The above images are just an example of the awful fakes people buy and then try to sell on. All of these are for sale here in New Zealand and all from Autograph Store.

I see the same crap in the stores in Las Vegas.

Bob -- that is a decent point. That store in the Forum Shops at Cesar's Palace I have been to a few times...and they have forged items. The difference is -- THEY ARE NO USING A CHARITY! When people buy from a charity, like the gentleman that bought those signed Presidents -- they weren't going to an auction expecting to even make a purchase. He saw an item like that, called a relative that frames documents and photos in the D.C. area. That person assured him an item like that would be highly valuable. So he dropped two thousand dollars on it. Lucky for him, a few days before I posted this thread, he was already searching and being cynical on his own. His fears proved to be true (and it's easy enough for him to just stop payment on his credit card).

I have been buying and selling autographs for over 20 years, I won't claim to be an expert, but I can spot a forgery a mile away, the same people who sale online also sell to the people who do the auctions and the stores in Vegas, I would say 10 to 12 people are responsible for 70 to 80 percent of the crap you see on the internet and at vacation spots around the world, wish the FBI had time to track these scum bags down. Anyone heard of a Tony Trimane, have heard a lot about this guy.

Don't worry, Bob. I will be getting the FBI involved, you can rest assured of that. I was just reading testimonial letters on their website, and something struck me as odd. One charity thanked them for the McCartney and Rolling Stones signed guitar. How is it this company has soooo many guitars signed by Eric Clapton (who doesn't sign guitars, and is often hard to get signing anything), and McCartney and Stones (also tough on guitars). I'm also wondering why....Anthony Nurse and his Charity Fundraising Packages haven't commented on this thread. Autograph Magazine is where EVERYBODY GOES to find out about autographs. And any company has tracking things that tells them when their business is mentioned in any kind of thread. Yet he's not logging on here to defend his company? To show the photos of his items? To tell us how he acquires these pieces? The silence or lack of response from him, tells us volumes.

Two things. First, regarding that autographed President picture -- the news just ran a story about 9 pictures signed by all the living Presidents (including Obama). These 9 photos sold for one million dollars! All for charity. Yet...this one we showed, with obvious forged signatured sold by Charity Fundraising Packages, sold for a mere $2,000 at a charity auction. Oh, and it was signed by vice presidents and first ladies, too. Hmmm....good deal (if it were real).  Also, I know for a fact that Anthony Nurse has been shown this thread, so...I'd love to hear from him on here about his items.

Hey Josh, I have been leary of this company for a long time. I bought one item from them and have been questioning them ever since. What do you think of this Adam Lambert?... Real or not real?

The slant, angle and pressure are all wrong compared to the in-person Lamberts we have obtained over the years. I hope that helps.

Hopefully someone else will chime in with their experiences with his signature.

The Adam Lambert is off compared to others I've seen

Well Janice, do I have some good news for you! I'm friends with Adam Lambert's dad Eber. We have been friends since before his son got famous. I was having Thanksgiving dinner at their house, when Adam was texting his dad to tell him about quitting the show Wicked in Los Angeles, to go on American Idol (his dad wasn't happy about that at the time, but very happy with final results, obviously). In fact, I wrote a story in Autograph Magazine (back when it was an actual magazine) interviewing Eber Lambert (Steve Cyrkin, anyway to post a link of that somewhere people can find?) So, I will forward this picture to Eber, and he'll go right to the source -- his son ADAM LAMBERT. And guess what? If it is deemed fake, we can try to get your money back, and use this -- along with all these other bogus things that have been sold by Anthony Nurse and his company, to try and get the authorities involved. I have to ask though...why have you had doubts about this company? Also, can you tell us the charity you bought it from?

Actually, I didn't directly buy it from a charity. It all started on facebook. I joined a autograph collecting club a few years back (don't even remember the club name). Anthony nurse also was a member of this club at the time. He would post on the site, about his Autograph Store. I clicked on the link and it took me right to his website. At the time, you could also bid on items not associated with a charity event. I don't know if you can still do that or not, because I have not looked at his site for awhile. I do still get emails from them saying they updated there catalog, but I don't even look at the site no more.

I bid on the Adam Lambert photo and won it. I don't even remember how much it went for, but I am thinking $100. It came with a nice COA.

I also follow them on Facebook and a few years back, they were raffling off a Autograph photo of Princess Diana. Right there a RED FLAG went off in my head. How could this be. The photo was beautiful with a beautiful signature. If that photo with that signature on it was real, it would go for thousands of dollars. So why would this company be giving this away? I questioned this on his FB page and he wrote back that is was 100% real. Right there I never trusted him again.

The final kicker was, he puts on his FB page photos of people working for him obtaining these autographs. Well, one of these photos was of a Facebook friend of mine that truly gets a lot of celebrity in-person autographs. I thought to myself, does she work for him???? I wrote to her on FB and asked how well she knew him. She replied, She don't. I then told her that they are using her photo, saying that she works for them. Now, I don't want to give her name, because maybe she doesn't want involved. That is up to her to contact you. But I am pretty sure, she did contact Steve at the time. I hope this helps.....To many innocent victims are falling for his crap

Thank you for that, Janice. I'll let you know what the Lambert's say -- and we'll see if he refunds your money.

Now, obviously Adam Lambert's dad isn't an authority on autographs, but here's what he said: Eber Lambert

(it should be noted, Eber has gotten lots of autographs for his co-workers and friends that have asked...so aside from a person normally knowing the signatures of their kids, he's probably seen that autograph more than most)

Thank you Josh for taking action on this matter. Keep us posted on any further development

Josh or anyone....do you have a authentic Lambert you could post on her for comparison?

Here's the latest. I got a letter from the MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION, where I had been a volunteer for about 15 years. They say because of this, "my services as a volunteer are no longer wanted." So...you try to expose a guy for selling forged junk at charity events, and this is what happens. I wasn't going to mention the Make-a-Wish Foundation in this thread, but...just so everybody knows -- get the word out. If ANYBODY bought ANY autographed item from make-a-wish (specifically in the last three years), get it authenticated. Take photos for us, when we pursue this with the authorities -- and we'll tell you if it's authentic or not. And then you can go about getting your money back. According to the people at Make a Wish, they have a contract with this guy who sells known forgeries, so...don't accept not getting your money back. Doesn't matter if it was years ago, or within their 30 day period. The company should reimburse you. Who cares if it costs the charity -- they CONTINUE to do known business with a guy selling forgeries -- and they still have a testimonial letter on this losers website. As do the other charities that have been contacted.

That is disgusting Josh. 15 years of giving your time and effort and then trying to help and Make a Wish choose to keep in bed with a known forger rather than helping expose his dodgy dealings. Hope you can find another place who will be happy for your help.

As for Make a Wish, I wonder how many they have sold and how much they will have to pay back if it all comes out and people request refunds.

I don't even completely blame Make a Wish for all this. Their logic is -- we've had 3 years of stuff from Anthony Nurse, and not one complaint. Yeah, well...most people buying items don't think to check authenticity. They see the CoA that comes with it, and think that's golden. Oh well. I did hear from one charity that seems to be on the ball with this all, so...we'll see what happens.

Josh...you're fighting an uphill battle.

The business model for a company that may be providing bogus sigs to charity is diabolically simple and brilliant.  Generally, NO ONE is in any position to complain.  

The charity is happy because it's made money with little or no overhead attached.  The buyer is happy because he has a nice piece and feels like he's done a good deed giving to charity. And, as you point out, there is no inkling that an item is fake...until perhaps the purchaser tries to sell it. If someone raises the issue, as you did, the charity doesn't want to hear it.  And law enforcement is unlikely to take any interest unless and until strong evidence of forgery is dropped in its lap.  These guys are not experts, proving forgery is time consuming and they don't want to get involved in wha they may consider a "civil matter."

The key point is provenance.  Where did the item come from and when was it obtained.  The supplier should have a record.  And a charity should ask for it.  It may also be useful to examine any photos provided as "proof" of authenticity.  If an item is fake, the photos had to come from somewhere and they may be elsewhere online.

I agree with all of the above, aside from one thing. Wouldn't the authenticity be rather easy to prove? For example, we have an expert look at various items they sold at a charity auction. That expert, and another expert, deem them to be bogus. Then...the FBI or whatever authorities get involved, ask for proof these celebrities signed the items. When they don't have it (no photos of the bands signing the records, just a few generic pictures of said celebrity signing an autograph for a crowd of 50)...that should be enough for the FBI to say "You havent proven anything, and you are knowingly distributing these pieces to charities." For example, if it were merely one item -- no case. Once you get multiple items, and with multiple charities involved, I have to think the authorities will think this is nasty business on a number of levels. 

Here's the latest -- another charity contacted me. They had a Rolling Stones guitar that has fake signatures on it (I'm hoping to have Mr. Epperson take a look at it soon). So, at least we're getting the word out with some of these charities, and it won't be long until we get authorities involved. Sorry, Mr. Nurse. Your reign of forgeries is coming to an end.

Thank you for keeping us updated

Well it's good you have others on alert. If it is fake, which you would expect then hopefully the charity will alert others and take these guys down

Just noticed two items donated from this guy on CharityBuzz.com, a U2 signed guitar and a Michael Jackson LP. That website auctions meet-and-greets with McCartney and the Eagles etc., so they're usually legit. One of you autograph experts maybe want to contact them?

Ira -- No, that doesn't matter. Here's why. Anthony Nurse was given the opportunity to tell me HOW his pieces were acquired, when I first inquired. He didn't. He provided no pictures and no dates on when these artists signed. He merely gave me a huge long explanation on how Eric Clapton's signature has changed over the years. When I politely inquired on some other details, he got nasty. A charity that does real signings (like the Grammy Foundation), provide photos of the artist signing SPECIFIC items (not just generic pictures of the artist signing for a crowd, the way Anthony Nurse and Charity Auction Packages has)...and still, that being said -- let's just say that this company does an occasional meet-and-greet. That, too...means very little. Perhaps one or two of their autographs over the years have been real, or they do an occasional meet-and-greet. That doesn't take away from the fact that a large portion of what they distribute are forgeries and that they know and create these forgeries.

"That doesn't take away from the fact that a large portion of what they distribute are forgeries and that they know and create these forgeries."

Are you referring to Charity Auction Packages or Charity Buzz? I've never won any Charity Buzz auctions - way too pricey for me - but I've looked at dozens of items they've auctioned the past year or so. Almost all of them were donated by the artists or their management. Like several signed Eagles guitars donated by Irving Azoff or band members. The two pieces I mentioned above stuck out as not looking right, and I when I saw who donated them I remembered this thread. Curious if you and others have a look @ charitybuzz.com and post your opinions. Thanks.

Here's a winner from Anthony Nurse:

Here is what I believe to be a fake George Harrison autograph that just appeared on eBay with an Autograph Store COA. The BIN price is only $275, which would be quite a bargain for an authentic George signed photo.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111176008784

That Harrison is horrible, not even a decent try !

brutal

I love the phrasing here: "This item was signed in person by the aforementioned celebrity..."

Uhh...isn't every autograph signed by the celebrity?

"...and obtained exclusively through Autograph Store."

So there's no statement that the item was signed IN THE PRESENCE of anyone affiliated with the business.

Does anyone know what happens if you come back to the business challenging the legitimacy of the item?  What support is required?

The George "signed" photo was removed by eBay and the seller subsequently re-listed it as a one day auction.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111176280065

Another disaster from Charity Fundraising Packages. The seller states that he is attempting to recoup the original cost, and the BIN price is $4K.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321225532427

I just wanted to thank you all for saving my reputation.  I was on the phone with Anthony today - going through the list of items I wanted for my school's auction.  We got to the The Thriller album signed by Michael Jackson; it was listed for only $550.  Bells started going off in my head but I continued my call with him.  I checked the BBB and found no complaints.  It did a generic search for his charityfundraisingpackages.com site and didn't see any complaints.  Then I did a more pointed query, "authentication issues charity fundraising packages" and bingo!

I e-mailed Anthony that his prices seemed too good to be true - that they didn't jive with the marketplace -  and I would not be using his service.  His reply:

Smart move. These crooks have been using charities to peddle forgeries for along time. Many that attend actually believe the items were donated by the celebrities rather than a junk peddler hiding behind the scenes.

Just read this blog. I am sick to my stomach. It is unreal what these forgers will do. Reminds me of "The Auto Scouts" who forge BIBLE INSCRIPTIONS on balls. There is a special place in hell for these people. 

Thank you so much for posting your story here, Lori. If you read my original post about this...I lost my VOLUNTEER job of 15 years with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, simply for telling my boss to stop using these forgeries. They were obvious to me they were forgeries (the autographs I'm familiar with...like the Paul/Ringo and Eagles albums, and Clapton guitar). What I love is that his defense is those testimonial letters. IF, and this is a big IF...the bands actually did provide these, he'd have photos of the bands signing them, dates they were signed, and the actual item in the photo being held by the stars. That's how the Grammy Auction does it, and they're legit. The stars are signing for charity, they understand that photos of them signing each specific item is imperative. Oh well. I contacted the FBI, they are looking into it...and the stories keep coming in. I'll do a much bigger story in the future.

Very smart, Lori.   Few people would have the instincts and sense (and maybe the desire) to do the search.

The Hackensack address may be an older one.

I think a more interesting question is (and those who have posted, please respond), did the victims contact the charity; and, after being notified, did the charity continue to use the same company?

Josh, the testimonial letters are probably forgeries, too!

Good one, Lori.

Unfortunately, they're probably all too real.  As I posted previously in this thread, this is a diabolical business model:

Generally, NO ONE is going to complain. 

The charity is happy because it's made money with little or no overhead attached.  It also may be ignorant of any fraud. As with most purchasers, what does the charity know about authenticity? The buyer is happy because he has a nice piece and feels like he's done a good deed giving to charity. And there is no inkling that an item is fake...until perhaps the purchaser tries to sell it. 

If someone like Josh raises the issue with a charity, you see what happens. He gets the boot. The charity doesn't want to lose its little gravy train. It becomes a matter of "don't ask, don't tell and if you do tell I'll pretend I didn't hear."

Frankly, I'm amazed that the feds are giving Josh's complaint serious consideration.

Lori -- the charity testimonial letters are real. Otherwise, they'd have lawyers in there demanded he take them down. I will tell you this...the forgers HAVE BEEN UNCOVERED. There names: Anthony Nurse has a real name. It is ANTHONY BARONE. His partner in crime: [Name removed unless confirmed].

So, remember these names: Anthony Nurse IS Anthony Barone. Forger is: [Name removed unless confirmed]. Here's an email I got that also mentioned this (he/she wanted to remain anonymous):

Josh,

I was browsing through some of the autograph boards the other day and I saw a post of yours from a few months ago about Anthony Nurse aka Anthony Barrone. A little about Nurse...Anthony Nurse has been selling forgeries for years through charity events and countless ebay sites. He has many charity websites as you know. He and many other dealers like the charity circuit because people are more willing to pay extra for something they believe is for a good cause. They are also less likely to question its authenticity. Typically what happens is a charity will call a company like Nurse's for items to auction. The highly inflated minimum bid goes to Nurse. Anything over goes to the house for the charity. There may be other deals in place but that's usually what happens. I'm sure you probably know how all of that works but you may not know that a major part of Nurse's success is his silent partner [Name removed unless confirmed] in South Carolina. They have been working together for about 15 years. Auction houses, authenticators, dealers etc...will tell you they wouldn't touch anything from Nurse and they are probably telling the truth. However, they deal with [Name removed unless confirmed] all the time. PSA and JSA have authenticated thousands of pieces of memorabilia that belonged to Nurse through [Name removed unless confirmed].  Large memorabilia companies don't like Nurse either but they have been buying his garbage unknowingly for years through [Name removed unless confirmed]. [Name removed unless confirmed] submits so much stuff to authenticators like PSA and JSA that the authenticators come to him. The same is true for auction houses and ebay. These two don't stop at autographs. You will also find "designer" apparel at their charity events. You guessed it; that is all fake too.
 
Who am I? Well, I wish to remain anonymous at this point. I'm just a guy in the business trying to make an honest living and tired of criminals like Nurse and [Name removed unless confirmed] that are making truckloads of cash and getting away with it. The sad part is, these guys are far from the only crooks in the biz. The con artists/forgers far out-number the good guys. So be careful who you deal with in the memorabilia business. Most of these guys are intertwined in one way or another.

A different email from somebody else said the following:

Here is the Bond poster....

He sold (3) Stones guitars our cost was $1,200.00 each. Unbelievable..they all turned out to be fakes.

One charity told me this, in regards to a recent Stones guitar Anthony Nurse and his company provided:

Just an FYI I got the Stones guitar back from PSA. They didn't have 2-3 bullet points of why in their opinion they think it is a forgery they had 11!!!!

Excessive pen pressure
Drawn slowly
Irregular overlapping of strokes
Pen lifts
Heisitation, tremors, etc

The emails keep coming in! Somebody else gave me another name of a forger:

CHAD REED.

Here's what it said: 

Good luck!

This was the follow up email this other person sent me (and asked to stay anonymous on this site):

I hope you have success but know that Chris Reed is a very smart character and covers his rear. You will have to work hard to catch him. I suspect that Anthony might be the weaker link.

Of course I can't prove any of this but as I stated before people who have been collecting long enough know all about Chis Reed.

I suspect you have only touched the old 'tip of the iceberg' with this forgery ring.