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”!!!

Movie Memorabilia

There are several associations that promote genuine autographed memorabilia the most famous being the U.A.C.C. ( Universal Autograph Collectors Club). They have two types of membership, Registered Dealers and members. The first is highly recommended as the selection procedure is very strict and to add substance to this statement there are less than 275 members worldwide who have achieved this lofty status. Memorabilia 4U, my company is RD 292. A person who is a U.A.C.C. member is just someone who has joined the club and has no accreditation other than being a member.  So always buy autographs and signed memorabilia from UACC and AFTAL approved dealers.

  

A U.A.C.C. registered dealer is different from a U.A.C.C. member in as much as a member pays an annual fee to be a member of the organisation, whereas a Registered Dealer has to have been a member of the U.A.C.C for at least 3 year and dealt in autographs for at least 3 years. After a very strict selection process in which you need two registered dealers to forward your name, your company and autographs are subjected to scrutiny by the board and should you be successful in passing this test you are awarded a registered dealer number. Passing the initial criteria is not all that is required, you are under constant scrutiny form fellow dealers and Board members to make sure you keep the high standards set by this orginisation. 

An A.F.T.A.L. approved dealer is an Autograph or memorabilia dealer resident in the U.K. and Europe who has passed a thorough examination into their background and the items they have for sale further to this they all have to sign a contract agreeing to the following code of ethics This condensed Ethics Code briefly sums up what every AFTAL approved dealer has signed and agreed to. Failure to conform to this code could result in expulsion from AFTAL.

An A.F.T.A.L. Certified Dealer is a dealer who has attended a course run by A.F.T.A.L on how to identify Forgeries, Scanned, Printed, Autopen and Stamped signatures and has passed all the criteria laid out in the course content.

My advice to anyone who wants to collect a genuine autograph is try and get the celebrity to sign the item for you. I would strongly advise that you do not try and get signed movie posters as these are easily damaged in a crowd looking for famous autographs (made that mistake already!).This is not always possible and the next best thing is to use a trusted U.A.C.C certified dealers and A.F.T.A.L approved autograph dealer especially if you collect vintage autographs and authentic autograph collectibles or even more so if you collect rare autographs.

Happy collecting………