Are these Conlon photos?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Rogers probably started it and he might have been the worst, but many made excuses for him (and others) or ignored the obvious, because he was of benefit to them;i.e-helped line their pockets or establish their internet cred. I suspect some collectors got sick of it and move on to collecting other things.

No different from any other vintage hobby - autographs and cards also have their share of Rogers characters, all of who were getting their boots licked at some point by people who we respect here.

Unfortunately John Rogers was allegedly making many of these photos to look like originals. I don't know about specific ones but the current filings and evidence against him shows he was fraudulently stamping photos with photographer marks. At least he is in jail now. And I used to be friendly with him before all of his escapades came to light.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...120-story.html

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/arti...ing-in-chicago

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Leon

Unfortunately John Rogers was allegedly making many of these photos to look like originals. I don't know about specific ones but the current filings and evidence against him shows he was fraudulently stamping photos with photographer marks. At least he is in jail now. And I used to be friendly with him before all of his escapades came to light.

And as Rhys mentioned, he was making simple notations to raise the price of $25 photos to $50;i.e-crappy circled Conlon 'autographs'.

Ironically, these fake signatures along with the fake stamps you mention, actually lowered the value of a legitimate Conlon photo I once owned. Rogers had put a fake stamp on the back, rendering it worthless to vintage photo collectors who didn't have any real expertise in vintage photos. I had to remove a backing on the photo (and thus the stamp) to reveal real Conlon handwriting. Rogers could have left the photo unmolested to begin with and it would have retained its value.

[prewarsports]

One of the tactics he used was to add his fake stamps to legit items to help legitimize the fake stamp so then he could later pass on reproductions with the same stamp as real. As Scott mentioned, hundreds and maybe even thousands of legit items were sacrificial lambs to the greater scheme.