Of all magicians, Siegfried & Roy have the greatest variety of fake autographs selling on eBay right now.  My name is San Diego Magician Michael E. Johnson, and I'm a big fan of Siegfried & Roy.  Most of the time, the dealers are honest in their descriptions, using words like "reprint" or "preprint" or "reproduced" or the initials "rp", but buyers can still be duped.  Sometimes the title states autograph or signed photo, while any reference to a fake is buried in the description.

One tell-tale sign is if the item is listed in the category of Entertainment Memorabilia > Autographs-Reprints.  Sadly, I've mistakenly bought autographed photos from that category, because I only read the title and description, but I didn't check the category.  Since I've been tricked by this type of material, I decided to write this guide and protect others.

Just to let you know, a reprint is a copy of an autographed photo.  In all cases, the dealer has taken a copy of an assumed authentic signature, and greedily reproduced it for personal gain without the permission of Siegfried & Roy.

During a survey of magician's autographs selling during 2008, I found a dozen different examples of fakes for Siegfried & Roy in the category of reprint.  If you want a fake, then seek out eBay sellers like signedpictures, hott_babe, sportzfotos, memories6464, cowboypals, petcrafts, photograph-pros or pleasesignforit.  Some are better than others at describing the items as fakes.  Personally, I think it's wrong.

Here's one example of a reprint autograph on an ad, offered for sale by two dealers, petcrafts and signedpictures:

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Here's a sample of a reprint autograph matted with various photos and matts.  I've seen at least seven different examples, all using the same reprint autograph.  These have been offered for sale by dealers memories6464 and sportzfotos, but the autograph is always the same.

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Here's two different reprint color signed photos offered for sale by dealer hott-babe, who even wrote "Ebay" on the item to keep other dealers from stealing their fake.  What a laugh!

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Here's the only black and white reprint autographed photo I have seen, selling from dealer cowboypals.  This is an early image of the pair.  The dealer has put their name on the image to keep it from getting stolen by others.  (What's this world coming too?)

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How about this interesting reprint autograph greeting card of Siegfried & Roy, sold by dealer photograph-pros, with large text "SAMPLE IMAGE SCAN" across the image to prevent stealing.  Who would do such an illegal thing? (snicker snicker).

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Here's yet another reprint fake signed color photo, this one from dealer pleasesignforit.

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I guess you can see I don't think much of these fakes.  I feel bad for the people who buy them.  I doubt any of these items list "reprint" on the back, making them ideal candidates for resale as authentic to other people.  I've even seen some dealers offer certificates of authenticity for their reprints, as if such a document gives credibility to an obvious rip-off.

Overall, this type of material erodes the marketplace for authentic magician autographs.  Even worse, it is disrespectful to Siegfried and Roy.

I'm certain I'll get lots of negative feedback on this guide, probably from the minions of reprint sellers.  Too bad!  Negative feedback only fortifies my opinion that this information must be shared, to keep eBay an honest place for honorable collectors.

On the other hand, if you believe in what I'm doing, please take a second to click the button below which asks you if this guide was helpful.  Positive feedback sure makes me happy!  Either way, have a happy day!