I'm a forensic document analyst in Australia and I work mostly on authentication for government departments and insurers but also increasingly more private clients who are distrustful of the big TPAs. I think you are wrong about inscriptions. There are plenty of forgers who specialise in them, and also in faking provenance, which can be incredibly detailed. CoAs from the three big TPAs are also increasingly faked, which is an interesting new twist in the forgery game. This issue is entirely in the hands of collectors: they create the market and they can insist on proper reporting with evidence, or they can continue to pay CoA mills to tell them what they want to hear. I know what most people will chooose.
Saveafricanow used to be legit and I would see him at every book signing in NYC with bags of books for authors to sign. He eventually started being blacklisted at local bookstores because he would never actually buy any books from the local store hosting the signing and come in with twenty books that he bought elsewhere. His turn to forgery really seemed to get going when COVID hit and he could no longer get signatures in person but it also may have predated that time. It’s sad that eBay has not shut him down and he continues to sell forged autographs on the platform to uninformed buyers.
I authenticate your article on forgeries. I use your past achievements, your present business practices, your exhaustive research, your professional memberships, and your pride in the righteous trade, to certify that your article is must-reading for all in the signed and autograph aspect of our trade. And that’s another thing: we booksellers try to maintain certain levels of integrity just to flog books - when we add the difficulty of signature authentication, we are usually neophytes. This is an area of specialty (except for the Rendells etc.) secondary to the bookselling itself. It’s hard enough to apply what we learn in Carter’s ABC and Zempel & Verkler et al without also spending much time with many examples, real and imagined, of even famous authors’ handwriting examples. Thanks for the level-headed piece on COAs.
I would also add that handwriting analysis has not passed Daubert examination, which means, in the US, that no one can testify as a handwriting expert in court.
As usual Scott, I enjoy your Dispatches ... entertaining and informative. Thanks for taking the time. While it technically didn't involve a COA, I thought you might have mentioned how I copy of HP I stood in line to get signed was deemed "Fake" by overseas authenticators ... certainly caused me grief more as a collector than a seller.
I'm a forensic document analyst in Australia and I work mostly on authentication for government departments and insurers but also increasingly more private clients who are distrustful of the big TPAs. I think you are wrong about inscriptions. There are plenty of forgers who specialise in them, and also in faking provenance, which can be incredibly detailed. CoAs from the three big TPAs are also increasingly faked, which is an interesting new twist in the forgery game. This issue is entirely in the hands of collectors: they create the market and they can insist on proper reporting with evidence, or they can continue to pay CoA mills to tell them what they want to hear. I know what most people will chooose.
Saveafricanow used to be legit and I would see him at every book signing in NYC with bags of books for authors to sign. He eventually started being blacklisted at local bookstores because he would never actually buy any books from the local store hosting the signing and come in with twenty books that he bought elsewhere. His turn to forgery really seemed to get going when COVID hit and he could no longer get signatures in person but it also may have predated that time. It’s sad that eBay has not shut him down and he continues to sell forged autographs on the platform to uninformed buyers.
Scott,
I authenticate your article on forgeries. I use your past achievements, your present business practices, your exhaustive research, your professional memberships, and your pride in the righteous trade, to certify that your article is must-reading for all in the signed and autograph aspect of our trade. And that’s another thing: we booksellers try to maintain certain levels of integrity just to flog books - when we add the difficulty of signature authentication, we are usually neophytes. This is an area of specialty (except for the Rendells etc.) secondary to the bookselling itself. It’s hard enough to apply what we learn in Carter’s ABC and Zempel & Verkler et al without also spending much time with many examples, real and imagined, of even famous authors’ handwriting examples. Thanks for the level-headed piece on COAs.
Bob Mueller Bellingham
I would also add that handwriting analysis has not passed Daubert examination, which means, in the US, that no one can testify as a handwriting expert in court.
As usual Scott, I enjoy your Dispatches ... entertaining and informative. Thanks for taking the time. While it technically didn't involve a COA, I thought you might have mentioned how I copy of HP I stood in line to get signed was deemed "Fake" by overseas authenticators ... certainly caused me grief more as a collector than a seller.