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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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on August 17, 2013 at 4:36pm

I rewrote Charles' title to better describe what the discussion is about...with his permission.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on August 17, 2013 at 5:26pm

Charles, what a great topic. Thanks for posting this discussion.

About six months after the thousands of Global authenticated fake Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio autographs started appearing on eBay,  I got a call from one of the top sports dealers in the U.S., making sure I was aware of them.

He told me the story:

His company was offered the deal, all or in part, and that it supposedly had been stored in a warehouse in Florida after private signings in the 80s or so. The dealer was dubious and showed them to PSA/DNA, who confirmed they were all forgeries. They've been produced for years by Tony Podsada, who owns companies like My Favorite Player. (Members of this site discovered that they're actually high-end inkjet photos signed by computer with Sharpies and pens. Color inkjet photos came out AFTER Mantle died in 1995.)

They were shopped around, then shown again to PSA/DNA and JSA, who both found them to be fake. Only Global would authenticate them--and they did, by the thousands. Because Global was (and sadly still is) not just allowed on eBay, but an approved authenticator, it was very hard to get them removed.

He said that thanks to the Global-certified forgeries sold on eBay and other sites, the prices of REAL Mantles, Williams and DiMaggios were plummeting. Today they're maybe a third what they were before the Global/Podsada forgeries came out.

So not only have buyers of these forgeries been defrauded by the sellers and knowing authenticators of these forgeries. Collectors and dealers that own genuine examples have been screwed even worse in many cases. Their autographs are worth only a fraction of what the should be.

Permalink Reply by Anthony Bautista on August 17, 2013 at 5:33pm

That right there I would have to agree with . DiMaggio , Williams , and Mantle . Do not sell for anything what they should . I don't collect baseball . But I am a red sox fan and have a ton of Ted Williams stuff all psa'd I picked up for around $100 a item , including baseballs, 16x20 and 20x30 . I got a 16x20  where he wrote Baseball the greatest game ever, Ted Williams . ALso a bat for $300 . The Mantles I own where gotten at a show when I was a kid for $20 a piece. All I have is a baseball and a 8x10 photo . DiMaggio I got a golf tournament in Palm Springs and I see he doesn't sell for being probably the best all around player in the game.

 

Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on August 18, 2013 at 3:58pm

The sad thing is how sites such as eBay and here in New Zealand TradeMe just let people list fake after fake. They profit from the insertion fee and when the item sells and rarely remove fakes unless it is blatant or they receive mass complaints.

Until these sites are held accountable for their actions and forced to stop allowing fakes to be listed then there is little hope for stopping fakes and forgers.

If you remove the main place to sell fakes then at least it might allow genuine ones to stand out and prices to go up

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