A huge collection of bogus autographs for sale

[RTK]

Originally Posted by tazdmb

This is laughable, did his child "sign" those autographs.

That's exactly what I thought and I know nothing about authenticating signatures.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by RTK

That's exactly what I thought and I know nothing about authenticating signatures.

Which should be an education for some of us. The forger was at least looking at real signatures and trying to copy them - Ott and Robinson, for instance. Other than that, it's obvious they are fakes, due partially to their general appearance - modern items, blue ball-point pen, etc.

On the other hand, the 'Lefty Grove' piece fooled all the initial responders, even thought there was almost zero attempt by the forger to copy genuine signatures. It did so because the forger concentrated on making the piece look old.

[sycks22]

That Clemente auto is one of a kind, you should've jumped on that

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by Runscott

..... The forger was at least looking at real signatures and trying to copy them ..........

Where would the forgery business be without exemplars?

[William Farrell]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

Where would the forgery business be without exemplars?

The Clemente is a scream. I think it was copied from a Topps card, possibly the 1971 (I don't have them in front of me currently).

One thing to remember about exemplars, never bank on comparing signatures to just one, reliably authenticated or not.

There are plenty of autograph guide books published with faux exemplars, either unknowingly or done intentionally as a spike (to protect against plagiarism), and the professional services make enough errors to assure comparison to any one exemplar daunting, to say the least.

Exemplars should be used as an overview, and the more professionally graded ones you look at for comparison, the better the chance of referencing good ones and throwing out the bad, if you just pick one to study.

Also, examining scans of signed pieces, no matter how detailed, are sometimes an inadequate endeavor, authenticating in person, the first step being examining the piece for anachronism (wrong manufacturing date for the lifetime of the signer) sometimes ruling out even moving on to consider the signature itself.

[Stanesq]

I would photograph and copy to aid law enforcement in this. At the end of the day forgery is a crime. Using the US mail to send these items is also a crime.

The US ATTORNEYS OFFICE IS VERY INTERESTED IN THESE CASES.


http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x59...ay-fraud/print

[shelly]

Originally Posted by Stanesq

I would photograph and copy to aid law enforcement in this. At the end of the day forgery is a crime. Using the US mail to send these items is also a crime.

The US ATTORNEYS OFFICE IS VERY INTERESTED IN THESE CASES.


http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x59...ay-fraud/print

Really, Richard, Chris and I handed the FBI an open and shut case. Five years latter they are still in business and have sold over 25 million worth of garbage. It is a total joke. The FBI just sucks.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by shelly

Really, Richard, Chris and I handed the FBI an open and shut case. Five years latter they are still in business and have sold over 25 million worth of garbage. It is a total joke. The FBI just sucks.

Absolutely, Shelly.

Extremely disappointing.