I don't know that any such autentication system will take hold within the collecting community at large for precisely the reasons stated above. That said, I do believe the time will come when these sorts of autentication will be done with virtually no loss to the piece. In many ways, phycists already have the technology to answer such questions, but the real problem is what question precisely to ask (c.f.
this thread ). This is a realm where collectors within the scientific community could be of great value to the community at large.
Were a noninvasive cheap (enough) test ever developed, it could simply be repeated on each sale. Short of that, I don't see any but the most contravesial pieces being submitted for destructive tests (the "Shroud of Turin" standard if you will).
My two tenths of a penny,
--Radleigh