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Signs That a Dealer is Likely Selling Forgeries

How do you identify a bad autograph dealer? Whether you're at their website, in their gallery or store, or they're selling at events or conventions, there are signs to look for and questions to ask that will minimize your odds of being taken by the crooks. Share your tips, questions and experiences here.

Tags: bad, buying, dealers, forgeries, galleries, safe, tips

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on April 21, 2011 at 1:07pm

As a point of clarification, the artist, Angelo Marino, is the father of Greg Marino, the forger. The whole relationship is laid out in the book, Operation Bullpen.

Greg obviously inherited his father's artistic gene and used it for nefarious purposes.

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Permalink Reply by DB on May 19, 2011 at 11:47am

Mike, let's all sell him any "chall" hestons we have ~ they can fit right into the inventory...

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Permalink Reply by DB on May 19, 2011 at 12:29pm

Mike, the peanut gallery got distracted but found the See MY EBAY RATING very deceptive. Seems he sold 3 or 4 things in 2006 and mostly in 2004. Since then he has been a buyer of "gem stones" in the Merry Month of May to not only inflate his feedback but to give a very very disceptive view of an EBAY account that has nothing to do with selling autographs.

met Peter Mayhew last fall ~ geez is he tall, skinny and a fitting chewbaca.

btw, who is this person that supplies this place? The Peanut Gallery is concerned as should everyone else be...

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Permalink Reply by 2ro69jm8dyt5i on May 19, 2011 at 4:58pm

Some actors that do shows like to say their autograph isn't real so you have to buy it from them. I don't know if Mayhew does this or not. Just sayin.

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Permalink Reply by DB on May 19, 2011 at 5:03pm

even better, try to get a picture in w/o your press condentials. It can turn into a MMA cage match...

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Permalink Reply by DB on May 27, 2011 at 6:11am

Here is a surefire way to assess dealing with the Sharpie Pen... and when the colors came into existence. anything signed in Sharpie (any color) before 1997 would be an excellent indicator. Don't know if the list has been posted covering this but here ya go;

1997--we started with (black, red, blue, green, orange, brown, purple, yellow)
2002---we added (Turquoise/Lime/Berry/Aqua)
2003--we added (plum, burgundy,marigold, olive, navy)
2004--we added (Lilac, peach, sky, pink, mint)
2005--we added (Dandelion, Slate Grey, Ocean Blue, Spruce Green, Brick Red)
2006--we added (Almond, Pink Lemonade, Blue Ice, Boysenberry, Kiwi)
Metallic Gold was added in 2006
2008--we added(rain shower, clover, pumpkin, rose, violet)
2008--we added (EARL GREY, BLUEBERRY, POMEGRANATE, HIBISCUS TEA & MOCHA)
2009--we added (Surf, Stingray, Flamingo, Lime Daiquiri, Coconut)

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on May 27, 2011 at 6:22am

I'm a bit confused about the 1997 date. Sharpies were certainly around before 1997. According to Wikipedia, they were first released in 1964. I presume at that time it was probably only black and maybe blue.

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Permalink Reply by DB on May 27, 2011 at 7:09am

Zip, thanks, I knew that, duh! as it was 1964 ... 1850 FW Reddington and WH Sanford JR founded the Sanford Manufacturing Company which sold ink and glue. In 1964 the company introduced the first fine-point permanent marker. I believe that this is essentially the first sharpie fine point.

I'm gonna have to go back and chat with the Sharpie Rep that provided these dates as there may be a distinction being made that is not clear with the dates... More to Come

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Permalink Reply by DB on June 1, 2011 at 3:07am

Sharpie Ultra-Fine Marker colors and timelines.... I muse aloud if one can distnguish the use of this type =vs= the original sharpies....

Working on the other ones.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on November 11, 2011 at 8:25pm

Here's a brilliant one. Lazy forgery, insanely lazy lie. The description says the magazine was signed when the Packers were in town to play the Bears. Not only did the forger do a miserably incompetent job of faking Aaron Rodgers' very simple signature, he's obviously not a very competent football fan. The Packers were in Chicago on Sept. 25 (Week 3). This magazine is new - it's the November 7th issue.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Autographed-Sports-Illustrated-Aaron-Rodger...