Autograph Magazines and periodicals
There are a number of publications where dealers can advertise and where the hobby of autograph collecting is discussed. Articles providing information on addresses of celebrites and events where celebrities have signed appear. There are tasteless exposes on the best signers and the worst signers as if celebrities have a contractural obligation to sign anything that is placed in front of them especially when a large percentage of autograph hunters are dealers posing as fans. Over the years these publications have listed advertisements from hundreds of dealers advertising autographs ranging from Lincoln to John Wayne to the Beatles. Anything is available for those who have the money. The problem again is that many of the autographs that are offerred by dealers in these magazines are fakes. How can I be so sure of this? You need look no further than the FBI investigation of a company which sold thousands of fake “autographs” many of which were advertised in the prominent autograph magazines. I became concerned when they were offering as many John Wayne autographs as you wanted for less than the going price. I contacted one of the magazines with my concerns and they never responded, running ads for at least a year after my first letter raising concerns. The amount of people who were ripped off by this unscrupulous company must be huge but I believe that the magazines which ran the ads also carried a responsibility and that their crediblity has been scarred.
Autograph clubs and alliances
There is always a need for a hobby to have a forum or a club where collectors can compare notes and find others who have similar interests. The problem is that many dealers use these clubs as a form of Approval. They list their memberships of vaious clubs in their advertising as if that means something. The fact is that membership of these organisations does not mean that the dealer is reputable, honest or trustworthy. It simply means that they are a member of a club where membership is available to anyone who is prepared to pay the joining fee.
Authentication
I was amused to read recently that a prominent autograph dealer was giving courses in authentication. It is a fact that your signature will change and evolve with time. There are times when a signature is little more than a scrawl and times when it is discernably different to other occasions. It is simply impossible to determine absolutely positively that an item is genuine or not unless you saw the act of signing. Unfortunately many dealers who did not see the item signed “in person” are happy provide a certificate proclaiming a “lifetime guarantee of authenticity” when they should be saying something along the lines of “in my opinion the signature appears to be genuine”. Of course they know that the less certain they appear in the certificate the less autographs they sell. They also know that it is hard to challenge any opinion.
The Major Auction Houses
There are a number of auction houses that regularly have autographs sales. Many of the items auctioned are vintage pieces where the star or celebrity has been dead for many years. These auctions do not provide certificates but rather use the coded phrase “some secretarial or printed facsimile” to describe lots. This is a form of disclaimer, where they are not being specific. It is, however, a more honest approach and generally the autographs have been obtained from fairly reliable sources - they have some “provenance” that gives them crediblity. Of course many dealers purchase these autographs and then resell them with Certificates that proclaim a “lifetime guarantee of authenticity”. These certificates are little more than educated guesses.
There are some honest dealers
There are some reputable dealers who obtain their autographs in person through hard work. They attend major events where stars and celebrities are likely to be and are honest in selling their wares. Unfortunately, these dealers are few and far between. The majority of dealers sell autographs that have not been obtained “in person”. They buy large collections, they buy at auctions though the mail, etc etc. No matter how good their intentions are the larger and more diverse their stock, the more likely it is that there will be fakes or non genuine material sold. In many cases they make honest mistakes but the problem lies with their Ceritificates. If they are not 100% certain they should make that clear.
Tags: autograph collecting, autograph hunters, fake autographs, magazines and periodicals, unscrupulous company
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COA’s are worthless because they are only as good as the credibility of the company selling the autograph. Just as good is a sales receipt proving that you purchased the product from the dealer if a question come up laer about the autograph or the dealer.