Recent Convention

This past weekend I attended a local convention and noticed (not for
the first time at a convention) that not only did some of the dealers
have bogus autographs but the autographs that were being auctioned off
for charity were also bogus. Now I'm not an expert, but I know my
share of Star Wars and LOTR and feel pretty confident I can spot a fake
Harry Potter (even though I don't collect many HP) autograph
especially when they are this bad.

I was troubled, do I say something to the people running the show, do I
confront the dealers? I wanted to but at the same time I knew it would
accomplish anything, the dealers weren't going to admit they were
selling fakes and there is no way the convention people were going to
take my word that their stuff (were ever it came from) was bad. Who am
I to them. Do I warn the bidders, that this stuff is junk?

Plus I rather think people owe it to themselves to check into what they
are buying. 70.00 for a cast signed LOTR image, please. Also how many
times have you seen a full signature from Orlando Bloom on a ROTK item,
not that he hasn't used the old signature a time or two but you could
read every letter of his name. Don't people have a responsibility to
check before they throw their money away? Or am I just out in left
field.

i honestly don't believe that there are full name bloom signatures on
ROTK stuff...other lord of the rings, yes, but not return of the
king...since it was during the pirates of the carribbean days that the
signature really became OB from them on.
mike

I've seen a couple but they were crew related people, not actuall
collectors.

He also used a full signature and an initial signature the end of last
year for a blue jeans for genes fund raiser. Although I do agree, that
full signature is long gone unless it is a contract or something and
that's no guarantee

Wow Bob, that's pretty brazen of them I'd say. First thing I'd do is
find out who they are and ask if they are UACC and if so, turn their
butts in. But you gotta have proof more than likely than just an
opinion.

Also, find out who they are, their bidder ID and let us know here so
we can check out the auctions. With some emails and other things,
sometimes proof can be garnered and we can add them to the Xlist and
warn others here and on other boards and elists.

I'd sort of be afraid to be confrontational. However, I might of
asked "where did you guys get this?" And depending on the answer, go
for more like turning them into the buyer (so they buyer asks for
money back). But if they auctioned it as "as is" or "we didn't get
this ourselves" etc, then not much you could do anyway.

I guess it'd be frustrating witnessing that. I know it would be for
me.


On 15 Aug 2005 13:32:46 -0700, "Bob" wrote:

This past weekend I attended a local convention and noticed (not for
the first time at a convention) that not only did some of the dealers
have bogus autographs but the autographs that were being auctioned off
for charity were also bogus. Now I'm not an expert, but I know my
share of Star Wars and LOTR and feel pretty confident I can spot a fake
Harry Potter (even though I don't collect many HP) autograph
especially when they are this bad.

I was troubled, do I say something to the people running the show, do I
confront the dealers? I wanted to but at the same time I knew it would
accomplish anything, the dealers weren't going to admit they were
selling fakes and there is no way the convention people were going to
take my word that their stuff (were ever it came from) was bad. Who am
I to them. Do I warn the bidders, that this stuff is junk?

Plus I rather think people owe it to themselves to check into what they
are buying. 70.00 for a cast signed LOTR image, please. Also how many
times have you seen a full signature from Orlando Bloom on a ROTK item,
not that he hasn't used the old signature a time or two but you could
read every letter of his name. Don't people have a responsibility to
check before they throw their money away? Or am I just out in left
field.

proof can always be garnered. i scan jsut about everything i
get...that's why i have no problem if someone askes me for a copy of a
scan so that they can check...and all my scans have a date on them to
see if someone changes an autograph over time. and there are several
others...autograph world is a great source and *gulp* autograph pros
has a ton of scans to check as well. and their items are right on their
site.
mike