Josh:

Impressive effort. 

One line from the company is especially interesting: "Charity Fundraising Packages takes great pride in the authenticity of it’s auction items, which is why we employ such a vigorous authentication process and stand behind each and every one of our items 100%, guaranteeing them for life."

The bottom line always seems to be the same:  people who sell fakes cannot demonstrate the provenance of their items. 
There's always some story or some vague (or even doctored) photo.  But never any concrete proof.  And if your business is selling autographs, shouldn't you have concrete proof?  So, just for example, couldn't you have two person teams, one to get the item signed and the other to roll a little phone video?

And Steve's points, as usual, are important.  One little tweak. Something is "defamatory" if it is a negative comment.  So something can be true, and still be defamatory.  I can say, " Jose Canseco's homerun totals are tainted by his steroid use."  That statement is both defamatory and true.

A statement does need to be defamatory in order to be libelous.  But being defamatory in and of itself means nothing.  The statement also needs to be false and cause harm.  And it's the plaintiff's burden to demonstrate all that.

That said, there's nothing in our alleged "justice system" to prevent a schnook from suing even if he's a fraud or even if some statement about him is 100% true.  Some characters may do it to try to silence critics with exhorbitant legal expenses.

Here's a link to a discussion about Autograph Store forgeries posted in 2011. Not sure if it was posted before:

http://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/autograph-store

Here's a 2010 blog about Autograph Store from 2010:

http://live.autographmagazine.com/profiles/blogs/autograph-store-and

Josh,

A reliable source that read your blog told me that you're on target about Barone but not about Keltner. They said he hasn't dealt with Barone since about 2005 and he's not a forger. Unless you have solid proof he is, I think he should be deleted from this blog. I think you can edit it out as the author of this blog, but if not, I'd like to.

If your confidential source wants to talk with me and make his case, them it can be posted again if it adds up.

Please LMK your thoughts.

Thanks

I'm not sure who Keltner is, I am just going by what somebody told me, and I think my post says as much. If this Keltner wants to chime in, let him. He can explain WHAT he did with Anthony Nurse (anthony barone), and how he's no longer working with him or for him, and it'll all be settled. Just as Anthony Nurse (anthony barone) can chime in on anything he disagrees with. And, I'd welcome hearing from any of the charities that have used these forgers in the past, stating that they won't in the future. Until that time, I say we don't support ANY of the charities that have testimonial letters on his website.

Josh,

On Sunday you posted a comment that included this:

"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"

That's the standard PSA/DNA rejection letter and it means the autograph shows one or more of the signs of forgery mentioned in the letter. Their rejection letters don't list the specific reason why they think an autograph is fake. You may want to tell the charity this.

Josh,

Anthony Barone (AKA Anthony Nurse) of www.AutographStore.com and www.ASCharityFundraising.com, which is now www.CharityGrow.com, is a well-known seller of forgeries through charities and in the regular market.

Chris Reed and Chad Reed are the same person. Chris Reed is the owner of www.AutographCzar.com, which may have never offered a genuine autograph for sale. Chris is a very well-known source of forgeries.

The person who told you Keltner was involved said that he was sending tons of Anthony Nurse/Barone's forgeries to PSA/DNA and JSA. But we've all seen how bad those forgeries are, so does that sound believable to you?

You're a journalist, so you know how unfairly damaging something published can be if it isn't true. And it is even if the person written about comes online to defend himself.

I feel it's only right that I delete his name from the comments at this time. When you have proof that he is forging or fencing forgeries, or if those making such claims will step out from the shadows and be identified, then I think it's fair to publish those accusations. But until then, I have to take them down.

Sounds good, Steve. I did just receive this email: 

My logic is always this…if somebody doesn’t like a claim a person makes, they can come on here and explain themselves. We don’t need goofy lawsuit threats. If you run an honest business, you’ll have no problem coming on here and explaining it all.

I’ve basically come to the conclusion that, if you wanted to make money selling autographs, basically, at some point, these various companies will deal with forgeries. Otherwise, they won’t make money. You can’t pay a person to stand outside Letterman’s theatre, or a restaurant or airport, with a bunch of 8 x 10s, and think Slash is going to sign them all. He’ll sign a few and bounce, and the forgers will sign the rest. They’ll possibly take a few photos of him signing, as “proof” that the others are real.

Now, I just received the following email (I changed the wording a bit, as I don’t want to reveal their identity). They said:

“Keltner is very good covering his tracks unlike Nurse, who sells under his own name. Keltner has lawyers that also sue at a moments notice. It’ll be difficult to get anyone to speak against him if they are one of the many in the business benefiting financially. I myself can’t afford the lawsuit, but the truth will come out. You aren’t the only one investigating. Be careful what you share on the website. They are all intertwined. Don’t be fooled thinking that third party authenticators are the hobby’s police. They can be the worst offenders. Who pays the bills – people like Nurse and Keltner submitting 1000s of items at a time, or an average Joe getting his card graded.”

That, was a very good point this person made.

Josh,

No lawyer representing Keltner has threatened us with a lawsuit. I haven't heard from Kelter or anyone representing him. Your secret source has presented no evidence that Keltner is forging or submitting forgeries to JSA or PSA/DNA and they're accepting them.

And again...how many forgeries have you seen like the ones Nurse sells certified by PSA/DNA or JSA? According to your source they're submitting thousands at a time. Where are they? Why isn't Nurse offering any of them on his websites?

Get evidence and preferably witnesses who will come forward. Otherwise it's not right to drag this guy through the mud.

Wow. Talk about putting a new light on Make A wish, absolutely absurd ! I'm sorry that happened Josh. I must tell you how jealous I am that you know the Lamberts. Lol  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Adam and was livid when he didn't win Idol. Very happy for him and his success.

We reached out to CFP several times last year since the below email we sent went unanswered - when we finally did get Anthony on the phone to discuss, we were told CFP does not sell to people like us and PSA is not the real deal and hung up. When we called back, CFP hung up again after identfying ourselves. We are not advocating or diminishing PSA here - not the intent -just wanted to share our experience with CFP so others could see. And we still see many charities / benefits using this company.

Dan,

Thank you for taking the time to post that. Yes, that's been their problem all along. They simply can't answer normal questions that a business of this nature would be able to. When I talked to the Make-a-Wish people about this, and he sent back these goofy answers to my questions (none of which answered the questions about authenticity), Make-a-Wish had the logic that....they answered them good enough to their satisfaction. People bought the items, they both made money, and nobody complained. Their logic was...why do I even care? 

Rhonda -- I don't know Adam Lambert. I only know his dad, Eber. When I met him years and years ago, Adam was living with his ex-wife, so I never knew him. Yet I did have the fun of enjoying Thanksgiving dinner there while Adam was texting his dad about how he quit the show Wicked in Los Angeles to go try his hand at American Idol (his dad thought it was the wrong decision....hahahahah).

Lastly, I've received a few more emails from people that have purchased fakes from Anthony and Charity Fundraising Packages. It's more stuff we can provide to the FBI, and to get the word out on this disgusting company.

Let me also state, for the record -- I LOVE the Make-a-Wish Foundation and what they do for kids fighting terminal illness. If you have donated money to them in the past, please...continue to do so. I just don't like how the local chapter in San Diego handled a company dealing in forged autographs, once they were alerted to it. I also don't like that the main offices haven't contacted Charity Fundraising Packages, and DEMANDED that their testimonial letter on the CFP website be taken down immediately.

Hi everyone, this is an INCREDIBLY SAD situation. In response to Steve's point "I don't know what else can be done" ... we had a similar situation here in NZ approx 2 years ago when a charity fund-raiser sold a "signed", framed piece from Tiger Woods with a "PSA" sticker on the back. Not only was the autograph and absolute shocker but the PSA sticker bore little resemblance to the real thing!!

When I was shown the piece (by the then proud buyer) it took about two seconds (generous) to realise that this was a shocker.

What I advised the buyer to do was to inform the fund-raising organisation of his suspicions and to let them know that he was going to contact two independent TPAs for their opinions and he did just that. No surprises that both PSA and JSA came back and said "not authentic".

Armed with those two professional opinions the buyer took the item back to the fund-raiser and pleasantly but firmly demanded his money back.

The charity concerned did not want this matter to go public for fear that it would have repercussions for their future fund-raising and so returned his money in full.

At the time we were advised that, here in NZ, the sale of fraudulent memorabilia (albeit "in good faith") is an offense under "The Trades Description Act" and failure to adequately check the item and provide "an accurate" description is no defense.

My point is ... I feel that until sufficient people research the items they have bought at these charity fund-raisers and, if rejected by more than one, reputable and proven TPA, complain to the charity and demand their money back ... this horrid situation isn't going to stop.

In turn, the charities will need to go back to the source of the items and - in their turn - complain and stop dealing with these <*******> (insert your own choice of word) !!

Only when enough duped supporters do this can we hope to see this situation improve ... but I'm not holding my breath while I wait for sufficient numbers of those wonderful charity supporters act :(

For what it is worth, those are my thoughts :)

Happy and safe collecting to everyone, best wishes

David

One way to get their attention is to contact U.S. Postal inspector if they are sending items through USPS, also you can contact FBI fraud division. Anyone remember operation Bullpen?

Just came across this ebay store all items come with a coa from Anthony Nurse.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Keith-Richards-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-8x1...

For the record if the Keltner that is mentioned happens to be B. Keltner from South Carolina (and has an office in NYC) it is highly unlikely that he is forging anything. I've known him for many years now and he is mainly a buyer. Do I think he may have bought items that weren't authentic and submitted them to JSA and/or PSA/DNA? absolutely. Do I think he knows or knew they were forgeries? absolutely not. He may of had a feeling that they could possibly have been forgeries and that is why he submitted them but I highly doubt that it was a part of any forgery ring. I've known Keltner for many years and have never heard a bad thing about him or him dealing with forgeries knowingly. I think we've all bought forgeries at some point in our life as I'm sure he has but I don't think he resells forgeries knowingly.

That's just my personal opinion on Keltner.

rule of thumb most charity auctions the autographs are fake if u want to donate fine give them the money and take the chance but if u think its legit it is not 

Hi there. I bought  a couple of bits. One was a Johnny Depp stating it was signed at an art gallery. Ok fair enough they could of caught him leaving a gallery.  But then there were more and more Depps all signed at the gallery on the same day.  Which was suspicious.  Another was a Bowie where the date given did not match the year signed on the front (As you know Bowie always gives a year).  They used to display the date and place with the auction details but they now keep that private. I assume because it was becoming too obvious.  I've stayed away since. Regards. Darren Coldwell.

This reminds me of Charlton Heston Secretary autographed everything for him.

The BB and the Eric are really bad

Josh,

I was at a charity event in Pittsburgh over the weekend and they had some signed posters and pictures listed up for auction.  One that caught my attention was the Walking Dead picture since my wife and I are huge fans.  I did a quick eBay look to see what autographs go for, and decided that the price was okay, so I would bid.  I mean, what could go wrong?  It's authentic right?

When I got home, I decided to do some research on CFP authentications and could find zilch on the name.  When I did a phone lookup on the address for CFP Authentications, it gave me a list of individual's names and apartment numbers.  I called the place that hosted the event and they gave me the name of Charity Fundraising Packages, which eventually brought me here. 

Most of the signatures look authentic, but I am now worried that they are not.

I am attaching a picture for your review and opinion.

Stephen we will probably need close up pictures of the autographs in order to analyze them, but from what I can see the Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus do not look authentic AT ALL! 

the picture seems a bit fishy to me also where is the Fake  auto graph dealer is he from the New england Area?

Darryl P,

Please upload larger photos of your item and COA. Most are too small to give opinions on. The Pacino is, though, and that doesn't look genuine to me. I'm quite sure it isn't.

Stephen,

Please upload larger, clearer images. Thanks

There are 11 "autographs" in all, so let me start with the first two that I found suspicious.

Strangely enough the first two that got me to questioning the authenticity were the signatures of Madison Lintz and Chandler Riggs.

Madison Lintz:

Chandler Riggs:

I have also gone online and cut examples of their official autographs and have three types of each, and from what I can see, they don't look right.  They both look too...neat.

By the way, sorry for the glare.  The glass on the frame makes it hard to capture.  I have pictures of the other signatures as well, but figured I would start with (in my opinion) the two most obvious.

That Chandler Riggs looks nothing like any signature of his I have seen. FAR too neat, don't even have to look past the first "C". He signs like a shaky kid... 

These look like same hand sigs IMO.

Apparently the people employed there to acquire autographs may be in the back room signing stuff themselves!

Hey guys. Just got tuned into this thread because of the Anthony Nurse authenticated autograph I saw on Ebay that went for $265. I thought it was a fake and decided to do some research and found this thread. 

Regarding my autographed "The Godfather" poster from my Feb 27th comment, here are four close ups (Pacino, Coppola, Shire, and Caan) of the six total autographs.  Real or Fake?  I think I already know the answer...

Thanks, Darryl. The Pacino is definitely not genuine in my opinion. I'll leave the others for members more knowledgeable than me to opinine on. LMK if you don't get responses by tomorrow.

Hi Darryl, very sorry but those signatures from Ms Shire and Mr Caan are, in my humble opinion, not genuine :( Letter structure and formation in both those is, I'll be polite, very atypical. Cheers, David.

I picked this up last week at Phil Wiess auctions... any thoughts? Thanks, Rob

http://http://weissauctions.auctionflex.com/showlot.ap?co=6845&...

Here's another link:

http://weissauctions.auctionflex.com/showlot.ap?co=6845&weid=0&...

This Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band guitar is not genuine. No doubt about that. Try to return it as soon as possible and get a refund.

I agree with Bjarne...I don't think the guitar is genuine. Philip Weiss is a respectable auction house and tries to only offer legitimate and properly represented material. But while they auction autographs, they're not a specialty. I don't think they have an autograph expert look at them in most cases...but I could be wrong. 

Weiss gives you two weeks to raise authenticty concerns, so as Bjarne says...contact them by email right away.

thanks all, I've already written them. I only received it last week. I'll let you all know how they handle it. 

They said if it doesn't pass authentication, they would accept it back and issue a full refund. I've bought from them for over 30 years, they've always been great to deal with. 

Contact Pam at gotta have it, they would know

Please try and contact Pam at www.gottahaveit.com

I'm having Roger Epperson look at it. 

Roger says :

I do not believe this is authentic, it appears to have been signed all in the same hand.  It most likely came from Walls of Fame as it looks like the ones they sell.

Amy, start by NOT returning the items to them. Also, contact the police and the postal police, and see if anything can happen. I've contacted the FBI on my end, but they seem to be really, really slow in getting anything done. I've spent hours and hours and days of my own time, trying to nail this guy. Calling all the charities that have testimonial letters with him, etc. Some have been alerted and told me they'll stop using him, but it's such a slow process.

Amy the Hepburn and Peck autographs you linked to on eBay are obvious forgeries in my opinion. There's a good chance that the ones you think are genuine are not, as well. Glad you did your homework. How did you connect with Barone?

We purchased a signed Abby Road album at a charity auction last night.  I decided to research it and came across your thread.  Now I'm skeptical.  I would appreciate your opinion on these signatures which are supposed to be Paul Mc and Ringo.

Not sure the photo of Paul's signature attached, here it is again

Sorry, but in my opinion neither of these is authentic.

Contact Roger Epperson-- he charges only $15 for a quick opinion via email and he's the best in the field. rogerssd@ix.netcom.com. Let us know what he says!