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Authenticity is Everything
"Autopenned" Becoming a Misunderstood Catch-All Term?
Warning: This is somewhere between a rant and a curiosity.
I know there are an endless number of terms related to this hobby, most of which I'm probably unfamiliar with, but has anyone else noticed the prevalence of the word "autopenned" being used incorrectly as a catch-all term for anything deemed questionable or fake?
I almost exclusively frequent the Musician-Direct section of AL, so my perspective is mostly isolated to that segment of the hobby, but it feels like a lot of people don't actually understand what an autopen is. My guess is that this confusion is a side-effect of the seemingly increased production of autopenned items in the music industry combined with the inexperience of the average buyer (who tends to be an artist-specific fan more than a collector). Anecdotally, I often see users on this platform and others (ex. Twitter) throw around the word "autopen" any time they're talking anything inclusive of: stamps, ghostsigners/secretarials, facsimiles/printed signatures, or actual autopens.
For example, when the Sinead O'Connor book was releasing, B&N issued a statement that the books were signed with an auto-pen, while O'Connor herself said it was a stamp. I don't know who was right in the end, but they are not technically the same thing (for starters, one is much easier to identify when looking at an isolated example). Similarly, there's a frequently misrepresented catalog sold whose coverart features a photo of a picture that was signed by Chuck Yeager (Gen. Yeager autographed a photo inscribed to the company's owners, and for whatever reason they decided to make that the artwork on their catalog). Though the "signature" is printed as part of the cover artwork, at least one seller said that the TPA rejected it because it was an "autopen."
On an only marginally related note, I've also seen people argue that items were autopenned due to similarities alone - completely ignoring the fact that current autopen patterns don't display just a few similarities, but instead will have predominantly identical presentations with minimal if any unique distinctions between like examples. I've also seen people who will quickly declare any signature that features any semblance of a "telltale dot" as being an autopen, without doing any research for matched examples first.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Josh Board on
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What a well written post. I enjoyed reading it. I've often said to people (in other areas), that sometimes it's just simpler to use one word/phrase for something. So, it's easier for a company to say "autopen" instead of "stamped" because...EVERYONE knows what autopen means, but others might be confused by a stamped signature, or fascimile, or any such jargon.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on
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I’ve noticed this trend as well, however I haven’t put as much thought into it as you. :-) In my opinion, it’s just people who don’t know what they’re talking about, but are trying to sound like they do.
I also believe that it’s a trick used by forgery sellers. Many times I have seen forgeries labeled as “auto pen“ signatures. I believe it’s a trap. They are looking for a potential bidder who knows it’s not an autopen and who thinks the seller is mistakenly selling an authentic item mislabeled as an autopen… So the buyer is trying to take advantage of a sellers mistake. The buyer thinks he’s getting one over on an ignorant seller, but the reverse is true. If and when the buyer finds out that it’s just a forgery, it would be hard to return it because the seller never claimed it was authentic.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on
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"...In my opinion, it’s just people who don’t know what they’re talking about, but are trying to sound like they do..."
+1 Collectors should be familiar with the different terms used in their own hobby.
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Permalink Reply by JK on
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Yes, I see it, too.
Preprints or copies or even secretarials being described as autopen, autopens being described as preprints, etc.
One of my favorites is when someone sends their own photo to a celebrity and it comes back with an autopen signature but they call it a preprint.
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Here is a classic Autopen - click to enlarge:
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Permalink Reply by Jor-El on
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Good post!
I don't mind it as much when it's clear from the context what someone is saying, but sometimes it leads to confusing discussions.
For example when someone claims your autograph is autopenned or stamped, while there are literally dozens of examples which are clearly all different, so you try to explain it's definitely not an autopen or stamp. Then it turns out they just question the authenticity (suspect ghost-signed).
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