Is the autograph I bought authentic?

L'autographe que j'ai acheté est-il authentique ?

Connecting passions

 

This website is the result of a passion.

As a collector of signed objects with a story, I wanted to turn this interest into a place for exchange and enrichment.

The Terminator head signed by "Schwarzy," a film accessory travel bag that belonged to Samuel L. Jackson, Captain America's shield, photos autographed by my "heroes," from Catherine Deneuve to Clint Eastwood, as well as Uma Thurman, Matt Damon, and Simone Signoret... in short, it's just pure joy to hold a piece of cinema history in your hands or on your wall!

 

 


Avoiding traps

But when you collect, you must be vigilant; forgeries are legion!

Until the early 2000s, many American companies lived off the autograph trade—a lot of companies. Too many. The FBI began investigating this lucrative business that was enriching a good number of limited companies. And then came the crash, a market purge. Dozens of companies were unmasked, prosecuted, and convicted. Fakes, forgeries, counterfeits everywhere you looked. Pallets of fake autographs! This industry took a hard hit. It was necessary. Today, the number of survivors can barely be counted on the fingers of two hands. Those who have reached the levels of recognition, those who have been able to prove that what they put on the market was authentic, those in whom you can place your trust. They are so few that I will even cite the best of them:

- JSA, James Spence Authentication; they know their stuff when it comes to sports history.

- Beckett, mainly specialized in sports autographs, though they also manage the entertainment field.

- Celebrity Authentics, which only sells cinema memorabilia and has the non-negligible feature of providing a hologram and, in 97% of cases, a photo of the celebrity in the act of signing the object (photo, poster, item...). I don't know of a better guarantee of authenticity.

- PSA and PSA/DNA, Professional Sports Authenticator; also specialized in sports autographs, they occasionally authenticate stars from major entertainment as well. This company was, in fact, created in the late 90s in response to this necessary cleanup in the world of autographs.

- SWAU, for Southwestern Adventist University, a very serious company that only markets or re-markets authentic items. I discovered them late and am pleasantly surprised by the quality of their offerings.

- Then you have these two companies that are also "secure": RadtkeSports and Pristineauctions

 

And what about the less reliable ones?

Do you want the list?

Really?

Then be aware that if you possess an autograph accompanied by a "Certificate of Authenticity" that mentions any of the following companies, you might want to be a bit concerned. Well, to begin with, a certificate of authenticity or a letter of authenticity doesn't mean much.

It is a document on which someone stipulates that a thing is true. After that, everything depends on who is saying it. Are you following me?

Companies identified by the FBI and blacklisted everywhere:

  • A&J Enterprises
  • Aladdin Collectibles
  • All Sports Cards & Memorabilia
  • Autographs by Mail
  • Baseball Card Barn
  • General Pictures
  • Grand Slam Memorabilia
  • Hall of Fame Sports Gallery
  • Hollywood Don’s
  • Hollywood Memories
  • Jungleka98
  • Laura’s Cartoons
  • LLN Enterprises, Autographs by Mail
  • Madison Sports
  • Power Sports
  • Reel Memories, Hollywood Memories
  • Round Five
  • Smokey’s
  • Sports Cards
  • Sports Legends Memorabilia, American Memorabilia
  • Sportstop
  • Stardust Collectibles
  • Truly Unique Collectibles
  • Universal Engineering and Development Company
  • Wall of Fame
  • When It Was a Game.

 

Companies banned by eBay:

  • Ace Authentic
  • Coach’s Corner Sports Auctions
  • Christopher L. Morales
  • CSC Collectibles
  • Donald Frangipani
  • Forensic Document Services
  • Hollywood Dreams
  • J. DiMaggio Co./J. DiMaggio Company
  • Legends Sports Memorabilia
  • Nathan’s Autographs/N.E. Autographs
  • Nicholas Burczyk
  • Pro Sports/Pro Sports Memorabilia
  • RareandSigned.com
  • Robert Prouty
  • R.R.’s Sports Cards & Collectibles
  • SCAA/Front Page Art/Angelo Marino
  • Slamdunk Sportscards and Memorabilia
  • Sports Alley Memorabilia
  • Sports Management Group
  • Stan’s Sports/Stan’s Sports Memorabilia
  • TTA Authentic (formerly STAT Authentic)
  • Universal Memorabilia
  • XMI Authentications
  • USA Authentics.

 

Companies and individual sellers reported by eBay to the FBI:

  • Catch a Star/JMC Distributors/J&M Sports Cards/Mike Bowler (all of Oceanside, Calif.)
  • Classic Memorabilia/Hollywood Dreams/Hollywood Collectibles/David Tabb (of Santa Ana, Calif.; not to be confused with any other firms)
  • Del Mar Sports Cards/Jon Hall (San Diego)
  • Framed Images/Richard Laughlin (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
  • Front Page Art/John Marino, Gloria Marino, Kathleen Marino, Greg Marino, Angelo Marino
  • Frosty’s/Frosty Golembeske
  • Home Field Advantage/Carmen “Chip” Lombardo (Del Mar, Calif.)
  • International Sports Marketing/Mike Lopez (Rosemead, Calif.)
  • La Jolla Sports Cards/Bruce Gaston (La Jolla, Calif.)
  • Prime Time Sports Cards/Michael Tapales (Buena Park, Calif.)
  • Pro Sport Memorabilia/Anthony Marino
  • Rick’s Collectibles/Ricky Weimer (Escondido, Calif.)
  • Ricky Mitchell
  • Shelly’s Cards/Sheldon Jaffe (Tustin, Calif.)
  • Sports and Celebrity Authentic Autographs/WW Sports Cards/Wayne Bray (San Marcos, Calif.)
  • Sports Management Group (Aliso Viejo, Calif.)/Universal Authentic Memorabilia (San Clemente, Calif.)/Sports Alley (Laguna Niguel, Calif.)/Mike Moses/Robyn Moses
  • The Beautiful and the Unusual/Lowell Katz (Long Beach, Calif.)
  • Universal Authentic Memorabilia/Reno Ruberti/Karen Ruberti (San Clemente, Calif.)/Scott Harris/Mary Lou Harris.

Article source


 


Hey! And what about AFTAL? Shall we talk about them?

The what? AFTAL: Autograph Fair Trade Association. To put it simply, these are witnesses present during a signing and/or a group of autograph collectors (those who go get the autograph directly from the artist). AFTAL has set itself this guideline: if you want to join our association, you must be as pure as a newborn lamb. Your autographs must be authentic and have a guarantee period that matches your own (lifetime guarantee). In short, it is a big gamble you are taking when buying from an AFTAL member. There are certainly many people of good will and integrity in this group; but above all, there are the others, those who, once they have joined AFTAL, can claim it and, in fact, increase their credibility and their sales without necessarily selling only authentic signatures. We're living in a wonderful world. Personally, I have already bought several autographs from a person (in the UK). Once I had them, I had a few authenticated on the PSA website. All my requests came back negative; each time I received the response "Likely not genuine...". The person had no issue when I asked for a refund for my purchases. Without further comment. I didn't know who was right, and in doubt, I parted with the dozen photos I had acquired.

 

Photo: Jean Pigozzi, Mick Jagger and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hôtel du Cap, Antibes, 1990

Gelatin silver print, 27.9 × 35.6 cm

Centre Pompidou, National Museum of Modern Art, Paris

© Jean Pigozzi/Centre Pompidou, Mnam-Cci, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/image courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection

 

To invest with peace of mind

Since then, to avoid wasting my money on costly verifications, I decided to only buy items that are already authenticated!

And that is almost exclusively what you will find on limited-edition-store.com

A photo signed by Al Pacino for €30 does not exist. If someone tells you it's real, then it's up to you to take the risk. An authentic work, a certified poster, or a film accessory with all the necessary proof will always be a beautiful investment that you can be proud of and that you can easily resell if needed. Enjoy your visit, and don't hesitate to send us a snapshot of an unusual autographed item!

Enjoy ;)