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Springsteen Greatest Hits LP w/ Walls of Fame COA

Good or a good forgery? I know Walls of Fame (Billy Smith) does not have the best reputation on this site but all of his stuff can't be bad -- can it?

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Permalink Reply by Trond Johansen on October 23, 2014 at 12:41pm

Hi Bruce Juice. This is a very nice real one. (Would assume from around 2000?) When it comes to Billy Smith, he is an honest person, he would not deliberately try to cheat anyone. He is actually quite good at older Bruce/E Street sigs. He had a lot of contact with the band in the 70`s and 80`s, and was the co-owner of Asbury Park Rock & Roll Museum in the mid 80`s. He lives in Florida now, and is still good friend with several former and present E Streeters. He may have been wrong on some he didn`t obtain himself in the 90`s, and later, but he always give customers good service if they can establish doubt about something he has sold them. In my opinion his reputation here in this forum is highly undeserved.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Shull on October 23, 2014 at 3:48pm

I can attest to Billy's customer service. I had a Babe Ruth cut that I got from Billy in the 90s that turned out to be secretarial. He refunded my money very quickly when I sent him the JSA rejection letter. I too beleive that he is honest and doesn't intentionally trying to cheat anyone.

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Juice on October 24, 2014 at 8:50pm

I was suspicious about this one and did a quick opinion at PSA. The result:

Your Request for Item "Bruce Springsteen Signed Greatest Hits LP", eBay Lot No. "111493079512", opinion was rendered at "10/24/2014 5:56:57 PM" and the result was:

Response: "Likely Not Genuine"

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Permalink Reply by Trond Johansen on October 25, 2014 at 7:59am

I do not believe PSA is correct on this one.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Roberts on October 25, 2014 at 6:53am

Billy Smith has always been very good with customer service. I had a FULL Springsteen E-Street band signed album that was on my wall for 8 years or so, that I got from Billy. I sent a photo to Roger to get his opinion after finding this forum and taking with Roger. He knew right away that it was not authentic and KNEW where I got it without telling him.

I contacted Billy about it and he refunded my money after 8 years. NOW that is customer service! Do I feel that I was wronged by having that on my wall for all these years - sure. Did he knowing sell me a fake?? I dont think so. or at least I would like to believe he didn't know. I was truly disappointed to find out the pride of my collection was not real, but Billy took care of it after all these years. That says something about him.

Mark

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Permalink Reply by Ian Baldock on October 25, 2014 at 8:02am

That is righteous!

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Juice on October 25, 2014 at 10:13am

If a thief steals from you dozens of times but when you catch him he gladly returns your money, isn't he still a thief -- just not a very good one? I have purchased MANY autographed items from Walls of Fame (Billy Smith) in the years before TPA companies and recently when I tried selling them 90% have been deemed not authentic by either PSA, Roger Epperson, or RR Auction. How many "honest mistakes" can an experienced autograph dealer make before you wake up and smell the coffee?

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Permalink Reply by Cogo on October 25, 2014 at 11:06am

I have to agree with Bruce! I have under a five year period seen at least 4 Springsteen (2 with all members of The E Street), 1 Madonna, 2 Bob Dylan and 2 fully signed U2 that were deemed fakes, all which came from Walls of Fame.

It were the same for me as with Mark, Roger Epperson knew right away where one of the Springsteen/E Street were from when I asked for his quick opinion. And that´s before I got a chance to tell him...

Good return policy or not, that´s many fakes...

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Juice on October 25, 2014 at 11:10am

Good point Jan. What about the MANY people who have these fakes in their collections and never know they are bad until they try to sell them? How could he NOT know so many of the stuff he is selling is fake? C'mon man!

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Permalink Reply by Trond Johansen on October 25, 2014 at 11:39am

The problem here for me, is that I believe some (not all, but some) of the ones that has been deemed fake, from Walls of Fame, actually was (is) legit anyway. I can not tell about the other artists mentioned here. but I know at least some of the Springsteen-items are real, even if deemed fake, or "likely not genuine" by authenticaters.

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Permalink Reply by Trond Johansen on October 25, 2014 at 11:55am

Hi Mark. I remember we was having a thread about that one you are mentioning a couple of years ago. I am sorry that it turned out that way for you. But I was uncertain about it at that time too, but as much as I respect Roger`s opinions, I am still not sure, and would not be surprised if it actually was signed by Springsteen after all...