Autographs

Autographs these days are collected by people all over the world, all autographs are is a signature of someone famous or of stature or importance. Throughout history people have collected autographs from famous people. Some people have many autographs and they keep a collection in a book. Others just have the autographs of people they admire or are a fan of.

Autographs are a signature and it is a quick and easy thing for someone to give to a fan. Its personnel to the fan and they treasure the autograph especially if the person has their name on it making it a personal and treasured item. People ask for autographs to be signed on many items from memorabilia or in a book or even on themselves. Autographs represent a tiny piece of history that is frozen in time and is proof of a meeting with the person or a request for autographs.

However over the years demand for autographs has increased and demand is high,  as more celebrities are created by the media and the appetite for more from the public to access modern celebrity culture has become insatiable. The famous people of today and celebrities are less and less accessible to the general public.

Many methods over the years have been used to reproduce signatures of the famous such as Printed / Stamped / Autopen and Secretarial autographs and sometimes are so good that they are enough to fool all but the trained eye.

The famous these days are well aware of how the market put value on their signature, there is a growing reluctance to sign autographs for all than their genuine fans knowing that their autograph could be sold on the internet. This has to people personalising autographs only on their official merchandise, This in time will  certainly lead to PR companies and the agents selling autographs from the stars own website and this will help by clearing up the market.

Forgeries that are appearing all over the internet and on auction sites such as eBay there is now an epidemic and probably account for  a massive 75% of the entire market. Although there has always been a problem it is much more serious in the recent years and the most serious enemy of the genuine autographs collector has emerged; the forger! With the huge increases in values recently it’s a lucrative past-time; however they can be very poor and easy to recognize but others however need a trained eye to look them over to spot them.

There are Huge numbers of bogus dealers  that have become “experts overnight” and have surfaced offering Certificates of Authenticity with lifetime guarantees. Well produced texts and expert websites ready to snare an ill informed individual into parting with their money for these autographs. We can only assume that many of the public “do not care” as most are such obvious forgeries. Many people buy on the  price and assume  that an item to be correct as it has a Certificate of Authenticity with it. Unfortunately that people would not find out about their purchase not being authentic until they try and sell it. The bargain 10 x 8 signed photo of Marlon Brando bought for £25 with a lifetime COA from “Special Premier Star Signings of London ” will be worthless. And when they contact the company “Special Premier Star Signings in London ” at PO Box? They will have mysteriously ceased trading!

These lines are an initiation into understanding autographs. For a comprehensive idea of what to look out for and for/where to go/how to buy genuine autography click onto our eBay and forgery warnings area of the website. There is also a section of advice on how to use eBay.