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Forgers and Sellers and Authenticators of Forgeries are Destroying the Value of Genuine Autographs--We Should be Furious!

I know there are many here who truly enjoy the hobby and love collecting but the best hobbies are ones that are also a liquid asset.  

For instance, if someone collects shot glasses ( They may have a good time doing it, but the fact is....rarely will a collection ever have a substantial value )

There are people who collect a variety of things and while i agree that firstly, one should have a hobby for the pure enjoyment.  They should also collect something that has an actual value to many people so in the event of a real emergency they could sell easily for a quick financial windfall.  

Some examples of smart collecting would be, vintage toys, comic books, sports cards, coins, old paper currency, and of course......AUTOGRAPHS.   The collecting of autographs has been around for a long time.  As we admire people, we look for something.....ANYTHING......to feel like we have a piece of that person.  Even as you read the Bible, you will see that people followed after Jesus in an effort to touch his robes.  Being able to have a piece of someone or feeling that you had an encounter with someone is nothing new.  It has been going on for as long as there have been people.  

The problem in the hobby that we have chosen is that people are pumping fake autographs in to it every second of every day.  As you read this post, there is some out of work bum sitting at his kitchen table with a composite football in hand, writing the name of Aaron Rodgers.   Some people don't see the problem with forgeries because in their mind they say ' Well, who cares if idiots are buying forgeries, all of my collection is real and that is all i care about."

Here is the problem with forgeries.  I will explain this the best way I know how.   Lets pretend for a minute that I am famous.  I am a new baseball star and people think i'm the greatest.  There is a great demand for my autograph.  Okay, now lets say I don't like signing autographs at all.  One day i'm leaving the stadium and I decide to sign 1 autograph for a fan.  He has the only autograph i've ever signed.  He list it on ebay and it sells for 2000 dollars.   

NOW HERE IS WHERE THE FORGERS COME IN.  THEY GO TO WAL-MART AND BUY TONS AND TONS OF OFFICIAL LEAGUE BASEBALLS AND FORGE MY NAME TO THEM AND LIST THEM ON EBAY.  Now the supply isn't short at all.  Even though I have truly only signed one autograph, there are 5000 of my autographs listed on ebay.......granted 4,999 of them are actually forgeries.  So now that authentic autograph I signed is worth 200 dollars instead of 2,000 because It has to be priced low enough to compete against all the forgeries.  

These forgers work off of human nature and they know that people will always resort to looking for the lowest priced item.  I guess my point is that forgeries seriously devalue your authentic collection.  That is why you should care about putting a stop to them.   I hope my analogy was easy to understand.  

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Charles O'Brailey on August 17, 2013 at 10:35am

This devalued someones authentic Michael Jordan signed basketball.  Look at this horrible M.J. / Lebron dual signed forgery.  Good Lord, this is one ugly forgery.

Permalink Reply by Charles O'Brailey on August 17, 2013 at 10:39am

Someone just had their authentic Babe Ruth autograph devalued by this box of crap.  Keep in mind, people are forging Babe Ruth autographs EVERY SINGLE DAY!  

Permalink Reply by Charles O'Brailey on August 17, 2013 at 10:41am

Perhaps nobody devalues authentic collections more than Coaches Corner.  Look at this crap.  This light grey-colored cut of card stock measures approximately 5.25x7.5", and comes autographed in black fountain pen ink by 22 members of the '34 Bronx Bombers. There are EIGHT Hall Of Fame players present here, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Red Ruffing, Joe Sewell, Tony Lazzeri, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez and Herb Pennock, and the piece comes with a full photo LOA from forensic science examiner Chris Morales for authenticity purposes. Valued well, well into the thousands!

Permalink Reply by Rich on August 17, 2013 at 11:06am

Ooh, nice and white.  You'd almost think it was signed yesterday.

Permalink Reply by Mike Shepherd on August 17, 2013 at 1:06pm

This is a joke and would make me laugh out loud if it were not so sad.

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on August 17, 2013 at 11:13am

You are dead-on, Charles.

I have stated many times here and elsewhere, even if you are the most careful collector in the world and have 100% good material, fakes are diluting the value of your collection.

Look at the sheer quantity of Mickey Mantle fakes. I seriously think there may be as many or more Mantle fakes than real. Imagine if you could wave a magic wand and make every fake disappear... and then all the people who bought fakes would only be able to buy from the limited supply of real examples. Prices would probably double.

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on August 17, 2013 at 11:37am

The problem, of course, is that only a handful want to get involved and stick their necks out.

Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on August 17, 2013 at 11:54am

the people selling this crap have to be held accountable. until that happens nothing will change.

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on August 17, 2013 at 11:43am

Just think of the thousands of Derek Jeter forgeries with a Global Authentics COA that have not only infected the hobby, but have devalued authentic Derek Jeter autographs owned by collectors.  Those Jeter forgeries with GA (Global Authentics) COAs were penned on baseballs, bats, photos, magazine covers and more.   And in my opinion, the majority of them were sold by Ebay sellers Dirty_Water_Ink and Graphn4fun.

Permalink Reply by Mike Shepherd on August 17, 2013 at 1:12pm

Even though a Derek Jeter autograph from Steiner is much more expensive than others available on the autograph market I would have no problem spending the extra money for one.  Not only will I know that it is truly authentic but I will not have to worry about having difficulty reselling it at a later date.  Charles has a great point.  Even companies like Steiner would charge less if the autograph market was not flooded with forgeries.

Permalink Reply by Rich on September 2, 2013 at 8:54pm

Just spotted four fairly obvious Packers forgeries (Rodgers, Woodson, Matthews, Starr) from Graphn4fun.  That seller probably needs their own thread, given that their feedback is nearing 4000 and they seem to be bonafide criminals.  

Once again, anything that looks sorts, kinda like the right idea gets a pass from GA.  I used to think that company didn't know what it was doing.  The more I see of situations like this though (obvious forger getting all their stuff passed), the more I start to figure they know EXACTLY what they're doing.

Permalink Reply by Steve Viola on August 17, 2013 at 12:32pm

But why is your collection becoming worthless?  Did you not get any autographs in person ?

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