As someone who has been collecting and dealing with autographs for over three decades, with more than two decades of experience on eBay, I have developed a keen eye for differentiating between genuine autographs and fakes. I have been able to share some of my knowledge with others through our one-day courses, which have been beneficial to both dealers, auction houses and collectors alike.
It's important to note that no single dealer can be considered an expert in all areas of autographs. However, with the right knowledge, it is possible to identify most of the fakes and forgeries that are prevalent on websites such as eBay and other fancy autograph-selling sites that often have exactly the item you are looking for!
There are various types of fake autographs that one needs to be aware of, including Autopens, printed signatures, die-stamped signatures, simple forgeries, and of course simple confidence tricksters. There are many guides on this site and i add to them whenever i can. Our "Muhammad Ali" guide and "Churchill Facsimiles" are the most popular and they can both can assist you in identifying genuine signed items so that you can buy them with confidence.
While our guides won't make you an expert in the field, they can teach you how to spot some of the tricks used by forgers and gain knowledge that will help you build a collection that you can be proud of and that will increase in value over time.
We try and update these guides as often as we can, but things change, eBay certainly changes almost on a daily basis, so what may be correct today, may not be quite so correct tomorrow. Always remember that the con man is always trying to stay ahead of the game, and that his only aim is to part you with your money! Sometimes the con man does get caught though, here is one example and sometimes they are not always con men either!
Garry KIng.