Of all the various autographs I have, it’s my signed album and CD collection I cherish most. That means I can’t resist looking at various things people are selling, usually cringing at how expensive everything is.

Of all the bands in music, and I’ve seen them all, the groups that have the most forged signatures are: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Eagles. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen the other big bands forged, but those three most often.

I wanted to focus on The Eagles with this blog, though.

Aside from all the forged Eagles albums I’ve seen online, the following stories are a bit more personal to me.

The first forged Eagles album I saw in person was at a pool party one summer. It was at a friend of a friends house, and the homeowner and I started talking about music. When the subject of The Eagles came up, he mentioned that he had an autographed Eagles album he got from the local high school having a charity fundraiser. I asked how much he got it for. His winning bid was $750.

When he showed it to me, I immediately knew it was fake. Now, I’m no Roger Epperson, but every signature was off. Yet it was the first time in my life I had been shown an autograph and knew for a fact that it was fake. It was also difficult for me to figure out what to do. How can I tell somebody I just met...that I know a lot about autographs? How can I tell him that it’s fake? Do I tell him I’ve met Joe Walsh five different times, and although that style is like his signature, it doesn’t look remotely like a real Walsh signature. How do I tell him that Don Henley hasn’t signed autographs in years, unless it’s for charity? In fact, I was dating a girl whose brother plays in a monthly poker game with Henley in Arizona (or used to), and he once took a CD for him to sign for me. Henley told his own friend no, and that he doesn’t do the autograph thing.

I never told him.

At a Joe Walsh benefit concert a few months later, he brought an acoustic guitar signed by the whole band. He said from the stage that the proceeds would go to a certain charity. It went for around $5,000.

I thought about the pool guy a few years later when I was doing volunteer work for the Make a Wish Foundation, and saw they had a Hotel California album, with various fake signatures on it (see my thread about Charity Auction and Anthony Nurse for details on that). It’s a shame that incident lead to me no longer working with the organization. That’s now two charities, both that had fake autographs, and both of them an Eagles album. It seemed to so odd to me that somebody would try to forge band autographs, because there are so many. If it’s Elvis, or Eric Clapton -- you’re dealing with one person you have to forge. But an entire band makes it easier to spot.

About 8 months ago, I was reading one of the movie trade magazines. I think it was Variety. There was a story with the head of a movie studio, and they had a photo of him in his office. He had two autographed things in the background. I think one of them was a Wayne Gretzky picture. He mentioned loving hockey. There was also a signed Hotel California album. If memory serves, he said it was his favorite band, and he bought the piece from a store in Las Vegas (we all know which place that is, right?).

The album had signatures all around it, and none of them looked real (although they were a thousand times better than the one I saw at the pool party).

I sent an email to that studio head telling him who I was, and what I thought of the album. I never heard back. I was bummed, because I was hoping he’d write back saying he got a refund for his record, or that he was going to get a second opinion.

This morning a friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook. His son had gotten him a signed Eagles album. I immediately spotted it as a forgery (the Timothy B. Schmidt signature wasn’t even close).

I sent him Epperson’s way, he paid for the quick response, and got the bad news -- it was a fake (photo below).

Now my friend, who told me he’s sure his son paid a fortune for it, isn’t sure exactly what to do. I told him his son will be happy to know the truth, instead of not knowing. It will also keep him from possibly buying anything else from a company dealing in forgeries. It might also get the word out.

So here’s a song I’ll dedicate to all The Eagles fans bitten by the bug.

On a dark album cover, cool, the price was fair.

Swear I could smell the Sharpie, rising up through the air.

Up ahead near the gift shop, I saw a signed record that night

My heads logic and love of the band...I wasn’t thinking right.

There I stood in the doorway, I took out my wallet.

And I was thinking to myself, a signed album, but is it legit?

Then I framed it up and showed it to my friends yesterday

There were voices down on this website, I thought I heard them say…

Well, bad news about your Hotel California

It’s a forgery piece (such a forged piece)

Such a forgery piece.

Plenty of mistakes on your Hotel California

And Glenn Frey ain’t here (Frey ain’t here)

But you can find his signature here.