www.autografica.co.uk

www.autografica.co.uk  Our new website has over 1000 signed items listed, and almost all are different from those here on eBay. Included are several Ali items, De Niro, Lewis Hamilton etc.

Before we start, just a quick word about fakes! There are many good dealers on eBay selling signed memorabilia, and i am just one of them. Some are good, but some just sell fakes. You can find out my from my lengthy guide (see bottom of page), but as a quick guide, to avoid the forgers simply stick with AFTAL (Google it) or UACC Registered Dealers (not those who are just members) and you cannot go far wrong. If a good dealer cannot be bothered (or perhaps has already tried but has been turned down!) to join one of these associations, then what will you do when you find out you have bought a fake?  I also have another ebay page dedicated to avoiding the dodgy dealers on eBay. It gives more details as to how to avoid the forgers rather than the fakes, and has now been read by oevr 80,000 people (shame i don't get royalties!). Do please take a look, you can find it here.... http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/How-to-avoid-the-FAKE-autograph-dealers-on-ebay_W0QQugidZ10000000000960387

Me! I had been a collector of autographs since i was 12, but in the late 80's i started to collect more seriously and looked at turning the hobby into a business. At the time i owned a couple of model shops, but the recession (and those damn distributors!) were killing them, so by the early 90's i had sold the shops and made the move full time into autographs.

By 1999 i had established myself and was making a reasonable living from the new business, and looked at branching out. By now I had visited all the UK shows, and some in the US too, and decided that i could do better. I started 'Autographica' with another UK dealer and 'The Worlds Largest Autograph Show' was born. After 10 shows, i decided to call it a day, and sold my share to my partners, and left them to it.The event has had some great guests, including Sir John Mills, Val Kilmer, Richard Todd, Buzz Aldrin, Alexei Leonov, Sir Norman Wisdom, Ursula Andress, Honor Blackman and many more.

As a result of creating and running the show, it put me in a unique position to know all the best of the UK dealers, and its always interesting to read the list of dealers attending, as it shows just who are the real dealers, and who are the ones are claim to be the 'UK's leading autograph seller' etc, as those 'Leading Autograph Sellers' names never appeared at our shows as either buyers or sellers, so i think that tells you a lot about just how good those dealers are! The same dealers are never seen at any of the known autograph auctions either, and only seem to appear on eBay! Check out the website at www.autographica.co.uk and come along and meet some real honest dealers face to face!

Autographs. When looking for autographs, look out for UACC Registered Dealers (they have a 3 figure number, not a 4 figure number. Those with a 4 figure number are members only, and anyone can become a member!). You can now also find a number of excellent dealers on the AFTAL website (just google AFTAL) all of which are based in the UK, and all have been checked out by the AFTAL board. All these people take their autographs seriously, and are mostly full time dealers. Avoid those sellers who are only a member of the Manuscript Society or the UACC (again anyone can join, and membership means nothing) as they have often joined them because they have been thrown out of the UACC or been refused admission to AFTAL! Another great way to find good dealers is the www.GetHoldOfIt.com website, which lists dozens of approved autograph dealers, and has its own autograph search engine as well.

Avoid anyone using Private feedback or bidding, they are trying to trick you in some way, and these dealers should never be trusted. Go to the bootom ofeach listing and it should say if its a Private auction, or check the seller feedback, and if you cannot see what they have sold in the past, then just avoid them. Neither the UACC or AFTAL allow members to use Private auctions.  

Avoid also any dealer selling loads of the same famous names, Beckham for instance, a very forged signature, and all the sellers with Madonna and other in demand top names every week. And if they tell you they have contacts on the inside, or work in the film business, they are lying! If it sounds too good to be true, then on eBay you can be sure it is! Signed photos of Elvis are worth a lot more than £14.99 !

There has recently been seen a number of sellers on ebay, each of which has multiple ID's who are selling signed books. Be warned that these contain fake signatures, and in most cases the sellers are using Private auctions, so take care. Ian Fleming, Nelson Mandella, Winston Churchil, Margaret Thatcher etc are all names they are adding to these books.  Soem of these have now gone due to the arrest of one of them, you can see more here.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-12385859

I am also the UACC ethics board man here in the UK, i was voted UACC Dealer of the year in 2000 and won the presidents award for Quality in 2006 as well as the AFTAL Dealer of the Year award in 2011. I also work alongside Police and Trading Standards in various fraud cases, have had numerous articles published in  magazines, and have advised TV's The Real Hustle and BBC's 'Inside Out' and 'Fake Briatain' programs on fake autographs and memorabilia, and just recently was heard on the Chris Evans Drivetime show, where Chris introduced me as 'The King of Autographs'   

Be sure to read my eBay Autograph Guide via the link below, its an essential read for any collector, and is now the number one guide to autographs on eBay, and please don't forget to vote!

Tuition. I was trained by eBay as an Education Specialist to their University standards, but they decided to drop the whole scheme, shame really as it worked so well for so many people, and as eBay has got harder and harder, plenty of people need the help!

I still offer tuition, which starts at £99 for a full 3 hours including a weeks telephone support. I offer tuition for both beginners and those who want to take their sales to another level. This is all based on my 20,000+ sales and over 10 years experience on eBay, there are very few others who can offer that kind of experience!

I also now offer my own tuition on autograph authentication. This is aimed at both the dealer and collector, and covers all the basics of what any dealer or collector should know, including autopens, printed signatures, secretarials, and of course fakes and how to identify all of these. The dealers course also includes Distance Selling Regulations and the fraud act and how it affects you.

You can find out more about these at either of my websites.

www.autografica.co.uk  or  www.GarryKing.co.uk