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What is the "real deal" with autographsamerica.com??

I have been doing some extensive online reading tonight regarding this company. To put it frankly: I feel ill. Over the past couple years i have purchase about 10 autographed record albums (total dollar value - $450 - $500) from them without ever contemplating the possibility of a fake (my fault completely!!). Some of them I still figure to be real because of the overall insignificance of the artists and the low dollar value.
However, I purchased an autographed album of Stevie Ray Vaughan for roughly $100 on a 75% off sale (again I feel like an imbecile!). I know that is quite inexpensive (and naive on my part) but I felt I was buying the real deal.
Just tonight I came across a pile of damning accusations toward these guys (autographsamerica.com) and, like I said, now I feel that at least half of the purchases I have made may be fake. For the money value I may as well chalk it up as a life lesson but what can I do to ensure what I do have is authentic without it costing me an arm and a leg? I am just a music fan who wants a few nice pieces of memorabilia for my listening room...now I feel like a dupe.

The artists autographs that are in question are as follows:

Stevie Ray Vaughan
ZZ Top
Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin)
Judas Priest
Def Leppard
Rory Gallagher
Journey

Any information or advice would definitely be well received and greatly welcomed...thanks in advance!

I can post photos of the aforementioned records if that may help with the situation.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 29, 2010 at 4:34pm

I'd have to agree with you on all counts.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Miller on March 29, 2010 at 4:25pm

WHY WHY is this crook NOT in Jail???

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 29, 2010 at 4:36pm

Because the Washington state government here just doesn't seem to care. From what I've been told, they call it a consumer issue: buyer beware

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Permalink Reply by Shane Warren on March 29, 2010 at 4:53pm

You have fakes. No doubt in my mind. My name is Shane and I am the bloke from Australia who bought the Van Halen signed guitar you see plastered all over the net on various sites. Steve is right in saying Washington State government officials do nothing. I have been in contact with every single person I can think of (and others can think of) with regards to Autographs America and I have hit a brick wall every time. I even contacted the manager of the public notary program because I got a sworn promissory note from Brian Burkel that was witnessed by his partner in crime Sky Benson who was a public notary at the time. The promissory note ended being fake as he said his name was Brian Burns (and there is no Brian Burns) on the note. At least with the help of many people we can make people aware of Autographs America and their scam.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Panagopulos on April 4, 2010 at 8:44pm

Twenty-two signed Beatles albums! Six signed Hendrix albums! Elvis! Dylan! The Doors! Coltrane! And available on pristine drum heads, too! Never seen anything like it. These people must have cleaned out every record store on the West Coast. Imagine: their (really ugly) website boasts 194 pages of albums with 26 albums per page = 5,044 albums, of which I didn't find one I'd ever offer for sale. And that's not counting the 190 posters, 884 drum heads, 230 pick guards, 594 guitars and 980 signed movie soundtracks.No wonder the guy has such a big house - where else could you keep all that sh_t?!?

How to stop him? Seems he's using a lot of copyrighted images, isn't he? Bet a lot of photographers wouldn't be too happy with that.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on April 4, 2010 at 8:57pm

Someone better warn The Art of Music and Antiquities because they buy from them.

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Permalink Reply by John Blake on April 5, 2010 at 10:08am

Hi Everyone, I'm new to this website, and farily new to the autograph collector world.

Autographs America has ripped me off as well. I found the Autographs America website while searching for autographed items on Google. I proceeeded to purchase a bunch of autographs from my favourite bands from their website.

It was only later when I started to do some research on the web (I know should have done this first, lesson learned!), that I found some articles questioning the authenticity of the autographs offered by Autographs America. I was lucky that my financial institution backed me up when I went to return the items.

I like others, wonder why this guy is allowed to sell fake items publicly without recourse. Is there no way to make this guy pay for ripping off people?

Thanks for this website, and the good people in this industry for helping me out. A special thanks to Steve Cyrkin for listening to me and offering his advise!

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Permalink Reply by Duane Wells on May 6, 2010 at 8:25am

I too have purchase many items from Autographs America and have been able to get SOME of my money back from the credit card companies. Unfortunately, each purchase was reviewed by a different credit card rep, and so only a few were approved. The others were denied, but I am wondering if anyone knows of anything else I can do? Can they be appealed? I have detailed information on my purchases, as well as documentation that 2 or 3 of the items failed authentication.

Any help would be appreciated, as we are talking a LOT of money (more than my pride allows me to post here).

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on May 6, 2010 at 8:40am

I'll help best I can. How recent were they? Email me with details.

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Permalink Reply by george lerner on May 31, 2010 at 9:40am

What you should try and which may be the only way of getting any satisfaction and possibly your money is contacting the U.S.Postal Inspection Service , because once they send the product through the mail it becomes "mail fraud" and they do have the power to pursue these individuals and take them to court and imprison them if the crime is serious enough and warrants it.

And with assistance of others on this page to back up your claim and also file charges/claims against this company it will make the Postal Inspectors job that much easier !