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Need help navigating through "forgery town"

Hi all,

I am looking to buy a special gift for a big Pink Floyd fan and I am considering to buy a nice autographed piece. So the last couple of days I've started digging in to this (for me) unknown world of autographs. I am genuinely surprised by the amount of scams and forgeries that are out there. I think it is fair to say that 95% of everything that is offered is fake. I am starting this post to get some advise on where I can get some genuine autographs and also want to share some details about sellers of fake items. Hopefully this post will popup in some future Google searches to prevent someone like me from buying a forged autograph.

The only reliable seller that I've identified seems to be https://floydauthentic.com/, he is also member of this forum and he seems to be highly specialized in recognizing Pink Floyd specific autographs. It also seems that if you can get a copy of the "Psychedelic Renegades Deluxe" book (i.e. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156142289034) you will get a genuine Syd Barrett signature.

On the dark side we have way more people offering forgeries.
Definitely be careful with Zion Graphic Collectibles, for example: https://www.ziongraphiccollectibles.com/products/pink-floyd-autogra...

I am not experienced enough to comment on any deviations within the autographs, but I can check all the other signs of potential fraudulent activity. Even though this is a formally registered company, both of the addresses are literally located in the middle of nowhere. They have stock of almost every big name which is rather impossible unless you are a very big major auction company or something like that. Another sign is that the website itself has some pages that show advertisements (i.e. empty news section with ads) and the social media buttons are non functional. If you have stock of 300k in autographs I guess that you also properly maintain your website. Last, but not least, I would dare to state that having signed vinyl with all 5 Pink Floyd members is extremely rare and would fetch a significantly higher price.

Some others where I am highly suspicious that they are also fraudulent:
https://quarterdeckcollectibles.com/ also offers on Etsy (JPsMemorabilia), i.e. https://www.etsy.com/nl/listing/1701142657/pink-floyd-original-auto...
Again, a very large stock, non functioning social media buttons and the COA seems to originate from GFA which (according to this forum) does not seem to be the most reliable company.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1653426954/pink-floyd-original-autogra... (OnlyJapanVinyl)
For that price I am rather certain that multiple members of this forum would have bought it already.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AnthonyAutographs?ref=shop-header-name&am... (AnthonyAutographs)
Large stock, located in Latvia.

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-house/rock-n-scroll-guitars-mn72... (Rock n Scroll Guitars), also offering on Ebay with a different name (clinician12): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196222067147, prices seem to good to be true, streetview does not show a guitar shop on the given address.

I am rather certain that the ones that from my point of view are suspicious are most likely all forgeries, but I would love to be challenged by a member of this forum that is actually capable in identifying deviations in the signatures itself.

Above all, I would love to get some pointers towards obtaining genuine Pink Floyd autographs. If you have something within your collection that you would consider selling to me, I am open to offers (not certain if this is allowed on this forum, so please ignore this request if not allowed).

And I do hope that this post will prevent future purchases from these fraudulent vendors.

Tags: forgery, pink floyd, scam

2 members like this

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 29, 2024 at 4:25am

Hello,

I can recommend Corey with ease. I have used his service with pleasure. The Barrett book should be fine but ask Corey on that as I don't do Barrett.

Everything else you have shown is forgery as you seem to know already. I show the specific items here below for future reference for others who may read this. The Anthony Auctions items and Rock n Scroll pages are just all forgery.

An Animals LP with all 4 signatures vintage should be around $8K or so. Some of these items are under $1K.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 29, 2024 at 4:52am

These are mine. The Gilmour is a promotional DVD from 2002 and I have a ticket from the recording. The Waters DVD I obtained myself at Nassau Coliseum on 9.16.17.

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Permalink Reply by Gerwout van der Veen on March 29, 2024 at 6:40am

Thanks for your comments and examples of genuine signatures. I truly think it is baffling how tricky it is to obtain a non forgery. It almost seems like a business model where you have someone creating the fake signatures and you have some other company having no problems putting the stamp genuine on it. The $30,- record has suddenly a sales price of $2000 and if you act fast you can have a 20% discount.

It is a shame that there is no formal regulation for these authenticators. Sure, everyone can make a mistake, but a company that only sells forgeries and all of them have a COA from some company like GFA, that is just a big massive scam. Someone that is not familiar with this will most likely believe all of this, because GFA apparently also does stuff in court, so they have to be good. I've seen many different type of hobbies and as soon as something becomes more serious, there will be forged items as well. For autographs it seems to be almost impossible to obtain a non forged copy and that is in comparison with other hobbies kind of out of the ordinary. I will definitely consider buying something from Corey. I am just looking for multiple options, hence this post.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 29, 2024 at 7:15am

Thank you - you are very welcome. There are auction houses and you could look for items with a FloydAuthentic COA (Corey). You are looking at a great sum for any authentic LP signed by all 4 members, vintage or not. An authentic fully signed Wall LP can be staggering in cost. I would write Corey and get to know him and his stock etc. Corey is a great resource and a very nice gentleman. I would be most comfortable buying from Corey or getting advice from him. Of course, any item you come across can always be posted here for review.

And yes, I am right in the path of that April 8th Eclipse of the sun! :-) You know what I will be listening to!

Here are some huge pics I took at Waters last show:

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Permalink Reply by Gerwout van der Veen on March 30, 2024 at 5:40am

Enjoy the solar eclipse. Unfortunately it's not going to be visible where I live, but I can recall vividly that it was a very strange experience when we had one in Europe in 1986. I was only 8 years old at that point in time. I probably heard some Pink Floyd songs, but I was not into the album titles yet ;-). I was more into the follow up of twinkle twinkle little stars at that point of time in my life. So I forgot to turn on dark side of the moon I guess. Rather certain we had the album at home, considering that I am trying to buy an autographed piece for my dad.

I still have some months left before he has his birthday, so I will continue to look around, so definitely possible that I posts some additional pics and ask for your and others judgement. I enjoyed the Waters pictures as well, I am hoping that one of the remaining members will do a tour in Europe, would love to go their myself as well.