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Our policy on authentication is everything we sell is GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC FOREVER. Should anyone or any company disagree they MUST put in writing that the item is a fake or secretarial or we cannot issue a refund if any third party’s opinion is not in writing. A guess by a third party means nothing if they cannot put their expert’s guess or opinion in writing. 

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Authenticity is a art, NOT a science. Those that claim they have fancy machines or use DNA to determine authenticity might as well be using a crystal ball or magic wand for better results. Experts are not created overnight just because they create a business name with the word “authentication” in the title. True experts with a documented background in analyzing signatures and determining (not from a scan) if they are authentic or not obtain this knowledge from years of studying autographs and knowing the patterns of secretarial signatures versus authentic ones. True autograph authenticators know the difference between real signatures verus fakes and have skills to obtain knowledge about the person’s signature and knowing it was not possible for them to sign something in 1950 when they died in 1948. Authenticating is not something that can be learned over night in a crammed online tutorial, although many companies that specialize in giving an opinion for a fee without any guarantee whatsoever don’t want you to know this.

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All reputable dealers in this industry do agree on one point, “experience doesn’t happen overnight, it’s gained from years of reviewing material and research”. They agree that true experts in authenticity are those that purchase the most material. Why? Because dealers who have been doing this a long time who purchase the most material see the most items and actually put their money where their mouth is, by investing in what they know as authenticate signatures.

It is somewhat ironic that the growth of third party authentication has survived in many cases while helping out in others. With fraud running rampanit in this hobby, some with bad intentions have realized that it is easier to forge a signature than to counterfeit money. Third party authenticators thrive off this problem by attempting to clean up the hobby while others claim they became the scapegoat for dealers and auction houses to offer fake material with third party COA’s. 

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J&J Collectibles policy is simple. Every single item offered within our catalog or auctions has been authenticated by at least one expert with over 25 years of experience in that field of collectibles. We are aware of only one other company that follows this policy. Because everything we sell has this guarantee, do not buy or bid on an item if you do not trust the authenticator with 25 years of expertise in that field. No third party guesses to the opposite will be allowed unless a mistake was in fact made by us for we can almost with 100% confidence guarantee that the person who would be doing this has less than a 1/3 of the experience in that same field. When the day comes where third party authentication is also held accountable they will have to begin guaranteeing their opinions as we do. This policy is simple because it makes no sense to do a signing with Roy Scheider as we did, the last one he ever allowed, only to have a third party authenticator determine that ours are fake. It’s completely insane to allow this abuse to take place on any level. If however, we made a mistake we will always guarantee everything we sell forever if the party that believes we made a mistake puts such in writing, even when they are absolutely wrong! So if they fail our in person private signing with Roy Scheider ask them for a refund, not us who paid him to sign autographs for our company but even with this stated we would still give a refund if they put their incorrect opinion in writing. 

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It may appear that J&J Collectibles doesn’t like third party authentication. This is absolutely false. We respect many who are involved in third party authentication but most never look at the material for the companies they are listed as authenticators. I have simply been around the business and been authenticating autographs longer than any third party authentication company and I know how all this works. Third party authentication companies pass tons of fake signatures and all to often don’t pass the authentic autographs.

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I believe with 100% moral and ethical beliefs the whole reason we sell autographs is for the love of the hobby and we should use our expertise to insure that everything we offer is 100% authentic. Until third party authentication companies understand their moral obligations to our wonderful hobby their guess work should not be considered absolute by any standard but should instead be seen for what it is, which in their very own words is simply an opinion. 

So if you as a collector want to buy from one of the best you have reached the right place. Everything we offer is guarantee authentic forever in writing. It is not our fault if someone with less knowledge won’t pass it but if they won’t please let us know.

 

Sometimes autographs with third party authenticity or letters of opinion that are indeed authentic and listed on our website. Some customers feel we should not describe the items as being authenticated by them while others ask that we do for they feel the stickers damage the actual product and they don’t want to buy items previously authenticated by a third party company. It’s a tough decision to make in how one should describe an item previously authenticated.

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Our customers have found J&J Collectibles to be honest experts in selling authentic autographs. Few disagree and in the rare instances when someone has taken a swing at our company it is always either due to jealousy, envy or greed. The bottom line is people make money or add to their collections when buying from J&J Collectibles.

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This hobby is a blast and autographs can be a wonderful thing to collect. Many dealers have left the hobby due to authenticity issues brought on by companies that give opinions on autographs. While some may state the influence of third party authentication companies has helped the industry others state it has been the most harmful thing to enter the hobby since the forger. 

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What we tried to accomplish in this report about authenticity is educate the reader about why there are varying degrees of wildly different opinions on the same items. Authenticity can be very subjective particularly if an authenticator doesn’t know what they are really looking at. As long as a reputable dealer guarantee’s and sells an item he should always accept it back so no matter what someone else may state the customer is still protected. While these issues don’t affect J&J Collectibles other than rarely they are still something that should be addressed for all too often collectors are crying out; “Who Do I Trust?” We hope we have addressed this type of question accurately. This hobby should be enjoyed and remain fun. When people start getting scared of what they buy or what authenticators state than the hobby suffers as these dealers and collectors find some other area of interest.

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Thank You!

Jeff Avigliano

James Avigliano

J&J Collectibles