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New California State Law Regarding Sale of Autographs

Hi,

Not certain whether there is already a thread on this new issue.

I am curious to see how sellers of autographs in the State of California are dealing with the new Assembly Bill No. 1570 requiring sellers to provide a CofA for all autographed collectibles being sold. There are many requirements related to this new law. Here is the link providing the contents of this new law:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_...

Does anyone know how a dealer obtains a "surety bond" or insurance required to ensure the authenticity of the autographed collectible.

Thank you,

Irv

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joe W. on January 29, 2017 at 7:34pm

I'm betting not.

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Permalink Reply by Paul on January 29, 2017 at 6:58pm

Joe,you probably shouldnt be dealing with those dealers than.

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on January 29, 2017 at 7:38pm

Don't think I'm buying forgeries from California. No worries on that.

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on January 29, 2017 at 7:39pm

Of course, sounds like California wants to secede from the U.S. anyway.

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Permalink Reply by Edward Siebert on January 30, 2017 at 12:36am

Does this prevent the average person, not a "dealer", from simply selling an autograph on eBay?

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Permalink Reply by Paul on January 30, 2017 at 1:47am

They spell out what a dealer is.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on January 30, 2017 at 6:15am

The point about the source of the autograph if from a third party can be tricky. Having collected since the very early 70s I have no memory now of where I got some of my autographs. Actually I am finding autographs that I forgot I even had! I know I bought some Civil War stuff from a person who had an ad in The Antique Trader in the 70s. I know I never saved the persons name etc. Granted I am not a dealer and today I do keep much better records but this I think could be a problem for some dealers. This seems to me geared more towards modern autographs. What if the person you bought it from is dead? Joe Smith, Lot 7B, Woodlawn Cemetery. If anyone thinks this will stop forgers in California I seriously doubt it. Like most legislation this is going to be a big boost to the worlds oldest profession...lawyers.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 30, 2017 at 10:06am

Scott,

This law is not for collectors unless they're dealers as well. It's aimed at people where in the regular course of their business they sell autographs.

So it would probably apply to booksellers who sell signed books as part of their business, galleries that sell signed and unsigned memorabilia, eBay sellers that sell autographed items in the course of their business even if they sell unsigned items, etc.