Collecting entertainment autographs CAN and SHOULD be fun and rewarding .

 Today so often as a dealer that has specialized in only entertainment autographs for over 20 years I hear people say things like "All the autographs are bad"..anyone like myself who has actually been with a celebrity when they stepped out of a restaurant or building and sees the large number of autograph runners who are there would know that EVERYTHING can't be a fake !

  Ebay as with any other auction house or dealer must try to police their site and I know for a fact that Ebay tries very hard in this regard and has currently a brilliant staff who are trying to learn how to discern the bad guys from the good guys and kick the bad guys OFF !

 Most dealers know that in the last year or so Ebay has risen to this challenging proposition and gotten rid of MANY bad dealers

  EVEN SO - just ecause you are a collector doesnt mean you should check your brain at the door - you should try and learn for yourself what a celebritys autograph that is authentic SHOULD look like BEFORE deciding to bid on one.

 Ebay again can help - simply search under Advanced Search Option on Ebay type in the name of the person you are looking for and search under COMPLETED sales...these will show you a lot of listings you would not normally see and you can look at the listings that DID sell and at fair market value to get an idea of what the person autograph should look like....

ALSO...for goodness sake STOP dealing with dealers who do NOT stand behind their own items offering you a LIFETIME guarantee of authenticity

In todays market there is a growing use of what is called 3rd party authenticators such as Global, PSA, James Spence etc..but nothing replaces EXPERIENCE

You wouldnt go to a pediatrician to schedule heart surgery would you ? Of course not so dont expect Joes Sports Autographs (made up the name) to knw anything much about entertainment autographs. If you are looking for a 500.00 autograph dont look in a dealers listings that sell 20 dollar autographs only.

ALSO...make sure the dealer is reachable, a phone number, a fixed address, affiliations with proffessional groups like the UACC or Manuscript Society

Lastly heres some free tips from an insider !

  Dont get caught up in a listing that shows a photograph of the celebrity signing and calls it PROOF
  In MANY cases if you loook closely you will notice that in the "Proof" photograph the celebrity is holding a different colored pen then the item you are bidding on is signed with...or is about to sign a completely different image OFTEN the celebrity isnt signing anything you can see (You really need to watch out for these)

  UNLESS you see THAT exact item being signed the photograph is worthless it is NOT proof the dealer should be relying instead on experience to tell you the item is real and back it up with a refund.

  ALSO..a peace of mind tip...whoever it is you respect be it a third party authenticator or a dealer..once you have done your due diligence and made an intelligent purchase and it is backed up by a worthwhile COA...stop ! Enjoy your item and be happy - DO NOT continue to try and get everyone out there who says they are an authenticator to agree with your first persons opinion

 This is not a democracy...DOCTORS who go to school for a decade dont agree on things...in autographs the pettiness, backbiting and shady practices are LEGENDARY...In other words..if you buy something at Target dont expect Kmart to say nice things about your purchase - get it ? Good !

In person is a useless term UNLESS the person selling the item themselves saw it signed..otherwise believe me its not IN PERSON so again dont let this phrase make you think - Oh that must be real ! Maybe it is Maybe its not..a collector recently told me he would ONLY collect "in person" autographs and that anyone who didnt in his opinion was a fool..I told him the guy who just paid 3.2 million dollars at auction for a Abraham Lincoln letter probabaly would take offense to that statement and guess what boys and girls ? NO ONE ALIVE can sell In person Abraham Lincolns ..the moral is a comeptent educated dealer with some years of experience is what is needed to authenticate Lincoln and the same is true for Tom Cruise !

  Happy Collecting out there and if this was of any use to you - click on the below spot that says you liked it ! Thanks for reading me !