After talking to serious autograph dealers on both sides of the Atlantic, there is no question whatsoever that the hobby of collecting autographs is in a downward spiral.
There are several reasons for this.
Some of the seasoned professional autograph dealers are closing their doors.
The older collectors from the 70's to the present pretty much have what they need and are only purchasing autographs where prices have been reduced or upgrading a signature that they alreay have.
The new generation is not interested in collecting autographs. The younger crowd seems more interested in items like Pokemon.
Lack of positive articles in a trade publication. A perfect example is Autograph Colletor Magazine. It appears they enjoy leaning towards the dark side of the hobby. It seems to specialize in attacking dealers who don't support them or will not pay for advertising in the newsletter. The owner of the site, Steve Cyrkin, destroyed the print copy of Autograph Collector, partly for having stories in his magazine with a question and if a reader got the correct answer they would receive an autograph as a prize. But the problem was that the autograph was a forgery. Often Cyrkin created different email names to attack dealers. The number of fake email names might shock you. Then he would use a different email name, to answer his first email. It's all negative on purpose. Cyrkin even dropped the ball and admitted that others who support him are doing the same thing. One of them is a very high profile seller of autographs in the northeast. Cyrkin and is cohort hope their sophmoric readers fall for the attacks and believe what they read. Cyrkin, an admitted alcoholic, will also create false stories about certain dealers that don't support him.
The existance of so-called inexperienced persons hired to be called autograph authenticators is very common. Many, many collectors have left the hobby after having a horrific experience with all the companies who claim to authenticate autographs.
One of the finest books on autograph collecting Collecting Historical Autographs, What to Buy, What to Pay, and How to Spot Fakes writen by award winning author Ron Keurajian in 2016 says it best. "Authenication companies, with numb-minded experts, cerify countless forgeries as genuine."
Some collectors have had enough with dealing with autograph authenticating companies.
You must understand that just because a company lists a name of an individual on their website that it doesn't mean that person is actively authenticating autographs for them.
For example, one well known individual, known as a "publicity whore" has their name published as one of the authenticators for multiple authenticating companies. He does very little or basically nothing of actually authenticating autographs for the company, but will claim he is available if necessary. One instance at a show, a representative for the authencating compnay stated that this specific authenticator was in the booth behind the curtain. The collector knew that wasn't true because the autenticator was not attending the show. Days after the show ended the collector called the authenticator and told him what the company clerk said. The response from the authenticator was shocking. He said "Technically I was available in the booth, they just had to go back in the booth and call me on the phone."
In one specific case ths same authenticator contacted a group who authenticates autographs and asked if he could be listed as an authenticator. There was one caveot that he only be asked once or twice a year, for comment. His request was denied!
Autograph dealers are in a quandary. Many are only spending a pittance of what they would normally do to purchase new material.
Other dealers are turning over some of their inventory to auction houses with the hopes of people not on their mailing list will become new bidders. Others are trying to find ways to attract customers by giving away a free autograph with every purchase.
Most all will agree the number one reason for the decline of the autograph hobby is the existance of compnies who were created to authenticate autographs. Enough cannot be written to expose how much some of these fraudsters have turned collectors away. One South Florida seller of modern day autographs said to me " I'm going to become an authenticator, all I need is a letterhead and some stamps and viola. To this day he is looking at an autograph that a collector would send him and go on ebay to find a match. With little or basically no experience he went into the authenticating business as a fraud. In time he went one step further when better materal was sent to him, it supposedly never arrived. You can still find his COA's on ebay. His policy is try never to turn anything down or you will loose a customer. This philosophy quickly attracted submitters who were forgers and the market is now flooded with his COA's.
Some serious collectors have had enough! The problem of mis-authentication is so bad there have been lawsuits. One that comes to mind is a lawsut filed by a California collector named Michael. He sued a New England autogaph auction house for $250,000. The auction house was willing to refund $70,000 to Michael because of a "Handful" of PSA rejections. The reason for this attempt to settle was "because of the legal cost for RR Auction to fight him..." In a letter from a Bobby Livingston (RR Aucion) he writes: "We are not angry with you because we do not agree with the opinion of your on sight authenicator....." ..."we have agreed to refund the PSA fee's that he paid to you..." "He said it was $3,000...."
Bobby goes on to say: "We request that PSA will work with us on making this situation whole for RR Auction."
On a separate document PSA's response was to resubmit the failed items. This suggestion was turned down by the auction house.
The auction house continues with "I have several possible scenarios to suggest." They list three and conclude by writing: "I am sure there are several other solutions. Please phone me so we may work out a solution that works for PSA as well as RR.
Some feel the only way to fix this dilemmaa of autograph authentication is that all persons who want to be called an authograph authenticaor that they be licensed. It has been proven that taking a mail order course on autographs does not work! It is rare in this hobby to find any professional autograph delaer/authenticator that is a licentiate. There are only a few and none of them ever worked for a high profile company who claims to authenticate autographs.
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