Depending on the paper that they are written on, an autograph certificate of authenticity may not be worth the paper they are printed.  A certificate of authenticity is not necessarily a guarantee of an authentic autograph, nor is it a guarantee that you will be able to return your autograph if a problem arises.  For this reason, the discerning collectors usually ignore the promise of a certificate of authenticity whenever you acquire an autograph from a person selling you the autograph.  Almost anybody may provide a certificate of authenticity.

A major Internet auction site offered an official NASA photograph of Neil Armstrong.  The photograph looked real with the typical pose of Armstrong holding his helmet and facing the camera.  The photograph was of exceptional quality, clear and he autograph was boldly written.   An official appearing autograph certificate of authenticity also accompanied the Armstrong photo.  For the collector who was seeking a real Neil Armstrong autograph, this signed photo was a gold nugget.  However, there was a problem; the first name on the photograph was spelled "Neal."  Did Neil Armstrong actually misspell his first name? After all it came with a certificate of authenticity claiming an autographed photo of Neil Armstrong.  With almost 100% probability the signed photo was indeed autographed, but not by Neil Armstrong.

There is another sobering story concerning another auction company who accepts consignments from collectors and then resells them on the Internet with their own certificate of authenticity.  A collector recently submitted a portion of his collection to this company for resale on their internet auction website.  Included in the consignment were items he had purchased from the company many years before that had gone online.  The original certificates of authenticity did not accompany his submission.  You can imagine his surprise when the auction company rejected for consignment some of the items that he originally purchased from the company with their letter of authenticity.

An autograph certificate of authenticity often come from dealers whose presence in the business rivals that of a shooting star.  Another dealer from the East coast who mailed lavish catalogs offered a written lifetime guarantee of authenticity to the original purchaser.  That particular autograph dealer was successfully sued for autograph fraud for failing to refund the purchase price of a Samuel Colt autograph.  The collector who returned the autograph to the dealer lost his money and the merchandise.  The dealer is now retired and enjoying the good life.

Unfortunately, there is no 100% guarantee that the autograph you collect is real.  Joseph Cosey made a nice living forging signatures of famous colonial Americans such as George Washington and Button Gwinnett, before he was caught.  His forgeries still circulate as real autographs in the autograph market.  Even some of the national autograph dealers who routine provide authentication of autographs can sometimes be fooled.

Then how can the novice collector be confident of collecting authentic material?  Perhaps the best way is to learn about autograph collecting.  There is much material available about determining authenticity.  Many of the national autograph collecting organizations sponsor courses or have informal meetings that discuss way of discerning autographs.  The more you know learn about the field of autograph collecting, the better able you will become in recognizing and appreciating truly authentic autographs.

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