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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 23, 2011 at 10:25pm

Bryan Slaven's www.Autographcentral.net is one of the world's major suppliers and retailers of forgeries. Businesses we know bought from them include Rock Star Gallery (www.rockstargallery.net), where you can buy things like a huge frame containing every "band-signed" Led Zeppelin album, including John Bonham:

They were also a major supplier of Jerry Gladstone's American Royal Arts, which has been reborn as Pop Culture Vault (www.popculturevault.com). Among the things Gladstone one told me Slaven supposedly arranged was for Eric Clapton's secretary to get Clapton to sign and personalize memorabilia to ARA's customers...if you can believe that.

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Permalink Reply by 029r4yc06b4rr on December 24, 2011 at 1:23pm

I swear Gladstone is just a big puddle of pig lard.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 24, 2011 at 8:12am

That's the same Bryan Slaven who issued a huge refund to a Mr. Lovert Bassett who had purchased signed photos of Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, etc. from Slaven.  The signatures were "authenticated" by Christopher Morales and later deemed to be traced (forgeries) signatures.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 24, 2011 at 8:53am

And the same Bryan Slaven who was sued by Vince Pupillo for selling him about $20,000 in forged rock albums. Slaven tried to dodge service so hard, a judge in Illinois told the process server to nail the summons to his door!

Slaven never appeared and lost by default judgment, and Pupillo was awarded over $70,000 including punitive damages and legal fees. Punitive damages have to be proven, whether the defendant shows up or not, so that says a lot about Slaven and www.AutographCentral.net. Slaven moved to Hilton Head, SC, if you're looking for him.

This is the same Vince Pupillo who got a $20,000 VISA chargeback from Autographs America. We covered that in Autograph in early 2010.

Roger Epperson reviewed Pupillo's autographs for both cases, for a fee that really didn't cover his time. Epperson's REAL is one of the few authentication services with the guts to issue letters certifying that in his opinion, an autograph is a forgery, and specifically identifying the item rejected. It's one of the reasons the forgery industry is out to get him.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 24, 2011 at 9:13am

Scott bought a lot of forgeries from Autograph Central and Rock Star Gallery, who they supply. Go to his profile and follow his blog and discussion links on the left to read what he has to say:

http://live.autographmagazine.com/profile/scottperdue

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Permalink Reply by MeanMisterMustard on December 24, 2011 at 10:56am

I sure will. I've been collecting for a while now, but am just finding out about the depth of all the forgeries out there. It seems like a lot authenticators in the industry don't really get along with others. Also, what is the uacc? Is it a respected club? Seems to me like the uacc is a bunch of whiners.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 24, 2011 at 1:16pm

Mr. Mustard,

Nothing is easier to find in the autograph hobby than disinformation being spread by the forgery industry. After all, when you buy a forgery for $500 and sell it for $5,000, $10,000 or more, you've got a hugely profitable business to protect. But if you study the marketplace and do your homework, before long you'll figure out what's really going on.

When it comes to authentication companies, it's easy to tell which ones are to be trusted: the ones whose COAs make autographs easiest to sell for the most money overall. For instance, a PSA/DNA certified Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe signed baseball sold for $92,000 in 2006 at Heritage Auctions, and it's the only one known signed by just them.

Yet Coach's Corner sells about one a month certified by TTA, STAT or Christopher Morales for $500-$1,500. And Antiquities had one authenticated by Morales for $22,000. If you owned one and wanted to sell, would you leave $70,000 to $90,000 on the table if it was genuine?

Same things with rock. Supposedly band-signed Beatles albums are sold for $5,000-$25,000 certified by any number of supposedly independent "third-party authenticators" and forensic examiners that would bring up to $100,000 and more certified by Caiazzo, REAL, PSA or JSA. Why would the owner leave so much money on the table?

I could go on and on...but if you've read some of my articles and contributions here, you know where I'm coming from.

The UACC (Universal Autograph Collectors Club) is a highly reputable autograph collectors organization that I encourage every collector that cares about the hobby to join. The UACC could really use a jolt of younger blood to get their education initiatives moving. The average age of a member is probably mid-50s.

Don't consider supporting the UACC for what you can get from it today. Support it for the future of the autograph hobby.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 24, 2011 at 1:39pm

That said, PSA/DNA and JSA make mistakes, and sometimes whoppers, so it's always good to get the opinions of experienced people you trust, too.

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