Authenticity is Everything
I guess some people prefer to live in a state of denial than accept reality
I'm sure many on this forum have known someone who absolutely refuses to believe that a signature or item they own is a fake/forgery.
I used to watch Pawn Stars. Numerous times they would tell a prospective seller their item was not the chair Lincoln sat in for a a Brady portrait; a Jimi Hendrix signed poster was not authentic; a saddle used by John Wayne in a movie was totally unverifiable.
I really felt badly for an elderly military officer who brought in a reel-to-reel tape of himself taking a phone call from JFK. He wanted $100,000---thinking it was one-of-a-kind. Well, the perfunctory "expert" was brought in and had to break the news to the old man that tape was also in the JFK Library and in public domain.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by michelle on
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I saw one episode where a signed first edition of J K Rowling turned out to be fake.
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Permalink Reply by Garrett Meadows on
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Absolutely heart-breaking for the seller. First, there's the colossal embarrassment of having been snookered. Second, then there's the anger that someone would perpetrate such a fraud.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on
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That is too bad. That book, the true first with the errors, is worth some $. Not anymore.
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Not strictly true, Eric. The value is in the book. It might not be the easiest sell with a fake signature but it would still fetch a lot of money. Besides, it’s the easiest thing in the world for a skilled restorer to remove a signature from a book page (depending on placement).
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That is not the sort of thing I'd deal with or do. YMMV.
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Some people are just delusional about what they possess. $100,000 for a recording of his conversation with JFK?!
I recall one guy who had what he insisted was an original bronze sculpture by a European artist. The Pawn Stars guy said that it was a far less valuable reproduction. The owner angrily refused to believe it, even after Rick pointed to the "Made in USA" marking on it.
Then there are the idiots who expect the shop to pay them retail or higher for their stuff.
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Permalink Reply by crazyrabbits23 on
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The last.... three decades of collecting, and all the pump-and-dump/artificially-manufactured collectibles that have come with it, have convinced a lot of people that their junk is worth millions. I point to Superman #75 (Death of Superman) as the one collectible that not only kicked off the 90s "Junk Wax Era" for comics, but taught a lot of collectors the wrong lessons about what is or isnt valuable.
(Which is manifesting itself in modern times via FOMO driven hyped-up markets, and autographs are the tip of thr iceberg.)
I tend to stay away from most modern autographs unless its onr of a handful of subsets I collrct, or if I know for certain that it's the best chance I'll get in the short-term of getting a particular signer.
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The problem is that so many people confuse “investing” with “gambling”. Collectibles are always a gamble but many acquire them without discipline and expect them to bear fruit when the time suits them, only to discover that the fads are over. Or worse still, the item isn’t even genuine.
if you can collect within your own means and follow your own interests without expectation of reward then you are fine.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on
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Drew Max was the Pawn Stars autograph expert in the first years of the show, which premiered in 2009. He and his authentication company, AAU (Authentic Autographs Unlimited) were in the business of authenticating fakes as genuine forgery sellers like Antiquites.
When they found out that Max was a fraud in about 2012 they replaced him with Steve Grad.
Max was arrested for a DUI 5-6 years ago and died overnight in his cell.
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Autograph Live gets a mention in this article on him.
https://www.glossyfied.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-drew-max-a-pawn-sta...
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