Prior to I get into the nitty gritty of autograph collecting and trading I want to give you some background on why anybody should listen to my judgment. For a variety of years, I was a wholesaler / retailer of genuine”in person” autographs to a quantity of large retail outlets. I traded countless numbers of collectables autographs in this way which range from Cary Grant to Brad Pitt. My sources happen to be exceptionally reliable and all of your material I sold was fully authenitcated. I did not promote any “autographs” that had been obtained through the mail. Simply because I was a wholesaler / retailer, I did not attract or appear for publicity. I had a steady marketplace and I was content with that. The next opinions will not be popular with a variety of autograph sellers but they characterize the real story that is definitely rarely expressed inside the industry. I consider it is very critical that the dark side in the company is exposed. It is usually unfortunate that the questionable practices of a great many retailers damages the crediblity of a hobby plus the honest retailers.

The reason why no one must offer  collectables autographs that are already obtained all the way through the mail is that I believe a substantial percentage of those which are sold as true are clearly secretarial. You will find a amount of dealers who have teams of workers who send letters to hundreds of celebrities. They use a variety of distinct PO Boxes and bascially pose as legal collectors. They acquire a the majority of responses – ranging from signed index cards to signed photos and then market these as real autographs. Now, you certainly dont will need to be a brain surgeon to work out that celebrities obtain a huge quantity of requests for their signature. The alot more famous the celebrity the alot more requests. I spoke to Chris O’Donnell recently and he told me that he had no way of keeping up with the demand.
 
Believe in the mail Tom Cruise would acquire. Can you essentially imagine that these celebrities sign everything which is asked of them? You would need to be incredibly naiive to feel that that may be the case. It can be greater likely that the majority of from the responses are clerical or autopen or printed signatures – generally signed by somebody other than the star in a manner that looks reputable.

So how can you determine if they are true or not?

Obviously it’s true that some starlets really sign some material thru the mail. The trouble is that should you did not see the star sign the item there is no way you might be 100% specific that the signature is true. Staff of several superstars become extremely skilled at signing autographs. This is where the sellers come in. So many retailers are pretty happy to provide a Certificate of Authenticity for  “collectables autograph” that has been obtained by means of the mail. They argue that they have many years of experience in authentication and that they can tell a reputable autograph from a secretarial version. Thats how they make dollars. The fact is the fact that in most cases it is usually impossible being specific that an autograph is true unless it was obtained “in person”. Its, nevertheless, extremely effortless to present a C of the A and pass a questionable signature off as honest. The truth is the fact that any dealer who obtains signatures by using the mail will need to NEVER provide a C of a A.