Questionable Autographs are Everywhere

[Richard S. Simon]

I am seeing very questionable autographs on non eBay auction sites.

These are general auctions sites that sell jewelry, appliances, TVs, etc.

The auctions sites do not have a clue what is being done with autographs on their sites.

The prices that these autographs are auctioned at are startlingly low.

It seems that eBay sellers are buying these autographs on these sites (Mantle, Williams, Koufax, Dimaggio photos) for $5 to $20 each and then flipping them on eBay for $30-50 each. I actually saw a Mantle sell for $5 on a signed photo. Why would anyone sell a signed Mickey Mantle photo for $5??

These prices are way below normal market prices for these autographs.

The autographs that are on these sites and which wind up on eBay all come with questionable COAs from a forensic examiner named Nicholas Burczyk.

The sellers claim Bruczyk authenticated these autographs in the early 1990's.

Why would sellers sit on all these Mantle and Williams autographs (and there seem to be thousands) and then sell them at the absolute bottom prices that they are being sold at?

It is a virtual tsunami on eBay with these autographs. And many are being offered by unknowing sellers, driven by a weak economy, who are just grasping at any possible way to make money.

The non-eBay auction sites, which I will not name here in order to not give them any publicity, also make inflated claims on the real value of these autographs.

"Mickey Mantle minimum bid $5, comparable value $1299."

Many unknowing people are being suckered by these ridiculously inflated claims.

[scott]

I am sorry to say that I am not much brighter than the people buying $5 Mickey Mantle items. I just paid a lot more money for rock art and hockey memorabilia.

I collected autographed Red Wing hockey memorabilia from the Red Wing website. I only recently noticed that the Red Wing organization does not have anything to do with the autograph merchants. Has anyone heard of Hockey Ink?

[john reznikoff]

It is a shame. I have seen this type of activity at "government confiscation" auctions. Which is highly deceiving. They buy one or two items from a drug seizure forfieture auction and then mix in a couple hundred lots of drek. Despicable.

[DB]

Yo Richard - longtime no hear! It's never ending. I also have a discussion going on with Farrah Fawcett that is most educational and hopefully not to the undesirables that live under rocks. Feel free to chime in on it. http://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/farrah-fawcett-autog...

I'll put a link to this one over there as well.

[Steve Cyrkin, Admin]

Richard, thanks for writing about this--it's extremely important.

For those who don't know Richard, he's a long-time sports autograph dealer who also authenticates. He's highly respected and known for speaking out to try to protect collectors.

There are a few things that Richard and I don't see eye to eye on, but they're minor compared to what we agree on--that fighting the autograph fraud industry and helping protect collectors is critical to the future of the hobby.

[DB]

Scott no help on the Hockey Site as Hockey even with the Boston Bruins have me with limited items. It does however denote that it is a Partner with NHL.com and you can validate that claim as they often times take actions when these claims are false. It may take some perserverence but that's what it's all about.

[DB]

Richard - propertyroom.com is one I enjoy - great bargains for some things although like everywhere else caveat emptor applies. Although, the way it is advertised "siezed Police items from their rooms" is way overstated in terms of the % of those items to those that have nothing to do with police siezures.

[Steve Cyrkin, Admin]

Here's the link to Richard's news and commentary page on his site: http://richardsimonsports.com/hofauto2.htm

Here's a really interesting short post from it:

PSA does not hit the bottom

The Better Business Bureau has given PSA a rating of A- as of 8/21/10. A week ago the rating, on the BBB website was an F. I don't know if PSA have taken care of their problems or if the F was in error, but nevertheless the current rating is now an A-. For comparison purposes I want to state that Coaches Corner auctions are rated F and they are actually rated below American Memorabilia (standing tall with a D-). You cannot get lower than an F, no matter how hard you try.

**************

I wonder if the forgery industry's press will let their readers know.

[DB]

The problem with the better business bureau's other than they are franchises and depedent on it's business membership for revenue is that they too often side with the business. However, with this in mind and a business ends up in the BBB's D/F category it is impossible to ignore. The BBB process however always favors the business on disputes.

[john reznikoff]

Don't hold your breath on that steve!

[Chris Klamer]

Well as I stated in my Coaches Corner blog they had several Mickey Mantle signed items and several Babe Ruth signed baseballs at my local mall. Who's going to stop it because anymore if you say something about them selling fakes the guys that are selling the fakes take you to court and sue you.

I see people everyday selling some of the autographs they get through the mail thinking that everything they get is a real autograph or just taking advantage of the unsuspecting buyer and selling it as a real autograph. I had to tell one woman because she just didn't have any idea that all of the 5 X 7 postcards she was selling were all preprints.

But the celebrities and the athletes do not help this at all. It would be better if they didn't reply to anyone in the mail unless they were going to actually sign it.