Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 24, 2011 at 2:16pm

Anne Marie, I didn't see you said where you got them. I never heard of them until you mentioned the company name and I went to their website, www.theautographguys.com. 

The owners say on their "Authenticity" page: 

"Our motto is simple: If we don't see it get signed ourselves, we will not sell it."

That may be true, but I didn't see one autograph of the perhaps 100 I looked at on their site where I thought the celebrity they claim signed it did. Not only did I see some very far off autographs, but almost all were signed in the perfect spot--runners are rarely that lucky.

The most telling thing is this part of their authenticity page:

Third Party "Authentication"

The Autograph Guys.com is in no way associated with, or stands behind, any third party authentication company or any of their opinions.  These so-called "expert" authenticating companies are not in the field of collecting autographs, so how are they experts on every single celebrity autograph?  All of the third party authenticators claim to hold the highest standard and are the "The Best", or "The #1 Leading Authenticator In The Business."  These claims could not be further from the truth!  Every single one of these companies has shown on many occasions where their opinion has been proven wrong.  Many of these companies have even had lawsuits filed against them because of their biased claims!

If you want to find out more about autograph authenticating companies before you pay for their opinion, go to the independently run website, AutographAlert.com.  Remember to make sure you have done your research before you hand over your hard earned money for someone else's opinion!

Statements like that are commonly seen on sites selling forgeries. Keep in mind that, in the words of one of the founders of www.AutographAlert.com, the site was started because PSA/DNA failed most of his autographs submitted to them.

That's not something I'd be proud of, but it says a lot.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Marie LaProvidenza on December 24, 2011 at 2:24pm

Wow Steve, I never saw that.  I feel pretty stupid right now.  I guess I can be too trusting some time.

I appreciate your help.  I guess there's nothing I can do, right ?

Thanks,

Anne-Marie 

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 24, 2011 at 3:23pm

Anne Marie,

Please, don't be hard on yourself. People who knowingly sell forgeries are vile criminals--thieves and emotional rapists who prey on their victim's love of an artist's or celebrity's work.  They have no conscience. 

I would contact law enforcement and ask them how to proceed. How long ago did you buy these?

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Permalink Reply by Sidney Fields on December 24, 2011 at 5:12pm

Steve:

I know nothing about this particular company.

But consider how brilliant this motto would be for a company that knowingly engaged in fraud: "If we don't see it get signed ourselves, we will not sell it."

This could be a completely true statement for a company that sold nothing but fakes.

Yet the average purchaser would take it as a statement that such a company sells only material it obtained directly from celebrities and knows to be genuine.

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Permalink Reply by 029r4yc06b4rr on December 24, 2011 at 8:49pm

Steve that says it all. As you have said before and what i have believed all along, those who go out of their way to slam jsa/psa are more times than not selling forgeries themselves. If i ever saw this on a site i would run away as quick as i could. You can almost guarantee that if you gave 5 of their autos to PSA or JSA they would all fail. And they know this and that is why they slam them. And then to top things off, to recommend autograph alert. Are you kidding. This either says one of two things. The site is either selling mass forgeries, knows it, and is trying to encourage misinformation. Or, the seller has absolutely no place in the autograph industry and are so ignorant that they dont know the truth from fiction. But that alternative seems highly unlikely seeing that they are an established company and not a new collector, and therefore know what is good and what is not. Its a shame this company is allowed to operate. Oh well, theirs another for the toilet.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on December 24, 2011 at 2:49pm

no, you are correct, these were posted somewhere.  the consensus was they were not good.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 24, 2011 at 1:47pm

Hi Anne Marie,

Thanks. Merry Christmas to you, too!

I hate to say this, but I'm not comfortable with your McCartneys. But as you know, I'm not an expert. I wish I had a more positive opinion.

May I ask who your source was for these?

Thanks,

Steve

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Permalink Reply by Anne Marie LaProvidenza on December 24, 2011 at 2:07pm

Hi Steve, I got them from The Autograph Guys.  Do you have any experience with them ? 

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Permalink Reply by 029r4yc06b4rr on December 24, 2011 at 8:58pm

Anne Marie,

Dont feel bad about it. I too got burned on a fake set of Beatles autographs when i first started collecting from NE autographs and Prestige autographs. Luckily they were so poor of forgeries that they didnt amount to more than 300 dollars combined. I was able to get a return through some hard work and i would encourage you to try to do so also. Since they are obviously going to challenge an opinion of an authenticator, you may be in for a fight, but when its all said and done  you can put it like this to them. You can show them a link to this page and what the opinion of many collectors are, let them know that you are an active member of this site and other forums, and if they wont give you a refund you will spread the word of your experience. Plus that you would contact the police and see about pressing forward with charges of fraud. This will more than likely get them running to give you a refund, as i had to basically go to those lengths to get a return from NE autographs. Since you probably paid a good bit for your Mccartneys  it would be worth it even if you had to go to court. Plus they would never stand a chance. All youd have to do is get Roger Epperson or Frank Caizzo to give you their opinions, and it would all be over. Plus a company who sales forgeries like that would be stupid to even allow it to go to court. Because in the end their other items would get called into question and they would be shown for what they are. A similar case happened with Jerry Gladstone. Its a really funny story and if you havent seen the link on the right column of the page where it shows gladstone of ARA in court, its worth a look. Its a great example of a forger caught with his pants down. lol

I wish you the best of luck.

Chris

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Permalink Reply by Anne Marie LaProvidenza on December 25, 2011 at 9:47am

Hi Chris, thanks for your support.  I will try what you said to do.

 I'm just really disappointed that I trusted them.

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