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Authenticity is Everything
You Notice That Somebody Has Fake Autographs Displayed Proudly On Their Wall - Do You Tell Them?
You notice that somebody has a fake autograph displayed proudly on their wall, maybe picture of a current sitcom star or perhaps something from a bigger league...A signed copy of Sgt. Peppers perhaps with signatures you recognise as coming from Southern California which might represent a major financial loss for them.
Do you play it safe and say nothing? Or would you take a more proactive stance that might actually help the guy get his money back? How would you play it? Have you ever been in a similar situation?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on
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I'll take the Abbey Road where the cat peed on George's signature, thank you!
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It was Cathy Sarver's, one of the Apple Scruff's albums.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Hakimian on
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My Brother (who is an avid classic rock fan)not a collector had this framed poster hanging up on his wall about 4 years ago.when I saw it I immediately told him it was a pathetic forgery,he did not like that at all and he said I was out of my mind and I didn't have a clue.I showed him a real signed set that I had at the time and he said that they both looked very much alike.It looked nothing like the real set I showed him.He was so brainwashed into thinking what he had was real,it didn't matter what anyone told him.Heres the poster I'm talking about.I had to take a picture when he wasn't looking.
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Permalink Reply by Innuendo on
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You think THATS bad..There was a young lady a few months ago who proudly posted her Freddie Mercury signature along with her mother's story about meeting the band and when it was signed ect. Only thing was, it was a fan club secreterial signature and her mother's dates didn't add up anyway. I went to type up the sad news about the sig and realized she'd cherished it because her mother had told her this story for the last 20+ years. I scrolled down a bit more and saw that she and her mother had gotten the signature TATTOOED on their arms. I just couldn't bring myself to 1. tell her that her mother had lied to her for 20+ years and 2. that the tattoo she had on her arm was a fake and not Mercury's signature at all. As for the mother and her tattoo, I think she may believe it's a genuine signature since the Queen Fan Club issued COAs for their secreterial sigs for years. So she may have gotten the tattoo knowing the story she told about obtaining it was fake, but perhaps she assumed since it came in the mail with a COA, it was still genuine. I took that time to shut down the laptop for the night.
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Permalink Reply by wascher on
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I've honestly decided when MJ fans are proud of something I know is bad, that I say nothing (unless I know them really well). I've had fans get super po'd at me and one even harassed me by stalking my FB and posting on it constantly trying to prove me wrong after I mentioned he owned a secretarial (I had to block him), then he went to calling my home (blocked that as well)! I said after that there was good reason MJ locked himself behind big gates and away from some of them lol. Carry on with your secretarial sigs. Not my concern.
If someone does email me though and has a concern with their item - and they think it might be a style I've pointed out as bad, then I'll talk with them. But that's the only time I'll get involved.
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Agreed, absolutely. I've had to learn the hard way that although you always have good intentions when trying to point out that an autograph is fake, most of the time (especially if they didn't ask for opinions and were just sharing on Facebook without selling)you'll get a negative response that is often defensive and can get threatening. I run a little Queen autograph group on FB where most of the fans who join think the Fan Club hung the moon, so you can imagine the upset when you prove that the secreterial sigs aren't actually from the band and that COA from the fan club isn't worth anything. A few of my members have gotten threatened and insulted ect. I usually get tagged in posts in other Queen groups about autographs all the time on FB, but I do not respond unless the poster is either trying to sell a fake item or if the poster is curious about the item's authenticity. I'm sorry to hear you got treated so poorly, Wascher. If someone called my home I would've contacted the authorities asap. That's absolutely insane.
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Permalink Reply by Barry S on
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Wow, crazy Wascher. Great story Innuendo. My framer asked me what I thought about a bat signed by Mantle years ago. I text it to my friend CeeGee and he said it was firewood. My framer took it well and we are still cool (but I have put his kids through college). My good buddy sent me a picture of a Mantle signed photo a while back he got for Christmas. I got opinions here, everyone said junk including Terrier. He and I have never been the same, never speak of memorabilia anymore. I think his attitude is I think only my collection is real and everyone else's is fake. Another good friend has an Abby Road signed by all 4 hanging on her living room wall. She has hundreds not thousands in it, and its real and good with me!
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Permalink Reply by James on
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My general response would be, no, you should not tell them, unless, one, the person may still have time to get a refund, or two, the person is planning on selling the item. Otherwise, if you tell them, all you're accomplishing is to make them unhappy and possibly unhappy with you. My thinking is that if they are not planning to part with the item until death, let them enjoy their trophy. As is said, ignorance is bliss.
Several years ago, the U. Of Kansas (my alma mater) held a basketball reunion, and although our first coach and our program's founder, James Naismith, was not able to attend, people like Dean Smith and Wilt Chamberlain were there. Well, a local dealer somehow was able to acquire a few signed basketballs. The wife of a close relative bought one. So one day I was looking it over, and realized the Dean Smith looked like a poor attempt at the one I got in-person, the Wilt Chamberlain did not look good, and Scot Pollard, who spelled Scot with one "t" spelled this one with two "t's". Most people don't misspell their own name. I realized the ball was a collection of forgeries, but to this day, I've never said anything about it.
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Permalink Reply by Pete Bendu on
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I spent a good deal of time in the 1990's and early 2000's doing the conventions & shows adding the "usual suspects" to posters and pieces I had started in the streets. A piece signed by George Lucas or Harrison Ford is just that, but when you have the opportunity to walk right up to a convention table and add Fisher, Daniels, Baker, Mayhew or Prowse to the piece you can finish off a nice cast piece pretty quickly.
The situation happened more than once when standing in line and you see the pieces other fans are holding are horrible forgeries likely bought off ebay, and they are about to spend more good money to add minor characters to a piece that has a forged Ford, Hamill or Lucas, I honestly felt that the person about to burn even more cash should be told.
In every single instance, I was told that I was clueless, should mind my own business, and I was even told more than once that the person holding the forgery had gotten each signature in person.
This was really impressive seeing that each signature on the piece was a well known forgery that had been flooding ebay at the time.
This happened over the course of multiple shows, and after getting the exact same responses over and over again, I came to the only sane and logical answer, that I would not get involved unless asked.
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Permalink Reply by Sir Alfred on
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Absolutely NOT ! Seems like a surefire way to put a strain on a friendship or with a family member.They will view it in one of two ways:
1.) You are jealous of their signed item.
2.) You are a know it all,who always HAS to know more than anyone.
As for getting a refund,chances are they have owned the signed item for a long time and have ZERO chance of getting any money back.
Don't do it.
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