A huge collection of bogus autographs for sale

[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.

[w7imel]

The real problem is they can say " In my opinion it is authentic" Genuine or not in a court of law it was "there opinion". The problem is convincing a jury who 95 percent of them have never owned an autographed item and if they did just assumed it was authentic because the have a piece of paper telling them so. As sad as it may sound we are on are own to fight thru this problem. It is great we can work together to make sure we all buy the right stuff. Sad to say the general public could care less if what the have is real or not. All they care about is getting a autograph that looks close at the cheapest price they can find...doesnt matter if its real or not as long as they have a crappy "LOA" from A.M.A they feel good about it i suppose.

[shelly]

This is not an opinion. This was autographs that the FBI lab found to be on photo paper from yesterday with signitures of guys that had died twenty years ago or more. This was handed to them on a silver plater.
This is about thousands of military people that bought bougus items through there own PX. Forget the certs we know those guys will never go to jail. We are talking out and out Crap. The FBI knows it and has done nothing. They have allowed 25 million dollars of garbage to be sold in the last five years. The FBI is know the forger's best friend.
I know the FBI reads this web site every day. Why are you not doing your job. Your crime lab in Arizona will tell you that what I am saying is fact.When Tim Fitzsimmons retired so did you.
You shut down one place for a few months now there back up and laughing at you.