Third Party Autograph Authenticators Boycott Under Way
Reprinted from AutographAlert.com
Many of our readers are coming forward with serious complaints they are having or have had with third party authenticators. Every possible mistake imaginable has been made by these companies who claim that they can authenticate autographs. One high profile “authenticator totally got it wrong on a complete limited signed edition and was running around the USA trying to get back their Certificates. Authenticating forgeries, secretarial, rubber stamped signatures, machine signed signatures as genuine is commonplace. Worse are the monumental amount of genuine autographs that are deemed not genuine. This is not hearsay, these are facts. Television news stations of a high profile “authenticator” passing forged signatures as genuine is starting to seem common place.
Most of these “authenticators” will not return phone calls or answer emails with regard to discuss their “authentication” abilities. They chose to go into hiding. Should someone leaves a message regarding having an autograph authenticated, then the call will be returned.
Many collectors and dealers we have had correspondence with have chosen to avoid all third party authenticators or those associated with these companies. The autograph educated are well aware of the high percentage of non genuine items being passed as genuine by these companies.
Many sellers of autographs, we can no longer refer to them as autograph dealers, are knowingly selling autographs that are not genuine but passed as genuine by a third party authenticating company. For instance, the last story on this website was regarding a very common secretarial signature of Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was being offered on eBay by Strike Zone located in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina. The Eisenhower letter came complete with a COA from JSA or James Spence, Follow the Leader.
STRIKE ZONE WAS NOTIFIED IN WRITING TWO DAYS BEFORE THE END OF THE SALE THAT THE LETTER BORE A SECRETARIAL SIGNATURE OF EISENHOWER.
They were advised by one of the leading recognized experts on presidential signatures in the United States. Strike Zone’s only reply was “you have a right to your opinion” and did not remove the item from eBay. They sold it two days later.
The word is out that 3rd party authenticating is easy money. Very little investment, a computer, some letterhead and the ability to make a “guess.” Two new authenticating companies have just been formed and it wouldn’t surprise us if in the next year or so more will emerge.
It has now become the opinion of many to avoid any of the companies, stores, auctions and card shops who utilize third party authenticators! A collectors best protection is to purchase your autographed item from a reputable autograph dealer who will guarantee what they sell. The dealer must give you a receipt describing the item in full and stating a 100% money back guarantee if the item is ever determined to not be genuine. This is your legal document.
“Guesses” from third party authenticators have proven to be worthless! According to what we are hearing, an official boycott has begun. Link To Original Post
Many of our readers are coming forward with serious complaints they are having or have had with third party authenticators. Every possible mistake imaginable has been made by these companies who claim that they can authenticate autographs. One high profile “authenticator totally got it wrong on a complete limited signed edition and was running around the USA trying to get back their Certificates. Authenticating forgeries, secretarial, rubber stamped signatures, machine signed signatures as genuine is commonplace. Worse are the monumental amount of genuine autographs that are deemed not genuine. This is not hearsay, these are facts. Television news stations of a high profile “authenticator” passing forged signatures as genuine is starting to seem common place.
Most of these “authenticators” will not return phone calls or answer emails with regard to discuss their “authentication” abilities. They chose to go into hiding. Should someone leaves a message regarding having an autograph authenticated, then the call will be returned.
Many collectors and dealers we have had correspondence with have chosen to avoid all third party authenticators or those associated with these companies. The autograph educated are well aware of the high percentage of non genuine items being passed as genuine by these companies.
Many sellers of autographs, we can no longer refer to them as autograph dealers, are knowingly selling autographs that are not genuine but passed as genuine by a third party authenticating company. For instance, the last story on this website was regarding a very common secretarial signature of Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was being offered on eBay by Strike Zone located in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina. The Eisenhower letter came complete with a COA from JSA or James Spence, Follow the Leader.
STRIKE ZONE WAS NOTIFIED IN WRITING TWO DAYS BEFORE THE END OF THE SALE THAT THE LETTER BORE A SECRETARIAL SIGNATURE OF EISENHOWER.
They were advised by one of the leading recognized experts on presidential signatures in the United States. Strike Zone’s only reply was “you have a right to your opinion” and did not remove the item from eBay. They sold it two days later.
The word is out that 3rd party authenticating is easy money. Very little investment, a computer, some letterhead and the ability to make a “guess.” Two new authenticating companies have just been formed and it wouldn’t surprise us if in the next year or so more will emerge.
It has now become the opinion of many to avoid any of the companies, stores, auctions and card shops who utilize third party authenticators! A collectors best protection is to purchase your autographed item from a reputable autograph dealer who will guarantee what they sell. The dealer must give you a receipt describing the item in full and stating a 100% money back guarantee if the item is ever determined to not be genuine. This is your legal document.
“Guesses” from third party authenticators have proven to be worthless! According to what we are hearing, an official boycott has begun. Link To Original Post
posted by Lon at 3:55 PM
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