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B.B. King's autograph has been widely forged for decades. But now that King has released a statement that he's in hospice care, the flood of forgeries is starting to turn into a torrent.

This discussion is to help fans and collectors protect themselves from buying B.B. King forgeries. Post genuine autographs and suspected forgeries and copies, and help others by sharing your knowledge and experience.

Did B.B. King sign autographs for you in-person? If you did, also post them in Share Your B.B. King In-Person Autographs and Experiences, and share your stories!

Tags: authenticating, autographs, b.b. king, bb king, fake, forgeries, real

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You just made my day Steve! Thanks so much!
That is perfect Josh!

Best wishes!

Its beautiful. There have been whole discussions on where to get a guitar signed and it doesn't  get much better than this,. No pick guard highly legible, and you can play the guitar without damaging the signature. Spectacular  now that consensus indicates it  real

I spoke too soon- consensus takes time

Here's the thing...while this certainly has the characteristics of Mr. King's autograph for the most part, there are a couple issues to cause some hesitancy.  First is the fact that as Steve stated, it lacks his normal fluidity of his autograph.  The "K" and "i" are simply off when compared to his normal signature but that could of course be attested to his signature placement.  The line from the "g" appears to be another stroke which is not normally the case but that could just be the photo making it appear that way. The other more important fact is at the top of the guitar is what appears to be his signature that's been removed.  It's actually harmed the guitar as it's left the imprint of his former signature.  The immediate concern is did a forger practice signing Mr. King's autograph and do a bad job and re-do it below?  Without having the guitar in front of me it's too hard to tell.  If it's a forgery it's as good as it gets.  I'd have to dig into my archives to see how he writes the #s for dates and look more closely at this to give a final decision.  The pickguard appears well used so you'll want to ask about buckle wear on the back of the guitar and see what the neck looks like,etc.  Either way...if you go for it do so knowing the imperfections should certainly bring the value down.

Wow. This is very helpful. I did notice the differences when comparing it to signatures online . As for top marking, I'm pretty sure that's just my wife's necklace glare coincidentally looking like the "ng"
When I had it in my hands. There was no other marking on the body, but I will check again when it comes in the mail. I bought the guitar for the value of the guitar and the signature was just bonus. I'll post again once it is in my hands . Thank you so much!

No, that's definitely his ghosted signature there.  I copied the bottom signature and layered to show you what I mean where it's just above. You can also see the "B." on the left a little faded as well.  

Wow. You're right. So would you call this a fake?
No. There's several legitimate resasons they could have removed the other signature as well. Smudged...didnt like the placement...played the guitar and it rubbed off and brought it back another year to have him sign again..who knows. Ultimately I'd need to examine the removed signature and the shown one with more detail to answer you appropriately.
Here's my email douwes89@hotmail.com

Once I have the guitar in my hands . Perhaps we could investigate more. Thank you for your help. Means a lot
Is there anything else I can do to help you?

Just take really good high resolution images of both signatures when you get it and also in the interim ask the seller what they know about the 2 signatures and the provenance.  Emailing you now.

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