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.

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………     

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............

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.

Martin Kaymer Autograph- Martin Kaymer Memorabilia- Sporting Memorabilia

How To Collect Original Hand Signed Autographs from Famous Film Stars and Celebrities

For many years now I have collected celebrity autographs in all kinds of weather, waiting for movie stars at film premieres to get authentic autographs or waiting in line at sports memorabilia shows to meet the occasional sports personality and after many hours of queuing coming away with a smile on my face and genuine autographs.     

In October I am braving the cold Scottish wind in St Andrews at the Dunhill Links Championship to collect golf memorabilia, mostly signed photos and with luck some signed football shirts along with the occasional piece of movie memorabilia, as the Dunhill Links Championship is a golf event which attracts celebrity amateur golfers as well as the professional golfer. I have collected many items in St Andrews over the years I have even managed to get the most famous James Bond autograph, Sir Sean Connery on the steps of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.                                            

Buying autographs has now become a very risky business, what with bogus autograph dealers and forgeries rife in the market place it is very difficult for the collector of signed memorabilia and hand signed photos to garner authentic sports memorabilia, music memorabilia or movie memorabilia. With this in mind I have tried to put together a guide below for the novice to obtain authentic autographs and memorabilia and eliminate the collectors worst nightmare a FORGERY!!!     

The easiest thing in the world is for somebody to get a photograph and forge a famous signature and low and behold a piece of Frank Sinatra Memorabilia or item of music memorabilia which to the untrained eye looks like a genuine collectible autograph.

 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 autograph dealer especially if you collect vintage autographs or even more so if you collect rare autographs.      

The question you are probably asking yourself now is who can I trust?

That is not so easy if you are a novice but these words of advice may help you get that item of authentic sports memorabilia without the worry of “Is it Real?” 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 if your penchant is for  collecting or buying, football autographs, boxing memorabilia or even music autographs I hope this article will help you obtain a genuine item of memorabilia.

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.

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, 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 !!

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..."

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.

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!!!