Potential Fake Signed Grammy Drum Head Autographed

I just joined this site as a result of finding articles here regarding a company, or companies? which apparently deals heavily in fraudulent collectibles, Art Of Music/Gallery Of Dreams.

On Christmas Eve, I purchased something in Las Vegas, and it is remarkably similar to something which was asked about on this website earlier this year. The item is a "autographed" drum head, with the Grammy logo on it. Signed by many major artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks, Paul McCartney, Santana, Bono, Edge, Phil Collins, and others.

This display piece was purchased at a Las Vegas shop which shall remain nameless.

I am definitely hoping for some guidance. This situation is complicated by the fact I did not take delivery of the piece, since it would not fit in my vehicle, so I have no photo at this point. Nor do I know whether said "store" will be of any assistance, especially if they know the item was a fake, and I was intentionally duped. After reading what I have on this site, I am more or less convinced this is not legit.

My only recourse is to dispute with my credit card, but they have said I should take delivery of it, otherwise how can I prove it is fake. I welcome any assistance from someone knowlegable here of what I might do. It remains to be seen whether the shop will stand by their reputation and refund me, but i suspect not. I am willing to explore any options available to me, and would hope they will not want the bad press I will attempt to bring them.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

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Comment by DB on January 6, 2012 at 2:40pm: well it looks like all the votes are in David. While I personally put little faith in other opinions the ones here are most telling and it's great to see that those that matter on ANL agree with the expertise here but then in typical fashion they tend to go off on irrelevant tangents which is why their opinions become heavily discounted as usual.

Comment by roger epperson on January 6, 2012 at 4:01am: This looks to be signed by the same hand, it's truly dreadful.

Comment by Bjarne Soderholm on January 5, 2012 at 6:40pm: This is real bad. You have to get a refund as soon as possible.

Comment by Rick Meyer on January 5, 2012 at 6:25pm: Look at just the capitol B's on the BB King and the sig on the upper right side of emblem. They look almost identical. Then look at the capitol B's on the two signatures at the bottom left and bottom right of emblem. Those two look very close to the same as well and very similiar characteristics to the one at the very top. All look to me to be signed by one....maybe two people. No way that is authentic.

Comment by David S. on January 5, 2012 at 5:35pm: Thanks, I am going to forward your information to them, and vice versa. I have the email address of the gentleman who sold it to me, and also the email of the Assistant General Manager. I just sent the salesman a text stating I had an expert look at the picture, and you said every signature was a forgery. I appreciate your help so much, and now we'll see what their reaction is.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin on January 5, 2012 at 5:15pm: David,

I just got off a long call and saw your emails, but I'll answer you here. Unfortunately, this is one of those ridiculous forgeries, of the kind that seem to produced by or for Gallery of Dreams in Southern California. Gallery of Dreams is the same company American Royal Arts got the fake guitars the used altered photos to sell.

The COA doesn't ring a bell, but Christopher Morales was listed as Gallery of Dreams' authenticator under their executive profiles. This appears to be the retailer's COA, and it may come from a time before Morales worked for GofD. Tell the pawn shop that sold it to file a police report against the seller—no doubt they knew they were committing fraud when they sold it to them. They can contact me and I'll fill them in.

Comment by David S. on January 5, 2012 at 4:57pm: I was able to upload the pics from my other computer. Hope to get some good opinions.

Comment by David S. on January 5, 2012 at 3:33pm: I just received pictures of the drum head and the certificate, but I'm not able to upload them here for some reason. I sent them to Steve, but I would welcome any other opinions as well, and can email them to others, and perhaps someone knows how to adjust them so they can be uploaded to this site. Thanks.

Comment by Stephen Duncan on January 1, 2012 at 6:06am: Las Vegas = Sin City.

Comment by DB on December 28, 2011 at 12:41am: there is also a premature presumption of this being a forged item. It's a hard lesson but when you make a sizeable purchase, always have a picture of the item and a picture of the cert while doing one's homework first. Many places count on impulse buyers and the associated habits as how could anyone think that an establishment within Planet Hollywood could be possibly or knowingly selling "non-authentic" material. Key operative word; Knowingly and the old adage of it doesn't have to be "authnetic" just "certified".

someone suggested PSA/DNA but we have also seen in a court of law against an independent authenticator their claim of it being non-authentic was dismissed with the seller winning the argument. Getting an opinion is just that. While it might provide leverage it's not the silver bullet that some think it is.