Advice for "investing" in collectibles

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I don't consider my collectibles an "investment," but when I spend money on something, it would be nice to get something back out of it down the line when it's time to sell.

With this in mind, I advise avoiding mass-produced material as much as possible. By that I mean single signed balls of common signers, common signed flats, etc. If it has a Steiner sticker, it's probably not rare.

Go for items that are less common. If you really want a signed item from someone who is in plentiful supply, get one with a less common inscription. This applies to all collectibles, not just baseball autographs.

Derek Jeter may be signing baseballs for another 50 years.
Will you ever get $400 back out of it?
If I could tell go back in time and give myself one bit of collecting advice, it would be, "one $200 item is way better than ten $20 items."


Neil Armstrong autograph values hold steady

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This photo closed on eBay today for $1,212. A strong result for a personalized photo with condition issues.


To top it off, it's not even an image of Neil Armstrong.

Since his passing in August, so much Armstrong material entered the market, I was wondering if prices would actually drop. Yet demand seems to have increased resulting in values holding steady.

How to tell authentic autographs from fakes

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Very often you'll see a collector ask something along the lines of, "How can I tell a real [fill-in-the-blank] autograph from fakes?" It seems as though the person expects to receive an answer such as, "If the third stroke of the M is more than 1.5 inches long, it's fake."

 Of course, it is not that simple. There are no shortcuts or magic tells. Most anyone can identify grossly malformed fakes. But to be really good and identify the relatively deceptive fakes, you need to train your eyes to recognize the proper look and feel. And this is not something that can be accomplished overnight. In other words, it requires work and dedication.

 So, how do you "train your eye"?

  • Look at hundreds of authentic exemplars. Look at them every day for a long time. And make sure you are using verified authentic exemplars!
  • Do side-by-side comparisons with known fakes.
  • Don't focus solely on "shape." Look at speed and pressure and other subtle characteristics. Good forgers can closely replicate "shape," but it's much more difficult to replicate the subtle characteristics.
  • Look for a loose, relaxed hand that intuitively and instinctively signed versus a tight hand "drawing" the signature with too much "thinking."
  • Network with experienced collectors and dealers to compare notes and ask questions.

Follow these steps and eventually the signature will "click," and you will see the difference between authentic and good fakes.

The UACC's Pen & Quill Magazine, November 2012

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The latest issue of the UACC Magazine Pen & Quill is arriving at member homes. A tip of the cap to the team and editor Tricia Eaton for the November issue, which rounds out a year of terrific issues.
It features articles on Godfather autographs, FDR, the Presidential candidates, and the Marx Brothers. Also a Neil Armstrong autograph article by yours truly.

For those who may not know, the Pen & Quill is the official publication of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club (UACC). It is available to members of the UACC. For more info on the UACC, go to www.uacc.org.

Removed personalization on baseballs

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Removing, or “washing,” a personalization from a photo has been a common occurrence for a long time.  If done correctly and pen and paper conditions are right, it is undetectable. Now it appears it is also possible to remove a personalization from a signed baseball.
I saw this Mariano Rivera signed ball on eBay for a very reasonable Buy-It-Now. I was seconds away from clicking the button to snap it up when I saw mention of a removed personalization in the auction description. It was near the bottom of the description, but to the seller’s credit they were disclosing there was a removed personalization. On closer inspection, you can see remnants of the previous ink in the bottom of the World Series logo. If you look really close, you can see the indentation from the previous writing.
It is my understanding that the previous writing is not really removed; rather it is airbrushed over with a near exact matching color. In hand, you’d think the painted area would have a different look and sheen, but unless I could get one real cheap, I’m not willing to invest in a ball with a washed personalization.

Pitiful Neil Armstrong / Apollo 11 Forgery

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Finding a Neil Armstrong or Apollo 11 forgery is hardly a newsworthy event. They haunt the hobby like the ghost of phantom forensic document examiner Nicholas Burczyk.

However, every once-in-a-while I run across one so horrific it deserves honorable mention for inclusion in the Autograph Hall of Shame. Check out this train wreck, currently on eBay for a $5,999 Buy It Now...

World's least deceptive Apollo 11 forgery?
Of course, the item would not be complete without a certificate of authenticity from a forensic document examiner. In this case, the "expert" forensic document examiners at Academy of Manuscript and Autograph (AMA) deemed this gem "authentic." 


Operation Bullpen and the Marino Family Forgery Ring: Did anything change?

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Ghastly Mariano Rivera forgery being sold today
 in mass quantities. Where is Operation Bullpen Part II?
Over the past few days I have been re-reading Operation Bullpen by Kevin Nelson, the story of the Marino Family Forgery Ring and how the FBI took them down. The last time I read it was several years ago.

Something that really struck me this time around was how self-conscious the ring was about their product being “high quality” and how nervous they got when “someone was onto them.” For instance, the book recounts an incident where a collector returned a Jackie Robinson signed ball and a Roberto Clemente signed ball because he discovered the date of the balls made it impossible for them to be signed by Robinson or Clemente.

The leader of the ring, Wayne Bray, went into a fury because of this sloppiness and was especially angry at James DiMaggio (J. DiMaggio COAs) for issuing certs for these provably fake items. They counted on DiMaggio to rubber stamp items, but he was also essentially quality control. If something was a poor quality forgery, DiMaggio was not supposed to cert it.

Further, they got really nervous when some of the sellers they distributed to were removed by eBay. Once their sellers started getting removed from eBay, they feared law enforcement would soon follow. (Which it did.)

What makes this so interesting is the contrast with many of the fakes we see today certed by the usual suspects on the eBay banned COA list. The usual suspects on the eBay banned list – as well as some others – cert items that are laughably bad and obvious forgeries. There is no “quality control.” They apparently thumb their noses at law enforcement with no fear of consequences.
Blogs and message board threads like this one would have sent Wayne Bray and the Marinos into cardiac arrest. Yet, today’s crop of forgers, sellers and their “authenticating” accomplices don’t seem to care if almost every educated collector and dealer in the world is “onto them.” As long as there is a “greater fool” willing to buy their product, they plow on… offering countless obviously bad items in scores of venues.
So, how is it a decade after the biggest forgery bust in the world, the autographed collectibles market is perhaps flooded with more fakes than ever?