Are these Conlon photos?

[thecatspajamas]

In retrospect, I'm a bit ashamed too at my own naivete and support of someone who, as Ben rightly stated, has done untold harm to our hobby. It seems I should have applied my own advice of "be wary, but at the same time, please be responsible" to who one chooses to throw support as well as who one accuses.

I still find it incredible some of the small-scale frauds he apparently perpetrated, which lends further credence to the "sociopath" label. It is truly disheartening to think that his prolific output of misinformation and deceit has so polluted the sports photo collecting niche that it will take years to unravel the specifics, if they ever even all come to light. It seems there could easily be a full book's worth of material just in detailing what was faked, how, and how to distinguish the fakes from authentic material.

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

In retrospect, I'm a bit ashamed too at my own naivete and support of someone who, as Ben rightly stated, has done untold harm to our hobby. It seems I should have applied my own advice of "be wary, but at the same time, please be responsible" to who one chooses to throw support as well as who one accuses.

I still find it incredible some of the small-scale frauds he apparently perpetrated, which lends further credence to the "sociopath" label. It is truly disheartening to think that his prolific output of misinformation and deceit has so polluted the sports photo collecting niche that it will take years to unravel the specifics, if they ever even all come to light. It seems there could easily be a full book's worth of material just in detailing what was faked, how, and how to distinguish the fakes from authentic material.

We had a disagreement? Ha! In retrospect, i should have read this entire thing again before adding this link to it. Maybe better to post a new link.

The reality is, no one could have imagined how bad this was. I am a photo pycho so noticed things and thought the worst.. Unfortunately many were true.

What i am trying to say is, it is prob a good thing If you gave him the benifit of the doubt without the research. I wish i had it in me to do so.

[prewarsports]

Rogers was a big personality and had a way of making you feel good even while he was ripping you off so its no wonder he had so many people (me included for a while) trusting that he was on the level. It was early in 2013 when a former associate of his let me know what was going on behind the scenes and it absolutely blew me away. It is sad as Ben said because there are some passionate and knowledgeable collectors that have completely left the hobby as a result of his exploits and that is the saddest part of the whole deal. Most of the Rogers fakes have been outed and removed from the hobby thank God, but the damage has been done.

[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.

[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.