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The Joe Long Forgeries.....The Shocking Truth

Hello everyone,

I was reading around a few days ago and noticed a blog where the name Joe Long was mentioned. I wasn't familiar with it at all, and so started to do a little research and found that the story surrounding the man was fairly interesting.

As mentioned by Steve in an earlier blog, Joe Long was very trusted in the autograph community and it was a shock when he was outed as selling bad items. Apparently Long was first found out by Frank Caizzo when Long was selling forged Beatles items. Apparently Long would frequently mix the good with the bad to try and fool buyers.

I have found this very interesting and would like to know more if possible. Was Long only selling forgeries, or did he forge himself?? Was Long in business with anyone else??  Did Long sell other forged autographs besides the Bealtes??  What were some of the clues that a piece was sold by Joe Long? What story did Long give when he was caught??  Did he face any legal actions??? Does he still operate today???   Has their been any evidence recently that Joe Long has been supplying other dealers???

These are all questions i have and hope that those out their who know more about the man will chime in. Anytime i hear about really good forgers who fool alot of people, my ears perk up. It really does make for a good autograph story when you hear what happened from the beginning.

I would love to hear some of what Steve and Roger know about Joe Long and what all happened involving his business and the forgeries that were sold. Did he ever admit to selling the forgeries?? Any estimates on how much profit he made??

I couldnt find all that much information on him over the net, so i thought this would be a good thread to learn up on him if others are inclined to speak about what they know. Here is an image and description i took form Autograph alert truth. And i hope Roger wont mind.

Apparently this is from one of Joe Long's old catalogs. 2 of the 3 are genuine, and 1 is bad. And whoever forged these obviously had talent.

Roger also reported in his blog that Autograph Alert used to refer to Joe Long as "Mr. Clean". Did anyone else know him as this, or is this just another one of their lies? I imagine its nothing but garbage, b/c what forger would give himself a nickname, and especially not Mr. Clean. This isnt cloak and dagger stuff, its autograph forging, lol.

Anyway i would be very interested in any info anyone could provide. I find stuff like this very interesting.

Thanks for reading

Carl

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Replies to This Discussion

Tiziano VianelloPermalink Reply by Tiziano Vianello on June 26, 2018 at 8:30am

I hope that these forgeries not arrived to rr auction or other reputable auction ...

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on June 26, 2018 at 8:46am

RR uses Epperson for music, and he knows Joe Long's work up and down.

RR probably knows, too, since they were no doubt burned years ago. Christie's, Sotheby's, just about every auction house and dealer in modern music was fooled.

Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on June 26, 2018 at 8:51am

Here's one that was posted here yesterday:

Tiziano VianelloPermalink Reply by Tiziano Vianello on June 26, 2018 at 11:58am

Alive.... Help help...

Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on June 26, 2018 at 5:57pm

If you'd like, send me a friend request and I'll send you several examples of his forgeries.

Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on July 18, 2018 at 2:56pm

This one was just listed by eBay seller mediamarketingmgmt for $14.5 OBO. 

Movie premiere for HELP! guest card

I have owned this since 1989. Kept in same museum mount package.
Purchased from a highly regarded autograph house.
Have proof of purchase

https://www.ebay.com/itm/183330607065

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on July 18, 2018 at 5:17pm

The owner sent me the signed HELP! guest card a month ago asking what it's worth.

He's telling the truth: he bought it from a highly reputable West Coast auction house in 1989. But he forgot to add that I told him the set was signed by a prolific forger who had fooled just about everyone back then.

I told him that the auction house guaranteed it for life back then, and who to contact there and that he could tell him what I said if he wanted to. And that he could post it here for more opinions.

"Nice" guy.

Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on July 18, 2018 at 5:24pm

Thanks, Steve. I gave the same opinion when he posted it here. He obviously ignored both of us. "Nice" guy indeed.

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on July 19, 2018 at 2:34am

Thank you. This is is all very useful.

Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on July 25, 2018 at 12:15pm

The BIN price was reduced to $11.5K, and it just sold for a best offer price of $5K.

Permalink Reply by spaceman on July 18, 2018 at 4:35pm

Very scary!!!

Permalink Reply by Martin Peters on April 20, 2019 at 7:22pm

I bought a set of Long Beatles back in the early 2000's from Gary Zimet of "Moments in Time".  It was a set of four "bio" pages signed by the corresponding Beatle.  I will see if I can find the scans.  Fortunately I was able to get a refund for them after having R&R look them over.  

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