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Questionable Autographs are Everywhere

I am seeing very questionable autographs on non eBay auction sites.

These are general auctions sites that sell jewelry, appliances, TVs, etc.

The auctions sites do not have a clue what is being done with autographs on their sites.

The prices that these autographs are auctioned at are startlingly low.

It seems that eBay sellers are buying these autographs on these sites (Mantle, Williams, Koufax, Dimaggio photos) for $5 to $20 each and then flipping them on eBay for $30-50 each. I actually saw a Mantle sell for $5 on a signed photo. Why would anyone sell a signed Mickey Mantle photo for $5??

These prices are way below normal market prices for these autographs.

The autographs that are on these sites and which wind up on eBay all come with questionable COAs from a forensic examiner named Nicholas Burczyk.

The sellers claim Bruczyk authenticated these autographs in the early 1990's.

Why would sellers sit on all these Mantle and Williams autographs (and there seem to be thousands) and then sell them at the absolute bottom prices that they are being sold at?

It is a virtual tsunami on eBay with these autographs. And many are being offered by unknowing sellers, driven by a weak economy, who are just grasping at any possible way to make money.

The non-eBay auction sites, which I will not name here in order to not give them any publicity, also make inflated claims on the real value of these autographs.

"Mickey Mantle minimum bid $5, comparable value $1299."

Many unknowing people are being suckered by these ridiculously inflated claims.

Tags: burczyk, dimaggio, forgeries, koufax, mantle, photos, richard, signed, simon, sports, More…williams

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Comment by scott on September 27, 2010 at 8:35pm: You are 100% correct. I am not going to help those who do not help themselves. I can collect whatever I want. I currently collect stocks and bonds. Morningstar and Wall Street Journal do a fairly good job keeping me informed about my hobby.

I did my very best to buy authentic autographs. The two finalists were American Royal Arts and Rock Star Gallery. The only reason I purchased merchandise from Autograph Central is because it matches the merchandise at Rock Star Gallery. I could not find any good books about how to go about autograph collecting.
The information on the web is very confusing.

Comment by john reznikoff on September 27, 2010 at 8:51pm: Hey Scott,
I care, really. And I know others do too. I am sorry that all this happened to you and grateful you are here to offer cautionary tales.

Comment by DB on September 28, 2010 at 4:52am: Ehat's that saying from the movie, "what we have here is a failure to communicate". As much as I agree with Steve's sentiments but it's a business at the end of the day. When you hear the feds in operation bullpen estimated they siezed $10mil in fakes one can only wonder how much had already circulated.

The novice all the way upto advanced don't always due their due diligence and the occasional buyer (housewife or friend) who make a purchase as a gift have no clue nor do they have any ammunition, experience or insight to duke it out with a UACC member. Hell, some of the bright bulbs here can't even agree and on occassion have been duped.

Rather than the FBI going in - wouldn't it be something if the people on this thread went to a show en masse and called out the forgeries. Of course so doing would open them up to legal concerns and the price of lawyers is getting real expensive these days.

Comment by Rick Badwey on September 28, 2010 at 12:38pm: PT Barnum said it once! As long as there is a greedy fox, there will be sheep around to scoop it up.

Comment by Rick Badwey on September 28, 2010 at 12:47pm: There are some superb "forgers" out there. I put the word in quotes because they are not trying to deceive for money. For example, Joe Nickell illustrates a superb deliberate forgery of Truman in his book when he writes a letter to Charles Hamilton. Hamilton thought it was so good, he wanted to meet Nickell. Of course, he signs Trumans name (instead of his real name) on a current letter to get Hamiltons attention.

It is ashame for older material, there is not a computer that can date ink. Forget paper, as you have write new ink on old paper. But, if you can date ink, the rest falls in line. One day there may be carbon dating to a specific range

Comment by DB on September 28, 2010 at 1:15pm: speaking of everywhere, what do we know about American icon memorabilia out of South Daytona FL?

i ask as there is a listed Tom Brady that doesn't pass muster with me

as I have in-person, steinar and tristar to cause me to pause on this one. 'er pass on thatnkyo very much.