Guaranteed Forensic Authenticators: What Methods Do They Employ?
 

My latest Blog on GFA:


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Great blog Chris!

Thank you, Steve.

I should have posted that years ago.

So many little dots...

Chris, I want to thank you personally. What a great piece.

Thank you for helping us novices "connect the dots" on these thieves.

Thank you, Bob, and I love the "connect the dots" reference.

Great story Chris. With your finding on the photos with the dots you would think it would be a slam dunk with the Feds on all this fake stuff out there from things like what you found. The wording these companies use "In our Opinion" is crap when you have proof like that. Maybe someone higher up in law enforcement will see your article and take notice. Were always talking about C. C. and the fake stuff there and why they are still aloud to operate but something like what you found definitely would help shed light on the problem. Probably not but wishful thinking.

agreed Great Post! I wouldn't hold my breath Keith, it's the Wild West out there and the scammers know this. :mad:

They are allowed to operate because the authorities involved in the Florida forgeries dropped the case. This infuriated Tim Fitzsimmons, he of Operation Bullpen fame, who was given this case initially. This case went high up the law enforcement chain, to no avail. Unless, maybe with more light being shone on this crap, something will happen.

Thank you, Keith.

I've had that information for years, but since myself and a few others were disappointed that nothing happened, it was time to post my findings.

This information was given to the FBI in Tucson. Tim then took this to the USAAG. He did shut down a few of the companies for over a year. They where then told to hand all the information over to the Miami FBI. The reason for that was simple. That is where all the forgeries where coming from.
Almost three years of doing nothing they dropped the case.
Chris, Richard and I worked hand in hand with Tim. That is why this is so upsetting to us.

If any of you that live in Florida would like to contact your paper or your local FBI it would be appreciated.

By the way Chris nice work:):):):)

Thank you, Shelly, and well written.

nicely written and informative chris! a few have left but i'm thankful that a bunch of longtime stalwarts are still here providing info for old/new people alike.

A very good article , Chris.

Thanks.

Can I get a clarification on a couple things?

What's wrong with using inkjet paper? Was that not common back then?

What's wrong with signatures on 5x7 or 4x6 photos? Aren't those standard sizes?

Grading fascinating article Chris!

Thank you, Chad.

Scott, thank you very much.

Mickey Mantle did not sign any 4X6 or 5X7 photos for Scoreboard.

Mickey Mantle passed away in 1995; do you really think he signed photos produced on inkjet paper?

Aside from all of the hard evidence I show, I have yet to see on authentic Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax autograph with a COA from GFA and GFA opened its doors in Sept. 2011.

Think about it.

Thank you, Tim.

Ok. My bad. I didn't notice that the company stated all their material came from SB, hence the 5x7 and 4x6 sizes couldn't exist.

I also assumed that since inkjet printers were publicly available in the late 1980s that inkjet paper would have been available shortly thereafter. Sorry

Scoreboard used Photo Lab.

And the why is that while there were inkjets around, they were fairly slow, didn't do all that well on photos even with special paper, and the special paper and the ink/printer were expensive.

At the same time, a commercial photo lab could run photos from the same negative, or more likely a strip of duplicate negatives, and the cost per photo would have been much less.

A great example of some simple checking. If the underlying item makes very little sense, then more often than not the rest of the entire item should be very suspect.

Exactly, Steve.

One of the points I make in my blog is that it would have been cost prohibitive.

Part 2
 

Part 2 of my Blog about GFA.


https://live.autographmagazine.com/p...-do-they-use-b