faking it jersey special

[joshpackham]

TSN/W5 are running an interesting series, here is the link, figured this applies to most of us

http://www.tsn.ca/faking-it-sports-c...ealed-1.198040

[dudical]

Cool series, too bad they are only showing the negative side to collecting. Or at least let's hope they don't just paint the hobby with one brush. Just a few bad apples ruin the bushel.

[Inferno]

The first part, about fake autographs, can be watched on the TSN website now.

They were at the expo in Toronto and had some fake Bower and Lindsay autographs done by an art student to see if the authenticators at the show could catch the fakes. All of them were passed and given authentic stickers by some pretty reputable (at least prior to this segment) companies.

In fairness, the fakes were EXTREMELY well done and I'm not sure who could have spotted them successfully. Still goes to show though that fake autographs are a huge problem that is pretty much impossible to prevent.

The signed photos or pucks that I own came from Frozen Pond, the only company I trust when it comes to that stuff. You can never be too careful for sure. And the people I really feel for are the ones who don't know the industry and buy stuff like this off eBay or whatever for family or friends as gifts that turn out to be fake. Sad reality.

[Rraincock]

Part 1 is here

[dudical]

Pretty sad to see all three authenticators at the biggest show in Canada all pass the fakes. My confidence in them just went to zero.

[cardscardscards]

Awesome report, thanks for sharing!
Ebay must be filled to the brim with fake autographs. Thanks, China.

[subban7677]

I would imagine guys like this would be less critical of a Johnny Bower auto (many available, not very expensive) than they would be of a Gretzky or Howe, for example. When buy something either on ebay or from a store in person (very rare occurrence) it is usually a lower ticket item that is much less likely to be faked. Non-authenticated Henri Richard puck...if it looks right to me, sure. Non-authenticated Maurice Richard puck...no chance.

[canucksfan007]

Good thing I dont collect memorabilia / pictures ..... good ol' licensed products coming out of packs .... guaranteeing legit / safe to buy autographs. Even when they do have a problem ( like DSP ) the problem is called out and replacements are given ..... lets not start on jerseys ..... but i think everyone in the hobby feels 100% secure in their UD / Panini / ITG autograph purchases

[Inferno]

Good thing I dont collect memorabilia / pictures ..... good ol' licensed products coming out of packs .... guaranteeing legit / safe to buy autographs. Even when they do have a problem ( like DSP ) the problem is called out and replacements are given ..... lets not start on jerseys ..... but i think everyone in the hobby feels 100% secure in their UD / Panini / ITG autograph purchases

Certified autograph cards are considerably safer, though still not 100%. How often has a player enlisted "help" signing autographs from friends or family members? The way some players' autographs seem to change from product to product it makes you wonder if they're really signing the cards or if it's their drinking buddy sitting beside them. This is where UD's "...or sent from, and certified as to its authenticity, by __________" wording on the card backs come in. Even if cases like this happen I believe it's a very, very minuscule number. I'd still say at least 98-99% of autograph cards, in hockey at least, are genuinely signed by the player.

We know for sure the manufacturers aren't forging autographs, otherwise there would never be any redemptions and popular players that never sign (Dryden, Kariya, etc) would suddenly have autographs. That plus if they got caught putting autograph cards in products that the players know they didn't sign I can only imagine the crapstorm that would hit them. It's one thing to put shady jersey pieces in cards, the players don't really have anything to do with that and you can rarely prove it one way or the other anyway, but to knowingly put fake autographs in products when players rely on their autograph for income is a whole other story. I think we can say with 100% confidence that this sort of thing doesn't happen.

There's also the understanding that the majority of card signings that take place have a representative present to witness, especially with the higher profile players. That goes a long way and whenever a card company posts a picture on Facebook or Twitter of a player signing his cards it goes a long way to building collector trust. I wish card companies did stuff like that more often. I would love to see a blog or website dedicated to sharing photos and videos of players signing their cards and maybe the occasional interview with questions related to the hobby. That would be a site I'd visit every day.

TL:DR version: Certified autograph cards are by far the next best option for collecting autographs, aside from actually meeting the player and watching him sign your auto.

[13stepper]

Pretty sad to see all three authenticators at the biggest show in Canada all pass the fakes. My confidence in them just went to zero.

My confidence in those three authenticators were at zero already, lol, I'm not surprised.

On another note I am very glad that TSN and W5 are shedding some light on this issue, unfortunately the biggest part of this issue are the inexperienced consumers who keep buying the fraudulent items.