualifications, then it’s just a piece of paper!

Each Certificate of Authenticity offered by Alpha Omega Certification Services is individually numbered and accompanied by two (2) identically numbered tamper-proof holographic labels – one on the COA and one on the signed item. This unique, industry leading triple verification process not only guarantees the authenticity of the signature, but prevents fraudulent certificate reproductions. Each certificate can be verified via our proprietary database which displays our COA’s unique 5-point validation.

So the next time someone offers you a certificate of authenticity, ask yourself…does this COA meet Alpha Omega’s stringent standards? If it doesn’t, then it’s just a piece of paper!