New ebay forgers angle , still forgeries but fly under the radar
 

ok so it maybe isnt new and folks do it , but give him a "A" for effort. take some joe sewells bill terry johnny mize that are real and mix in with a boat load of tougher semi commons who died awhile back , mostly under 100.00 guys, find vintage paper and fake away. i was fishing for some stuff and came upon the satchel paige, no good but kinda close , so then i usually look at other items , most of the time just a few other bad hofers , but this guy really got into bump hadley gabby street and did up some guys that will fly under the radar , sell them for 5- 49.00 , of course been collecting for over 40 years and all items lifetime psa or jsa warranty but just beware it aint just the big guys out here , but you throw in a paige and you get exposed , will try and post link i am not real sure how to do it user id is dipandjack

http://www.ebay.com/sch/dipandjack/m...p2046732.m1684

What did you think of the 'Lloyd Waner'? It looks like a penciled version of it underneath.

yeah it is just not waners signature but i didnt notice that pencil looking stuff on there , may have did it in pencil , then went over in pen faster. good catch , may be onto something there . would make it alot easier to forge that way , then go back and erase the slow pencil guidelines, at least it is a new one on me.

Fly under the radar and sell " bad " commons for which there are no " need " for references because they are so cheap and " who would forge such a cheap autograph " and mix in a common HOFer that is legit and you can make a ton of money . Why sell a bad Mantle , Ted Williams or Joe D for a few hundred dollars and get scrutinized when you can sell 30-40 bad signatures of common guys and you have made the same or more money with less aggravation and scrutiny.
Great business model !!!!

Kirk,
It's funny you mention this cause I just ran across this guys stuff about an hour ago. How about the Satchel Paige......... It's not often you get to see some forged 5$ autos.

yeah i came upon the paige , then when i saw it was bad clicked on other items but look at completed listings he had walter briggs , rather tough more like a 300.00 item gabby street joe judge , alot of guys that died in the 50`s and 60`s. good stuff but not something that will get you nabbed. most of them are only maybe 2 or 3 certed ones on ebay. mix in a bunch of easy hof 3x5`s , then move up to a fake lloyd waner , and just listed connie mack , paige etc, then he gets noticed, those other guys i would all buy but i dont search for them ever. it was just a funny pattern , but even if those guys were real, running them in a auction isnt likely to bring good money, well i guess it is real good money when you do them yourself. the pencil deal pointed out is interesting

See this all the time. They even forge $3-$5 autographed cards from guys that sign for free. I guess if you can sell a card for $5 that you normally couldn't give away that is pretty good profit.

Hi Guys, my name is Adam Bonfiglio. I am the eBay user that you are discussing in this thread. This is obviously an uncomfortable situation, but I felt it would be best to tell things from my perspective, rather than hide and not say anything. First and foremost, I am a collector first. I have been collecting since February of 1976. I have the upmost respect for the hobby and other collectors who share the enjoyment. I have been selling items on eBay, shows and through mailing lists for over 20 years to supplement my collection. I have 26,241 baseball autographs in my collection. 8893 different players. That does not include umpires, execs, AAGPBL, broadcasters, etc.
I do not sell any autographs that I do not already have in my collection. I buy collections of any size and individual autographs and have been doing so for years. I look to upgrade those of lesser quality and then sell the placeholder. Look, I know as well as you do that there are literally thousands of fake autographs on eBay and throughout the hobby. The facts are well documented. However, I would NEVER intentionally list an item that I thought was fake! I have purchased items, even a few with fancy PSA and JSA LOA's, that have been found to be not authentic. I don't like when that happens to me, so I certainly wouldn't do that to others. There is no doubt that some of the items I have listed may not be real, but not to my knowledge. I'm sure there are many fakes that are offered by many other respected sellers as well! Unfortunately, that's just the nature of the hobby. Maybe I don't take the time that I should to examine the autographs more thoroughly, (Incidentally, the Waner autograph has been removed from my listing),but to suggest that I am forging the autographs is very upsetting.
I have a good job, with benefits. I have a wonderful wife and 2 beautiful boys. I am an honest, hard-working, middle-class citizen. I don't need extra money. My life is good. I simply enjoy the hobby.
I don't want to sound defensive, but I wanted to tell things from my end. I wish there was something I could do or say to prove all of this to you. I'm open to suggestions. I don't want you to think that this is all BS. I know eBay seller rating doesn't necessarily mean much, but it is 100%. I have a great deal of friends that I have made through the hobby that can vouch for my credibility. If you'd like to call me to discuss this further, please feel free to do so. 862 881-0309.
Thanks,
Adam

"There is no doubt that some of the items I have listed may not be real"

If this is the case, then why not state this in the auction description? Let people know that you're not personally any kind of autograph expert, and there is a chance that the autograph is fake. Now, I would agree that you don't HAVE to do this, but if you're so concerned about your reputation, then what would it hurt?

Just my two cents, I once bought a Musial from Adam that was real (albeit under a different ebay handle, adababy5). A different time I bought a Harry Caray that in my hands was pretty obviously fake and got rejected by JSA. Adam refunded my money (but not the JSA fee). That having been said I highly doubt Adam is forging them himself - I was on a mailing list of his for a while and just the sheer volume he has would take him too long to do. But, I'm sure fakes slip in and it doesn't seem like they're vetted properly.

Not defending either side here, just giving some perspective as someone who dealt with the person in the past.

-David

Very good point, Scott, but I'm contending that with the way things are in the hobby, that literally EVERYBODY may have items for sale that may be fake. Again, there are well-documented cases where even the most highly-regarded authenticators have sold items that were not real. All I can do is try to get you all to understand that I am not purposely selling fake autographs and I am CERTAINLY not creating them. I can't prove it, but I can only hope that you will see me as genuine.

nevermind.

it always comes back to somebody saying i can show you a link to a article where ...fill in the blank... has shown some third party has made a mistake... this is to show that really it was honest that they dont know what they are doing or to use as a cover for getting caught doing it. not my first rodeo. except this one came with all american resume, , sooo the cats out of the bag , seller has 80% of the items listed that are bad, and 80% of the items sold are bad , off the top paige mack and combs as hofers over 100-200 are at the top bad. so now that the whole operation has been outed . whatcha do? this is a simple deal, first thing if you arent going to remove all of them , you would have been better off never responding on here , just let it drift down the page and not list anymore hofers over 20.00 .that goes also on resume as dumb move. i buy so many autographs and collections , have for years , and if you have been doing it for 40 years , it would be impossible not to know this many were bad, the same pattern goes all the way back to fake bob moose and mike miley in october and the real duke snider sold the same time. just not possible of a scenario for this to play out as a victim .should have left off paige , got too greedy

ohh an you really want the kicker , the tell tell sign look at the bidders on the items

private listing - bidders' identities protected

all items sold

Not to hijack the thread… But Kirk why do you never respond to questions on eBay? I send you questions about items all the time and never get a response. Just wondering.

did you ask it here or through ebay? i got maybe 21000 on ebay get alot of questions , alot of emails . and alot of questions that just go nowhere , so it is best to send me a direct email unless it is one of the qustion like a guy who emailed this christmas and asked for a scan of the back of the psa/dna cert card, i have stopped for the most part answering those

Adam-
First I think you deserve credit for coming on here and not hiding away from the accusations. That said, to say that most everyone sells a fake autograph here and there is not quite an accurate statement. There's a difference between someone taking the time to thoroughly vette an autograph before selling it and making the occasional mistake, and not taking the time at all and writing it off as the cost of doing business. Just my opinion, but it doesn't seem like a viable business model to not perform your due diligence when offering signatures into the market, particularly on ebay where it's fairly common knowledge that the customer base lacks the knowledge and experience of say, the members on this site. Again, you sound like a good enough guy who isn't maliciously trying to defraud people, but I think you have a responsibility to be more proactive in ensuring the items you're offering are good. Or at the very least stating clearly that some doubt could exist, as suggested above.

This guy does not deserve credit for coming on here. Obvious forgeries. Those that make honest mistakes might have a bad one or two in the bunch, but I have NEVER seen forgeries of some of the stuff he is trying to get away with. Secretarials and sisters' signatures are one thing, but numerous outright forgeries is another. I will even give a strictly card guy a pass when they make a mistake, but not someone who claims knowledge of autographs and collecting autographs. Bottom line sir, you are a liar. Go away.

+1

I hate that Ebay allows "Private Listing/Bidders Identities Protected."

While he's selling forgeries, he's purchasing authentic autographs from Jim Stinson.

Check his "Feedback As A Buyer."

Back in the day, when I was exposing a ton of sellers on Ebay for selling forgeries, I observed 25% of them were using the funds from their sales of forgeries to purchase authentic autographs from UDA, Steiner Sports, etc.

i did notice on the guy like hank bauer which is worth about .10 more than nothing it didnt have a private auction. and yes you are correct because now you cant see the whole user id anyway , but...on the flip side the private auction is good because if a seller is using it , stay away , you know what they are up to, and dont bid on their items

a common trick that Tony "Don't call me Jorge" Podsada used to do. Sell his trash and buy PSA certed Mantles. LOL.

The seller is stuck with all his trash and where else but e-bay is the place to go with all your trash. I respect the man for telling his story here. Truth is, he should just take that garbage off period, smash that SH** with a bat in a trash can and move on. AND STOP SELLING PLAIN AND OUTRIGHT EASY TO SPOT FORGERIES. That would be ultimate respect

Tony Podsada
 

I can tell you a lot about Tony. I used to work fro him in NJ from 1989-1990. When Billy Martin died this guy got 500 Martin autographs like it was nothing??? He then did a run of 1000 Ali autos. One thing that was always strange is that the autographs looked the same throughout the run. People do not sign in such a consistent way.

I went with him and met Ken Goldin and his late father Paul at Scoreboard in Cherry Hill. Scoreboard seemed on the level to me as they had select autos and when they got Pete Rose via Mike Bertolini whom I met it was legitimate.

I don't have proof that MFP sold forgeries but when it is too good to be true this is usually the case.

I will say this that Tony had a mouth piece and knew how to use it but I would imagine that most of what he sold including the Mattingly auto balls he gave as presents were fake based on my experience.

Art S@rgi

Thought I'd throw my .02 in on the subject. First, I have purchased 3 autographs from Adam over the years (it's been several years since the last one), and all three were without question (in my mind and under magnification) to be authentic (of course, all three sigs I was VERY familiar with). Adam always had a good reputation and stood behind his autographs.
With that said, and after reading this thread, I just threw-up in my mouth a bit. Sorry Adam, but you can't keep your good reputation, and also stick your head in the sand. Yes, there are tons of fakes out there, but you should not be selling autographs that you haven't "taken enough time" to look at. Believe me, if the autographs in question are THAT easy to spot, then you either didn't look at all, your expertise is not what you think it is, or you knowingly passed them along...and I'd like to believe it's one of the first two rather than the last (although all are disturbing).