Authentic or Unauthentic Autographs- A Subject of Debate

            

As the money has hiked up with prices reaching at its peak so does the market and its stock crashing down and rising again. Popular personalities and celebrities do earn a lot of money in selling their products and middle class persons are the bridges to connect to high class and lower class .People have a lot of hobbies collecting autograph is one among them. Celebrities and famous people do sign their autograph and give to people as the token of their gratitude. Athletic players do sign their balls and bats with their signatures to their fans and other people who made it a hobby of collecting autographs.

 

 

Authentic or not is another subject of debate which can be sort out later as debate usually takes more of a leisure time and space of its own kind. Memorabilia gift for all people can be one such example of dream coming true of a peasant or middle or lower class families as to sell them with more price and get more money for authentic autographs and little less money for unauthentic autographs. Sport people and star people both sign their autographs on their football, shirts and jerseys. Most of the time it is a doubt that some of the autographs are authentic and some are unauthentic. Authentic signed autographs on items are rare and those which are unauthentic are very easily available just like stamp collection. Collection of particular items is rare quality found in either rich people or well considered persons.

Collecting and Avoiding the Autograph Trap

I remember the first music autograph I collected it was a signed album from a band called Slade. I was always interested in getting albums signed in the 70’s and I collected numerous items of signed music memorabilia throughout that decade. Rock autographs filled up my collection and over the years I have collected thousands of autographs, signed guitars and music memorabilia including several Beatles autographs, however I never did manage to get a John Lennon autograph.

Most collectors of memorabilia whether it be signed sports memorabilia, celebrity memorabilia or the occasional autographed photo are not as fortunate as me and do not have the available time to dedicate to collecting collectible memorabilia. For those who do not have the time but love collecting, they have to buy autographs. I myself have been selling autographs in one form or another for nearly 40 years!!!

Buying autographs can be a tricky business as there are lots of unscrupulous dealers and people who deliberately forge signatures.

To avoid the autograph trap is what every buyer wants to do, so here are some simple steps to try and insure your money is well spent.

For example if you are looking to buy a signed Manchester united shirt or a signed Chelsea shirt it would be advisable to buy it from a British UACC registered dealer or an AFTAL approved dealer. You are probably wondering why? AFTAL and UACC are governing bodies who check regularly on there dealers and both organisations have strict policies as to the buying and selling of autographs. Also that is the country where those teams play! Over the years I have stood outside football stadia to get the occasional football autograph, signed football jersey, signed footballs or for those in the U.S. soccer memorabilia. In the UK that can be a cold and thankless task as the sport is played during the winter.

I have on occasion had the time to jet off to the U.S. and do some collecting there, when in the U.S. I concentrate on collecting actors autographs, Hollywood memorabilia, actresses autographs and if I have time I trail round the stores in L.A. for horror movie collectables.

In fact the last time I was in the States I attended several conventions and memorabilia shows where I picked up loads of collectible memorabilia namely, star trek memorabilia, star wars memorabilia and several celebrity addresses of which I will be writing to in the upcoming months.

On the subject of celebrity addresses please be careful as not every celebrity signs all there fan mail, some have autopens and others get there secretaries to sign on there behalf, I have seen many movie star autographs over the years like this and have had to disappoint several fans when I tell them.

So as the Sergeant in “Hill St Blues” said “BE CAREFUL OUT THERE”!!!

MUSIC AWARDS 2011

This year I took the time out of my hectic schedule to sit down with a glass of wine and watch the Brit Awards. Unfortunately I was unable to make it to the ceremony myself, due to work commitments; however, my trusted autograph collectors were available to take my place in the exciting process of autograph collecting.

I was blown away by Adele’s emotive performance of “Someone like you.” I was not surprised to learn that her current album has reached the number one spot in the charts. I am desperately seeking an autographed album from Adele which I shall hopefully receive in the foreseeable future. Another highlight of the evening has to be the phenomenal performance delivered by Take That. After 15 years it is obvious that the boys still love what they do. With the return of Robbie Williams to Take That I am keen to collect memorabilia signed by the entire group. It is not surprising that the boys scooped the award for British Group. Not only was I able to get hold of music autographs but other famous autographs such as movie autographs were available to me through the exceptional A-list attendance on the night.

Another music awards ceremony which was hosted recently was the NME Awards. Dominated mostly by an indie rock genre of music the ceremony saw the likes of Biffy Clyro, Muse and My Chemical Romance all receiving awards. As always, my trusted collectors were on hand to catch the artists, enhancing my collection of rock autographs. Also attending were the cast of the television show “Skins” who won the award for the best TV show, allowing me the opportunity to get signed photographs and memorabilia, from not only musicians but also actors and actresses appearing on television at the moment.

We offer::

Autographed album
Collect memorabilia
Music autographs
Famous autographs
Movie autographs
Rock autographs
Signed photographs

BIFFY CLYRO COMES TO ABERDEEN

I was devastated to hear that the opportunity to purchase tickets to go to the Biffy Clyro concert, a Scottish rock band, had been and gone. So you can understand my excitement when a friend phoned me up saying that he had two spare tickets. Of course I jumped at the chance and no more than two hours later I was queuing to get into the venue to watch what promised to be an epic performance.

I was inevitably blown away by the act and throughout could not help thinking to myself that meeting the band would be an unforgettable experience. To my luck, my friends were having the same train of thought and were just as willing as I was to tolerate the harsh weather of Aberdeen in November and therefore decided to stand outside the stage door in anticipation of the band leaving the venue.

After approximately two hours we were preparing to give up on all hope, when finally Biffy Clyro emerged, quite obviously still exhilarated by the support they had received from the Aberdeen crowd. The band was willing to sign autographs for us and between us we came away with a large amount of autographed albums, as well as autographed photos.

As well as witnessing an exceptional performance by one of Scotland’s best rock bands I had also been able to collect memorabilia to add to my collection of rock autographs. As well as this, I managed to persuade Biffy Clyro’s front man, Simon Neil, to sign the Biffy Clyro shirt that I had bought at the concert. This will be a prized possession to add to my collection of signed shirts that I have collected at various concerts I have attended over the past few years.

Concerts are a great way to collect autographs, as I can enjoy the music that I am enthusiastic about and also meet the artists, providing myself with more autographs for sale.
If you are a collector of movie memorabilia, whether it be signed movie posters the occasional actor autograph or Frank Sinatra memorabilia, star trek autographs and star wars memorabilia, Attending award shows are a wide scope of celebrities enabling me to gain access to a range of famous celebrity autographs. So this will be a good opportunity to collect Star Trek memorabilia, such as signed Star Trek posters, autographed Star Trek merchandise and signed Star Trek collectables. I am keen to collect Star Wars memorabilia, signed Star Wars merchandise and Star Wars collectables as it is particularly popular form of movie memorabilia, attracting a wide range of attention from all parts of the world.

A TRIP TO IBROX

Over the weekend I took the train down to Glasgow to stay with my Aunt, who stays not far from Rangers Football Club’s stadium. Keen not to miss an opportunity to collect we took a trip to the grounds in the hope of meeting a few of the players to collect some football memorabilia.

On arrival to Ibrox I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere. This spurred on my desire for collecting. I was given a tour around the grounds and admired the trophy case. As I was doing this a couple of the players walked past me. Keen not to miss this opportunity I approached the players and respectfully asked for them to sign a few items for me. After coming away with a few signed football shirts I thought that my luck would be cut short for the day. However, I was not willing to give up on hope.

After the tour was over I decided to go for a bite to eat in the café. As I was enjoying a coffee I could see a small gathering forming out the window which turned out to be the team manager, Walter Smith, and the assistant manager Ally McCoist. Being a loyal fan of the team I promptly left my coffee and headed out to greet the men. It seemed that I was getting lucky in the way of football signed memorabilia as the two men seemed happy to autograph footballs and sign photographs for me. Satisfied with the amount of memorabilia I was now able to add to my collection of sports autographs I decided to head back to my Aunts house for some home-made delights. However, one more encounter was imminent.

Maurice Edu, who is undoubtedly my favourite football player, was entering the premises as I was leaving. Star struck at the encounter I managed to persuade Edu to autograph footballs. He also signed shirts, as well as photographs.

I was very pleased with my success in collecting and I was excited about arriving back at the Memorabilia4U headquarters to show off all the football memorabilia I was able to obtain.

Tips on Collecting Sports Autographs, Signed Sports Memorabilia and Autographed Shirts

Signed sports memorabilia is my passion and I have many famous autographs in my collection other than George Best autographs I have several autographed albums with a Bobby Charlton autograph and autographed photos of virtually every Premiership team in my collection. It has taken years of collecting sports autographs and memorabilia to arrive at where I am now with over five thousand authentic autographs and items of autographed sports memorabilia. I have also traded in authentic sports memorabilia for over 7 years now and have had many sports autographs sold on my website and traded with other autograph dealers items of sport memorabilia, I can still remember my first autographed football it was back in 1971 when Aberdeen beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final. I managed to get several players to sign a plastic football at the start of the 1972 season after one of their training sessions.

I have joined several autograph organizations namely the UACC and AFTAL and have risen to the prestigious ranks of UACC Registered Dealer and AFTAL Approved Dealer in the last few years. Even though I deal in memorabilia I must confess that I am a collector at heart and hate putting autographs for sale when I could hold on to them but I only have so much storage room in my house !!!!!

For those of you interested in collecting signed sports memorabilia, I will try and pass on some valued information I have acquired over the years collecting authentic sports memorabilia. It is very difficult to collect all types of memorabilia and autographed photos unless you have autograph collectors working for you. If you have you have got to make sure they are indeed collecting the autographs and not simply buying sporting memorabilia from another collector, which in turn could lead to the possibility of fake memorabilia.

Collecting sports autographs is not as easy as you would assume, what with most teams training grounds being enclosed it makes it very difficult to get signed photos, signed memorabilia or an autograph football. Although it is difficult you will still get players stopping to sign the odd football autograph and autograph footballs for the fans.

Often what works well is trying to get the away teams for signed memorabilia as they will sometimes train at the home teams ground the night before and in the past I have managed to obtain several items of autographed memorabilia by this method including a Chelsea shirt signed along with a few special pieces of soccer memorabilia.

You could also try and find out where the away team is staying as they generally use the same hotel on a regular basis this is the method I prefer and in the past I have obtained football signed memorabilia but you must make sure you have the correct football merchandise with you at all times.

The last way I collect autographed football items is to attend the ground the day of the match, this has often proven to be fruitful as I not only have collected soccer autographs but rock autographs and signed music memorabilia. I recently got a Rod Stewart autograph at a Celtic game that he was attending. It is very rare to get music memorabilia or music autographs at a football match that instance was one in a million.

My most treasured football autograph was collected in my home town many years ago, it was a George Best autographed photo, which is also my favourite framed autograph to date.

If there is anybody out there who wants to buy autographs……….

Check out my website memorabilia4u.com

Awards Season 2011

Collect Famous Celebrity Autographs, Movie And Music Memorabilia During Awards Season

February is normally the month of the year when all the awards ceremonies are in full flow. You have the Oscars the Brit Awards, BAFTA’s and virtually dozens of other ceremonies taking place in the capital of the U.K London.

This is a great time to get out your autograph books, posters and your photos and get along early to these red carpet events. I unfortunately will not be making it down to the awards this year due to business commitments but I have several of my agents collecting famous autographs, movie memorabilia and hopefully collecting lots of autographed photos for my website. Sometimes there are unexpected celebrities attending and when I am normally there I get a few of my autographed albums topped up with movie autographs and sometimes rock autographs depending on the awards ceremony.

If you are a collector of movie memorabilia, whether it be signed movie posters the occasional actor autograph or Frank Sinatra memorabilia, star trek autographs this is the right place for you as there will be loads of celebrities and a great chance for you to get them to autograph photos or even signed jerseys as I forgot to mention there will be stars of the music world attending and you can even collect autographed music memorabilia and signed music autographs.

Attending award shows are a wide scope of celebrities enabling me to gain access to a range of famous celebrity autographs. So this will be a good opportunity to collect Star Trek memorabilia, such as signed Star Trek posters, autographed Star Trek merchandise and signed Star Trek collectables. Furthermore, the actors Kiran Shah and Warwick Davis, both known for their roles in Star Wars will be signing memorabilia. I am keen to collect Star Wars memorabilia, signed Star Wars merchandise and Star Wars collectables as it is particularly popular form of movie memorabilia, attracting a wide range of attention from all parts of the world.

I recently had several collectors at the BAFTA award ceremony to try and collect a much sought after vintage autograph, Christopher Lee. Unfortunately my guys and girls were unable to get anything signed by Christopher but they did manage to get an awesome piece of music memorabilia. Sir Paul McCartney signed an old Beatles album on the same night. It just goes to show that you never know what you are going to get no matter how well you plan.

I was planning to go over to the States in time for the Oscars but as with the Award ceremonies in London I am just too busy working on another website which is unrelated to the memorabilia industry. I am fortunate enough to have several good friends in Los Angeles who occasionally rub shoulders with the rich and famous and over the years have supplied some memorable pieces of signed memorabilia.

If you are in London or L.A. be sure to dig out your autograph album and get down to the award ceremonies.!!! Happy collecting............

How to Collect Football Autographs Signed Football Shirts and Autographed Footballs from Sports Players

Champions League Knockout Stages :::::

At this time of the year I make a point of sitting down every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening to watch the E.U.F.A. champions and the Other E.U.F.A. tournament which tends to change its name every second year. There is nothing better on a cold wintry February night than sitting with a beer and some snacks and watching the world’s best football tournament on T.V.

Not only that but with my collectors at the airports Training grounds and at the match venues it is a great time to collect football memorabilia from some of the most famous teams in Europe. My collectors did a great job down in London getting Signed shirts from most of the Barcelona squad, however we did not do so well on Arsenal signed football shirts.

 Collecting signed football memorabilia can be a time consuming business as most of the training grounds are all enclosed and most of them have a no visitor policy. Gone are the days of the public being able to spectate and get autographs of their favorite player coming off the pitch after a training session.

The only way to get these superstars nowadays is to try and get them to stop in their cars just outside the training ground or hang out at the airports awaiting them arriving in or flying out to football fixtures. I took the trip down to Glasgow airport recently and got an autographed shirt signed by Alex Ferguson and other items of football signed memorabilia from both the Rangers squad and the Manchester United squad, the former being at their training ground the day before the fixture.

Another way you can collect is if a company is launching football merchandise they will often have autographed photos of players or the players themselves autograph sports memorabilia at the venue. And the one thing I have learned about collecting autographs is always carry an autograph album and a sharpie pen with you at all times as you never know who you might bump into.

Autographs memorabilia and signed sports memorabilia are not always easy to collect, if you go on my website memorabilia4u.com you will see both of the items I have mentioned in the previous paragraph. What with the security being tightened in general and around the football grounds, it’s getting harder to collect sports autographs on a regular basis and I am noticing more and more autographs for sale which are not genuine. For those of you who like to get autographed sports memorabilia, signed shirts and jerseys, autographed footballs and other sporting memorabilia, I suggest that you only buy sports autographs and sporting memorabilia from a reputable dealer, namely a UACC registered dealer or an AFTAL approved dealer as AFTAL and the UACC are always checking the dealers stock to make sure that there items are genuine.

So be careful when buying fully signed Manchester United shirts, Chelsea signed shirt, rangers autographs, Celtic memorabilia as well as autographed footballs as they are as rare as hen’s teeth!!!!!

Collect Golf Memorabilia and Movie Autographs During Spring Vacation

Every year everybody starts planning holidays as soon as the New Year celebrations are over and like everybody else I have started planning my bi annual visit to the United States. Normally I go to the big apple or Los Angeles to collect celebrity autographs I cannot get in the U.K. however, this year I am going to do something different! I am going to go to Arnold Palmer’s golf tournament in Bay Hill Florida to collect some golf memorabilia. The reason for this is I have had many requests for American golfers and scores of requests from my golfing buddies for an Arnold Palmer autograph. So in March true to form I will be spending a week in Florida, but not all of it is work I plan to bunk off for a couple of days down to Miami to check out a couple of autograph dealers my friends have bought items from before.

After a week in Florida I am off to my favourite haunt L.A.

I am really lucky as I have an old friend who stays there and puts me up free of charge every time I go across which is a great help to the wallet! On my visit this time I will be frequenting a couple of VIP nightspots to increase my stock of movie autographs and movie memorabilia. I am hoping that I will be able to pick up a couple of vintage autographs to add to my personal collection before I jet back to the U.K. although I may have to buy autographs from other collectors if I am going to make this a very successful trip. 

I was just thinking about the last time I was in L.A. out drinking with my friends we walked into a bar and stumbled across a celebrity for obvious purposes will remain nameless, as we had a very drunk night drinking tequila every way possible until the early hours in the morning!!!  

Hope you all have a great year and are lucky enough to plan holidays overseas.

POSTAL CHAOS IN THE UK

The U.K. is suffering one of its worst winters in years, with all of the country hit for the second time with arctic conditions the couriers and the postal services are struggling to get the Christmas mail delivered, affected by black ice snow drifts and freezing conditions for nearly a month with only a slight reprieve in between the whole distribution network is at a standstill.

 

I have recently had a customer for an item of sports memorabilia which was sent out express delivery say it took 5 working days for his memorabilia to arrive on a next day service! Recorded delivery packages are taking even longer all parcel services are hit even harder especially the door to door services, another customer of mine for a very expensive item of music memorabilia informed me only today that his item is still in transit after several days. I can only imagine that this is a similar story all over the U.K. I have several very big overseas customers who are requiring orders to be fulfilled for the Christmas rush and their items including golf memorabilia, football memorabilia and several signed football shirts has not even arrived at the airport, nor cleared customs after being in transit for 4 days!

It looks like there are going to be a lot of internet customers disappointed on Christmas day or should I say before Christmas day. I have even started doing deliveries of signed memorabilia to customers in my local area, braving the conditions to make sure they have their Christmas presents for the 25^th.  

I can only hope that the situation gets better along with the weather over the next few days and all the internet shoppers get their goods in time for Christmas. Well let’s look on the positive side at least we will have a White Christmas if not the Christmas presents!

  

How to Collect Autographs and Memorabilia During Snow Season

What about this weather? I have not seen a winter this bad since I was 5 years old back in 1963. It looks like the third ice age is coming!!!!
I have not been out collecting autographs since the middle of November.
My Daughter who is across from Cyprus just now (leaving behind balmy temperatures of 25degrees centigrade) was going to a Peter Andre concert at the AECC last Friday, where I was going to try and get Peter Andre autograph for her at the stage door on a photograph or get a signed album, well that was the plan until arctic conditions made it impossible to even get the car out of the driveway. Not only did she not get an item of music memorabilia, she did not even get to see him in concert!

 

If you are an avid autograph collector like me you may be wondering, how do you collect autographs in this weather? Well the answer is you don’t. There is no point not only will your signed photos get ruined but you run the risk of getting stuck in the snow with no way of getting out or home.
My advice to you at this time of the year when you are faced with adverse weather conditions is to catalogue your memorabilia collection and make sure that if you are storing any items outdoors to make sure that they are above ground level and well wrapped in a waterproof covering. Items that are indoors be careful that burst pipes will not damages your autographed memorabilia in these freezing conditions. Where I stay we have recorded temperatures at -15 degrees centigrade!

 

With Christmas just round the corner I have loads of things to do like everybody at this time of the year, I think the next time I will be out looking for famous autographs will be next year. I am planning a trip to the States in March to collect golf memorabilia in Florida and then across to L.A. for some movie memorabilia and a couple of days up in Vegas to hopefully get a few music autographs and finally over to the big apple to meet a couple of autograph dealers and collect autographed photos at Broadway stage doors.
I hope the weather will be better than it is here in the States in march!!!!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year in 2011.

Signed Memorabilia, Celebrity Autographs, Signed Photos and Pictures, UK: GOLF MEMORABILIA

Signed Memorabilia, Celebrity Autographs, Signed Photos and Pictures, UK: GOLF MEMORABILIA: "I have just recently spent a week at St Andrews collecting golf memorabilia and golf autographs. I took a week out to go and collect autogra..."

Signed Memorabilia, Celebrity Autographs, Signed Photos and Pictures, UK: Always Buy Authontic Autographs and Celebrity Memo...

Signed Memorabilia, Celebrity Autographs, Signed Photos and Pictures, UK: Always Buy Authontic Autographs and Celebrity Memo...: "I have just recently started reading a book about autograph forgery in the United States, the title of the real life account of a F.B.I. inv..."

LAUNCH OF MEMORABLIA4U NEW WEBSITE

On the 9th of November Memorabilia4U saw the re-launch of its website. In an attempt to make the site more customer-friendly we have added a few extra features, such as a selection of premier movie autographs, sport autographs and music autographs, making your searching less laborious and easier to navigate the autograph or memorabilia that you desire. This currently features an autograph signed by the musical genius that is Michael Jackson, a promotional photograph for the hit movie Titanic, signed in person by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett and also features a limited edition Ferrari cap signed by the formula 1 racing legend Michael Schumacher. As well as this we have formulated a product category list to assist you with more refined searches including categories such as ‘Dr Who Autographs’ and ‘Harry Potter Autographs’ making your search less time consuming and also to display our full range of autographs within these categories. So whether it is vintage autographs, historical autographs or especially rare autographs, you will find our adjustments make it easier for you to navigate around the website. Alternatively, you can contact us directly by clicking on the ‘contact’ category displayed along the top of the website.

Included in these improvements to the website is the ‘Online Framing Service’. This service allows you to preview your chosen autograph within a frame, producing a more attractive final result and also ensuring that you control the additions to the piece of memorabilia, in turn making it more suited to your taste and decoration in the home and also adding that extra wow-factor to the item, as well as adding that final special touch to a gift. By clicking on the ‘Online Framing Service’ icon on the homepage you will see instructions to follow in order to access this service.

Furthermore, we have added a ‘Scrapbook’, which can be located on the homepage, where you are able to view photographs of Celebrities that we have met and also photographs of the celebrities signing the certain pieces or memorabilia. This addition has been made as we fully believe that it is crucial that our customers can trust that the service we provide is 100% authentic. Included in the scrapbook are photographs of celebrities such as, Samuel L Jackson who can be seen signing memorabilia including Star Wars autographs, and many sports legends, including Ernie Els, Archie Gemmill and Colin Montgomery, signing autographs.

In addition to all these amendments, a link to Facebook can be used. By choosing a specific autograph, for example, Pele memorabilia, you can click on the ‘Facebook share’ iconand the autograph will appear on your Facebook, allowing you to display the desired item to friends on the site. You can also join the Memorabilia4U Facebook group and follow us through the social networking site, where new and exciting stock is regularly posted allowing our fans an exclusive first look and the advantage to purchase heavily demanded items before they are added to the website for the rest of the world.

AN EVENING WITH MIKE TYSON

I was recently invited along to an event in Aberdeen Exhibition Centre to a Gentlemen’s Dinner. The main guest being Mike Tyson former World Heavyweight champion, along with Mike was another former heavy weight champion Tim Witherspoon and an another World Title holder Lee McAllister who hails from Aberdeen. During the course of the evening I was fortunate enough to meet Mike and Tim and got a photograph of myself with Mike Tyson which is in the process of getting framed as I write this article.

 

Throughout the evening there were opportunities to purchase boxing memorabilia, boxing autographs and signed boxing gloves via raffles, auction and a game called heads and tails. Amongst the items in the auction there were Muhammad Ali signed shorts, Mike Tyson signed gloves and also a great deal of signed boxing merchandise available at reasonable prices.

This was probably one of the biggest dinners I have attended with over 500 people turning out to see Mike and his fellow World Champions. As you can imagine he was in great demand to autograph memorabilia and he did do several signed photos for charity and for those involved in the organising of the evening. However his time was in great demand and not everyone got signed boxing memorabilia.

I was fortunate in so much as my friends did a private signing session with the champ earlier in the year where I obtained a signed photo, signed boxing shorts and a few unusual items of boxing memorabilia and a personalised autograph.

 

Getting back to the items that were for sale in the auction there was some great Muhammad Ali memorabilia signed in person by the legend including signed pictures, autographed boxing gloves and even a signed boxing robe. All of the items in the auction were fantastic and well presented pieces of autographed boxing memorabilia. But my favourite item was of the greatest pound for pound fighter around at the moment Manny Pacquiao signed shorts which was in my opinion the best framed autograph that was up for auction.

The highlight of the evening was a question and answer session with Mike where he covered his career from start to finish including all of the ups and downs and even a few of the controversial moments in his life, all in all it was a very entertaining evening spent in the company of one of the all time Heavyweight greats.

AUTOGRAPH AUTHENTICATION COURSE

One of the things that I pride myself on is the continuing need to keep up to date with all the current trends in the autograph and memorabilia industry. With this in mind I am going to attend an autograph authentication course on the 29th of October 2010, this course is being run by AFTAL (autograph fair traders association limited) of which I am on their Approved Dealers list. Although virtually all of my autographed photos are hand signed in person autographs, there are items which cannot be collected in person or by my agents as these celebrity autographs are either vintage autographs where the celebrity is deceased or customers asking me to authenticate their signed photos or famous autographs. The course is going to cover famous signatures, how to spot auto pen signatures, secretarial signatures and forgeries. At the end of the course provided you pass you will be elevated to a certified autograph dealer with AFTAL. 

I truly believe that you can never be too careful when it comes to providing your customers with authentic autographs and authentic Holly wood memorabilia. Memorabilia 4U provides a lifetime money back guarantee with all of its items and signed memorabilia. As an autograph dealer making sure all my framed autographs go out in pristine condition with a certificate of authenticity is a priority.

I was just looking through some ebay autographs the other day and I was shocked to see how many badly forged items there were in the following categories; sports memorabilia, music memorabilia and movie memorabilia. In my opinion I would have said that 90% of the items for sale were not real hand signed autographs signed in person by the celebrity. With this in mind and a statistic I heard the other day saying that 80% of all signed memorabilia is fake it is very much “Buyer Beware”.

So with this in mind when you are looking to buy autographs please make sure you research the autograph dealer thoroughly before purchasing your football autograph, sport memorabilia or movie star autographs. On the up side there are organisations out there which give the buyer guarantees, if you deal with a UACC registered dealer or and Aftal approved dealer they are monitored regularly to ensure that the items they sell are of the highest standard and although they cannot guarantee that every item is an authentic autograph they do give the buyer peace of mind in the fact that if it is not you will get your money back.

As I always say the best way to get authentic autographs or authentic memorabilia is to collect the item yourself, however that is not always possible as it takes a lot of time and patience to collect signed memorabilia whether its autographed albums, autographed photos or signed posters you certainly need time to collect and if you are buying autographs please check out the dealer who has too many famous autographs for sale, especially beatles autographs and beatles memorabilia. As these are the most copied and forged autographs and running them a close second is Elvis Presley autographs and then Frank Sinatra memorabilia. So make sure you do your homework when it comes to purchasing autographed memorabilia and signed sports memorabilia.

Careful Collecting!!!

Always Buy Authontic Autographs and Celebrity Memorabilia From Certified Dealers

I have just recently started reading a book about autograph forgery in the United States, the title of the real life account of a F.B.I. investigation is called “Operation Bullpen”. Although I am not finished the book I could not help but get on my keyboard and make people who have not read the book aware of the amount of forged memorabilia that was confiscated and also sold from this illegal activity.

It was not just the forgers who profited from the sale of autographed memorabilia but several large autograph dealers who either unknowingly purchased these items or worse still knowingly purchased fake famous signatures.Amongst the most popular autographs to get forged were baseball autographs, basketball autographs and NFL autographs. The forgers did not stop there after initial success with the aforementioned items they progressed on to Hollywood memorabilia, historical autographs, sport autographs and movie star autographs. The extent of how much of the items forged that is still in circulation or hanging in someone’s home is debatable but it amounts to millions of dollars. 

            

The subject of fake memorabilia is one which I must confess makes me very angry and every time I hear of it I feel the need to write about it. I hate when I see a fake autograph at a memorabilia show or fund raising dinner. I feel that it is often a crime which goes unpunished most of the time in the U.K. Although there have been several convictions for fraud in the U.K. concerning fake signed memorabilia and autographs to date there have been only light sentences and fines imposed. Some of the these forgers of football memorabilia and football autographs have been making hundreds of thousands of pounds on a regular basis off a poor unsuspecting public. 

The forgery is not limited to autographed football memorabilia, there have been cases of music memorabilia, vintage autographs, rare autographs, golf memorabilia, formula one memorabilia that have landed in court.

Today it is not enough to have a certificate of authenticity, anyone can put one of them together and attach it to a forged signature. I t makes sense to research your autograph dealer and ask how he gets his items it is also prudent to deal with autograph dealers who are AFTAL dealers and also UACC registered dealers, at least you can complain to the aforementioned organizations and they will investigate your complaint. Most autograph dealers will send a certificate of authenticity with their items but it is only of value when it has the dealers address, e mail, telephone numbers and affiliations to autograph organizations, if the certificate does not have this then it is worthless ( how are you going to contact them to complain!!).

I have been collecting autographs for over forty years and I must inform the prospective autograph collector to be very careful of who they buy autographs and celebrity memorabilia from as there are vast amounts of fake autograph dealers and those only too quick to take your hard earned money fraudulently.

Autographed Boxing Memorabilia, Signed Photos and Boxing Gloves for Sale

I was recently invited along to an event in Aberdeen Exhibition Centre to a Gentlemen’s Dinner. The main guest being Mike Tyson former World Heavyweight champion, along with Mike was another former heavy weight champion Tim Witherspoon and an another World Title holder Lee McAllister who hails from Aberdeen. During the course of the evening I was fortunate enough to meet Mike and Tim and got a photograph of myself with Mike Tyson which is in the process of getting framed as I write this article.

        

Throughout the evening there were opportunities to purchase boxing memorabilia, boxing autographs and signed boxing gloves via raffles, auction and a game called heads and tails. Amongst the items in the auction there were Muhammad Ali signed shorts, Mike Tyson signed gloves and also a great deal of signed boxing merchandise available at reasonable prices.

This was probably one of the biggest dinners I have attended with over 500 people turning out to see Mike and his fellow World Champions. As you can imagine he was in great demand to autograph memorabilia and he did do several signed photos for charity and for those involved in the organising of the evening. However his time was in great demand and not everyone got signed boxing memorabilia.

I was fortunate in so much as my friends did a private signing session with the champ earlier in the year where I obtained a signed photo, signed boxing shorts and a few unusual items of boxing memorabilia and a personalised autograph.

Getting back to the items that were for sale in the auction there was some great Muhammad Ali memorabilia signed in person by the legend including signed pictures, autographed boxing gloves and even a signed boxing robe. All of the items in the auction were fantastic and well presented pieces of autographed boxing memorabilia. But my favourite item was of the greatest pound for pound fighter around at the moment Manny Pacquiao signed shorts which was in my opinion the best framed autograph that was up for auction.

The highlight of the evening was a question and answer session with Mike where he covered his career from start to finish including all of the ups and downs and even a few of the controversial moments in his life, all in all it was a very entertaining evening spent in the company of one of the all time Heavyweight greats.

Memorabilia Show at the NEC in Birmingham

On the 20th and the 21st of November I will be going to the Memorabilia Show at the NEC in Birmingham. This is an event which I attend every year and find it an extremely valuable way of collecting autographed memorabilia, meeting fellow autograph dealers and autograph collectors. I have often acquired rare autographs andmany genuine autographs to add to my personal collection. In addition to this I get the opportunity to meet the celebrities in person and discuss business with fellow autograph dealers at the show.
Attending this show are a wide scope of celebrities enabling me to gain access to a range of celebrity autographs, such as signed photos, signed movie posters, autographed footballs, as well as other signed sports memorabilia, such as sport merchandise, including signed boxing gloves, signed shirts and signed jerseys.
This year I am intending to meet and collect signed memorabilia from the likes of the boxing legends Thomas ‘The Hitman’Hearns, Iran Barkley and Barry McGuigan. It would be ideal if I could build up my collection of boxing memorabilia with signed boxing gloves, signed photographs and other signed boxing merchandise. Other sporting legends that are set to attend the show are Superbike legend and arguably the best ever motorbike rider from Britain, Karl Fogarty, Dennis Taylor who is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship final and Ron Flowers, known for his time at Wolverhampton Wanderers and a member of England's victorious 1966 World Cup squad, this will hopefully lead to collecting autographed footballs, football autographs and other forms of soccer memorabilia. Many other famous sporting legends shall be attending, enabling me to collect an extensive range of sports autographs and signed sports memorabilia.
I am also intending to collect many actor autographs and actresses autographs. Attending this show are celebrities including David Warner, the actor known for his performance in Dr Who autographs, Titanic and Planet of the Apes, and also the actress Martha Cope who hopefully I can persuade to sign some Dr Who memorabilia as well as other movie memorabilia. Also attending is the actor David Bradley, who is best known as Argus Filch in all Harry Potter movies. The addition of this actors autograph to my collection of Harry Potter memorabilia would be readily welcomed, and hopefully will come in many forms, such as autographed posters, signed DVD cases and autographed photographs. Richard Herd is also set to attend the show. I am intending to add to my collection of Star Trek autographs, so this will be a good opportunity to collect Star Trek memorabilia, such as signed Star Trek posters, autographed Star Trek merchandise and signed Star Trek collectables. Furthermore, the actors Kiran Shah and Warwick Davis, both known for their roles in Star Wars will be signing memorabilia. I am keen to collect Star Wars memorabilia, signed Star Wars merchandise and Star Wars collectables as it is particularly popular form of movie memorabilia, attracting a wide range of attention from all parts of the world.
So if you are looking for something interesting to do that weekend you could do a lot worse than visiting the show, you never know you might even and up speaking to me !!