Always Buy Authontic Autographs and Celebrity Memorabilia From Certified Dealers

OPERATION BULLPEN

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.

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 autographed photos to enhance my personal collection of signed photos and autographed memorabilia. While I was out collecting during the practice days at the Dunhill Links Championship I also managed to collect a nice piece of Star Wars memorabilia. A signed photo of him as Mace Windu.

It is not often that you can pick up a celebrity autograph on a golf course in fact the last famous autograph I got at a golf course in Los Angeles was a Robbie Williams autograph! I know imagine Robbie playing golf. It’s strange but I have actually collected autographs of all types on golf courses. About the only autograph I have not collected is Star Trek autographs and Lord of the Rings autographs.

Playing golf myself I started to collect the odd item of golf memorabilia and signed photo, once I started I then got the autograph collectors bug and now have a vast assortment of Ryder Cup Memorabilia, signed golf photos, signed golf prints and signed golf memorabilia. The week at St Andrews has added to my collection, a Martin Kaymer autograph, a Rory McIlroy autograph and a Graeme McDowell signed photo.

My main aim of the week was to get signed Ryder Cup photos and Ryder cup autographs in my autograph albums, however, with most of the Ryder Cup stars not arriving until Wednesday it meant I had a lot of collecting to do in between watching the golf and travelling, however I had quite a successful week I even managed to get a few items of cricket memorabilia and selection of signed football memorabilia as well.

I am going to an auction of golf memorabilia and ephemera next week and with a little bit of luck I might be able to pick up a few vintage autographs and one or two autographed albums at a reasonable price? Well here’s hoping anyway! The auction is not only selling golf memorabilia it also has tennis memorabilia, sport memorabilia, music memorabilia and a very small selection of movie memorabilia. Auctions are great fun but you do have to be careful as there is no guarantee that you will be buying genuine autographs and authentic memorabilia. Buying autographs can be a costly affair depending on whose autograph you are trying to buy, lets say you were trying to buy a Tiger Woods autograph or a Jack Nicklaus autograph. They would cost anything from £200- £1000 depending on what they were signed on.

You could look on ebay, but unfortunately there are a lot of forgeries on that site and it’s the easiest thing in the world to pick up a pen and forge a famous signature. If you do go on ebay the best way to ensure you are getting a genuine autograph is to look out for UACC Registered dealers and AFTAL approved dealers as they are governed by a strict code of ethics and are reputable autograph dealers.

So if you tramp the fairways like me and like collecting memorabilia hopefully the above will improve your collection of golf autographs and increase your chances of obtaining genuine golf memorabilia.

Happy Collecting!!!!

Certified Autograph Dealers - 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. 

Robbie Williams

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.

Pele Signed ShirtsI 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!!!