Is it Real?

Michael Jackson fake autographs everywhere after death of the King of pop

2009-07-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Michael Frost head authenticator for P.A.A.S. Professional Autograph Authentication Services and the President of the IADA-CC the International Autograph Dealer Alliance and Collectors Club was heard today in a half hour interview with National Public Radio.
" Buyers Beware" I have never in my 31 years in the autograph and memorabilia business seen anything of this magnitude !
Michael Frost said today that Michael Jackson's death is having a greater effect on the value of autographs and memorabilia then the death of Mickey Mantle , Ronald Reagan, Princess Diane and the Pope combined. Frost said P.A.A.S. Professional Autograph Authentication Services has authenticated over 2000 Michael Jackson signed items in the past 5 days. More then 70% are not authentic. Michael Frost said he has even been called the King of Authentication over the amounts of items he has viewed since the death of the King of Pop.

www.iada-cc.com Noteworthy News

Beware, fake Michael Jackson signed items throughout the industry.

Michael Jackson signed memorabilia and other artifacts have more then tripled in price and Forgeries are on the raise.The Internet is now bombarded with non authentic Michael Jackson signed items. Well they can only go up in value and in many cases by huge amounts. Beware as 70% of Michael Jackson autographs on eBay are forged or printed signatures. There will be loads of people out there trying to make some fast money off of Michael Jackson's valued signature.
Michael Frost President of the IADA-CC and head authentictor for P.A.A.S. in a interview with the media last night stated that eBay is well aware of this problem and he and others are helping to examine the items being offered as we speak. Mike Frost was examining eBay items last night until 3.45 am. Michael Frost stated that at 6.30 PM on Thursday June 25, 2009 there were 163 signed Michael Jackson signed items on eBay. Of the 163 signed items 15 were PSA/DNA certified, 89 were reprinted signatures 48 were 100% forgeries, and only 14 others were 100% authentic with the rest being questionable. By 11:35 PM there were 675 signed Michael Jackson signed items on eBay with over 70% being 100% fake.
When purchasing a Michael Jackson autograph or any other signed item, the item should be accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (COA). COA's are an important aspect in the process but buyers need to be careful. Anybody can issue a COA with an autograph item but this doesn't mean that the item is 100% authentic. Who issues the COA is the most significant factor.The dealer standing behind this "guarantee' should be reputable and offer a 100% lifetime guarantee as well as an invoice with their Name, Phone Number, Address and Website. You are always best purchasing from a IADA-CC or UACC Autograph Dealer. Do not make a mistake and buy a fake autograph,do your homework and ask a lot of question's.
Michael Jackson was a great person and a very good signer but ask where, when, and how the signature was obtained.
If you are not sure, or you already own autographs and are not convinced that they are authentic? There are third party authentication services such as James Spence, P.A.A.S., Roger Epperson,and Al Wittnebert, that can examine your autographs and determine if they are 100% authentic. These authentication companies would then issue a Certificate of Authenticity. This Letter of Authenticity can help the buyer purchase with a little more confidence.
Always trust your instincts. Autographs and Sports memorabilia are sold all over and a great percent are not authentic. Do not get fooled by the price. If the price of an item is too low to be true, it usually is. Try to always support the IADA-CC dealers they have solid reputations and you'll have an enjoyable buying and collecting autographs.! See http://www.iada-cc.com/ for a Dealer Directory.

Contact us with any info or inquery at info@iada-cc.com

President Obama autograph study

2009-01-25T09:21:00.000-08:00

"Is it Real?" continues it quest to allow the autograph collector to become more knowledgable. With knowledge comes understanding. This will allow the hobby to grow and become what it once was. The hobby for the young and old, fathers and sons, and the thousands that made it one of the largest industries in the world.

The making of a Obama autograph study

Once the man took the podium at the 2004 Demoratic National Convention as a canadate for senator of Illinois. Obama connected on a personal level with millions of Americans. He became a man with a destiny to the white house. Along with this came the interest of the autograph collector. At first, Obama would sign for as many people as possible. Then, it became overwhelming. There was not enought time in the day for him to sign. Telling the fans he did not have enough time and if they didn't mind to wait until Obama could sign them after the event, his staff would take the items to a back room and give them back later. Some received the item back with an authentic signuture, but many did not. Obama’s staff often used an Autopen to sign the items for him. Autopens are commonly used by presidents and other politicians for official purposes and autograph requests by mail. A high percentage of autograph requests mailed to Obama’s Senate offices were sent back with a autopen signature, but his use of one on the campaign trail was a first.

Value brings greed

The value of a Barack Obama signature are in the hundreds, if not the thousands and continues to climb. He might possibly be the most saught after signature to date. With this news many of the forgeries have began to surface. Obama’s large signature is easy to copy, because it consists mostly of his initials. A survey conducted found that 85-percent of Obama autographs were likely forgeries, autopen or secreterial.

The Study Begins

Michael Frost head autograph authenticator for P.A.A.S. "Professional Autograph Authentication Services Inc." with over 25 years in business has been established as one of the foremost authenticators in the autograph industry. P.A.A.S. authenticates autographs of sports, entertainment and historical signatures using handwriting experts and state of the art security detection technology. Michael Frost is the foremost expert in the Country on the signature and handwriting of Barack Obama. He has a signature study about to be released through the
IADA-CC. Michael Frost has studied and authenticated hundreds of Barack Obama signatures over the past 2 years. P.A.A.S. now has a library of over 1000 exemplars of Barack Obama signatures and handwriting going back to his early Political career. Mike Frost has obtained over 45,000 autographs in person and has authenticated over 7500 autographs. Michael Frost is a true pioneer in the autograph hobby and autograph authentication industry. Mike Frost has worked hand and hand with 100's of athletes and celebrities with private signings and personal appearances.** Michael Frost could be reached at specialagent 711@aol.com or www.paasautographs.com He is looking for examples and all input on Barack Obama handwriting and auto pen signatures. He is also looking for in-person experiences and comments for his upcoming Obama study..

The chances of you spotting a fake.

2008-12-27T18:28:00.000-08:00

Authentication of autographs is one of the most complex problems in this hobby. It also makes autograph collecting challenging and fun. The only sure way to know if an autograph is authentic is to see a celebrity sign in front of you. Otherwise you must sort out the many fakes that will certainly be mailed to you or, worse, offered to you for sale. If you are just beginning to collect autographs you probably cannot tell if an autograph is authentic. There are several ways that fakes are commonly produced. The first is the Autopen, a machine that can sign a name for a celebrity. Another way is for a secretary to sign for a celebrity. Also, the celebrity may use a rubber stamp or may send printed signatures that look real.

The Autopen - The Autopen is a machine which signs an autograph in the celebrity's handwriting. It was developed in the early part of this century but only became popular in the late 1940's. The process of creating an autopen signature is as follows--a celebrity signs his name once on a sheet of paper, and a pattern or template is created for the machine at the Autopen company. When the template is installed, the Autopen machine is then able to recreate the autograph. The item to be "autographed" is inserted under the arm, the motor is turned on, and the pen moves according to the matrix design. The signature that is produced is identical to the celebrity’s own signature, but it now can be produced at a rate of hundreds per hour by a secretary. Since the resulting signature is in the handwriting of the celebrity and is drawn with an actual pen, the only sure way to tell if a signature is an Autopen is to compare it to a known sample of the pattern. There are several tips that may enable one to suspect that a signature is an Autopen.

Look for these signs:

a shaky signature, which indicates movement while the machine is in operation
a light signature, especially one that does not have variation in pressure as seen by an
indentation in the paper when viewed in the proper light
abrupt pen stops
a “drawn” look to the signature

Remember however that the only way to tell for sure that a signature is an Autopen is to compare with a sample known to be an Autopen. Don't be fooled by minor variations between the pattern and your signature, since these variations may be produced by moving the paper while the machine is moving.. If any part of the signature matches precisely, it is an Autopen signature.
How do you obtain Autopen patterns? One good way is to join the (IADA-CC) International Autograph Dealers Alliance and Collectors Club, which keeps members informed of new Autopen patterns through Daily updates and News letters sent out to their members. Thomas Jefferson invented a machine called the polygraph, which was a pen attached to a framework onto which other pens were attached, enabling the user to sign many documents at once. Harry Truman used a later incarnation of this machine to sign checks in the 1930's. In the 1970's there was another machine in use called the "SignaSigner" which enabled full pages of text to be mass-produced, but fortunately the company that made it went quickly out of business. Jimmy Carter reportedly was a user of the SignaSigner.

Secretarial signatures - Another deception is the secretarial signature, in which a secretary for the person forges his name. These are sometimes the most difficult to spot, since the secretary is sometimes very good at duplication of the celebrity’s handwriting. Again, references and periodicals will help you determine what is real and what is fake. To help determine if a signature is real or a forgery, obtain a known sample of the signature from in-person examples in these sources. Compare the two carefully. A good tip to remember is to turn the signatures upside-down when examining them—this will eliminate certain biases formed when one’s mind perceives the letters of the name instead of its form. Secretarial signatures are often more carefully drawn and are more compact than the authentic signature. Many inexperienced collectors make the mistake that an autograph must be real if a letter comes with it that says the celebrity signed the item being sent. Sometimes this is simply a trick some secretaries use to make their forgeries seem real. For example, secretarial signatures sent from Lyndon Johnson’s office often came with an accompanying letter that said “The President was very happy to sign the enclosed photo. It comes with his best wishes.”
Stamped and Printed Signatures - be careful as well of printed and stamped signatures. Printed signatures can be very tricky. One trick is to tilt the photo into a light source; ink signatures will usually glow purple, or at least a color different than that of the rest of the photo. Stamped signatures have a “drawn” look, and will have inconsistent ink distribution.
A trick sometimes employed these days is to send printed signatures with secretarial inscriptions. Be very careful in examining your autographs for this.
Forgeries -Detection of a forgery is similar to detection of a secretarial signature. Forgers are often very good at their craft and it may be difficult to detect the work of a professional. That is why it is very important to know the dealer from whom you purchase your material. Sometimes forgers give themselves away. For example, John Lennon always signed his name as if it were spelled “Lennen." Forgers are often unwary of this simple fact and will spell his name “Lennon.” Almost all items with “Lennon” are a forgeries. It is a good idea to stay up-to-date with Internet sites such as IADA-CC.COM, which publishes the work of known forgers. Be sure to note anachronisms. Did the celebrity die before the ballpoint pen was invented? Was that brand of stationery invented during that president's term in office? A little research can be useful. Experience is the only key to authenticating autographs. Until you gain enough experience to authenticate signatures (which takes years of careful research) you must assume that all autographs in your collection are capable of being fakes. Such is the harsh reality of autograph collecting.

The Autograph hobby can one of the most rewarding pastimes in your life. Dont do this alone. Be a part of a growing community which will be the eyes, the ears, and the voice for the collector and dealer. Learn and obtain the knowledge to be able to buy with coinfidence.and get a little help from your friends.