SIGNED ITEMS: REAL OR FAKE???
Well, finally, after months of reflections, i decide to do
this page. Im not the expert, but in more
than 10 years i have see a lot of staff. Recently,
checking on ebay at first, i see A LOT of fake
signed metallica items, and not only metallica... Than
remember me when someone told me
that about 70-80% of ebay signed staff are fake, well...,
probably. Finally checking on popsike i see
that when you write’ metallica signed’ on the search
system, and show the highest price first, you
will see that at less 50% of the items on the first page
are FAKE!!!!!
And some people payed 500$ for a shit fake item, probably
get it framed up the wall : (((
But than how find and buy a legit signed item? Hard to
say, but here we go...
The best way, of caurse, is get it signed in person.
Ok..., easy to say, more hard to do, especially if
you look for some old treasure signatures like cliff
burton. Even nowdays signatures are not so easy
to get in person, to meet, for example, metallica...
And even if you buy an item that look real, from a good
seller, with picture of proof, you will never
be 100% sure of is authenticity, so we can say it's quite
impossible to buy a signed item and be
100% sure of it. But we can know a bit more about how to
looking to the real deal...
The seller. You know the seller already? Do
business with already? He sold good staff and is
a respectable collector? Ok, than probably he have good
signed staff, but not necessary REAL.
Maybe he don't want to fuk you with a fake item, but maybe
he also don't know if is a real or fake...,
so is not a garancy of a real item, but help much to know
the other part of the business you do with.
The price. Is a bargain? Than 99,9% is a
fake! Nobody will sell a treasure item for low price...,
beware. Is an high/right price? Not necessary is the real
deal. I recently sold a rtl signed 1985 for
375$, a good price indeed, but cliff signature was a
little smudged, that lowered the price..., but that
one was real! I see record signed for more than 1000$, but
with an offer of 500$ would be sold. So
that one bring me some doubts... Well, he put it on ebay
for 1000$ and accept a 50% lower price...?
Thinking like "Ok, i make 500$ free and fast, not bad
indeed..., so beware. Finally, price is always
subjective and personal..., especially on ebay can all
appear..., so isn't so indicative for the buyer.
Item itself. What kind of item is signed?
Make attention to the year of release of the record, or cd,
or whatever… I see record pressed later ’90 signed by
metallica in ’86! Quite comic i know, but
in certain case can help, especially for those that don’t
have in memory the exact date of release of
certain lp/cd. Can appear an rtl signed on 1986, but it’s
a later press of the 1988! Beware.
A second thing about the item, that’s not absolute but can
also help, is what kind of item is signed.
Normally a fake signed item have low value: nobody
counterfeit an item that can be worth much
also without signatures! Personally, if I can meet
metallica and get signed some staff, well I will
bring with me some of my nice/rare staff. But if I must
counterfeit an item signing it, I will of
course keep the common staff with low value, so i can make
10x value with fake signs.
So if you come across a megaforce promo rtl or kea signed,
probably is real or seller is an idiot!!
(yes…, isn’t absolute…, I know).
Item description and
proof.
Beware from bullshit that can you read about the item: was signed
by frend, i meet in person, my brother was..., a seller
that wanna sell a fake always add a beautiful
history about where and who..., but fantasy it's the lord
of this kind of sellers. Beware. Even when
seller show you a picture of the ticket, a pass, a picture
of the band signing..., can be (and normally
be!) all bullshit. Especially in the early days, who have
really meet metallica, does not thinked
about take pics showing cliff signing some staff! That's
for sure. Recently i see a lot of signed staff
with exact proof, for example ac/dc signing an album,
thats was the album on the action but angus
signed in another edge..., so isn't for sure an exact
proof! And finally video, some are real, some
not. Not garancy enough for spend 1000$ imo.
Bad fake, good fake. That's the shit: when you come
across a visible fake, bad made signatures,
well its easy, but when the signatures look real..., what
to do? And from other side, alcol and drugs
can do some bad joke to the hands of artist ; ) so sign
look like shit but are true. This second fact it's
quite rare imo: also when drunk or whatever, signature can
look not perfect, some lines strange and
not on the "normal" look like sign of the
artist, but can be not so hard say real or not, in the doubt
don't buy. That's all. BUT on the fact you find a good
fake.., hard to say real or fake.
For example: i buy a green cover rtl signed in 86.
Signatures look great (thinking now about, was
too much good, you know, all perfect signature, super
clear, strange for an 25 years old signatures),
but inside was the red vinyl boots, and def also the cover
was a little different from the original
press (the right side in front cover, in the boots reissue
the last cm of the lightning are linear..., and
so was what i bought). The seller tell me that the preview
owner have change the vinyl cause of
the damage (!) mhhhhhh, i ask for a refound and so was. I
think the seller i bought he really don't
know that was a fake, i trust him when he say me all the
history, but first owner..., well he was not
a gentlemen than. Im sure 100% this was the bootleg green
cover, so not possible that was signed
on 1986! So the lesson is: signatures can look real, super
good made, BUT fake! Than must
accuracy control the type of sign and sharpie lines…
Type of sign. It's one of the must to look on
signature items. Especially when you find a record
cover signed: if the 4 signatures (in case of metallica
for example) are egually distributed on the
4 'edge' of the sleeve, when are big the same, have the
same direction, well is strange if not fake.
It's impossible (and i never seen one) that a record
sleeve was or is signed proportionally egually by
4 person, also on the same direction, impossible! Than
fake!
In case of extra write (not only sign but also writing
like ‘vodka tour’ or ‘drink and destroy’, or
just the year of signature add by lars) well it’s quite
indicative for the buyer. Lars loved in the ’80
add some shit to his sign, he have a tipical hand writing,
on the numbers and on the word ‘vodka’
or ‘tour’, you can check that and look at an original lars
hand write letter or even record sleeve
with extra add and look if are same or not. I know seller
can made itself and counterfeit it, but isn’t
so easy. For example, i have see an item signed with (if i
remember right…) lars extra ‘vodka tour
85’ and james extra ‘drink and
destroy’, and that was the same hand writing! Than same person,
than fake!
Type of pen/sharpie. Another control point very
important, especially for old signed items!
Especially with sharpie, on old signed items, it’s quite
indicative. On a record sleeve signed back
in the ’80 with sharpie, it’s impossible to have 4 nice,
well done, complete, without imperfection
on the line itself signatures! After 25 years, even if stored
in plastic or whatever, the lines of the
sharpie are not like lines do recently! So when you come
across a cliff signature that look perfect,
plain beautiful line, beware. Of course it’s not
absolute.., but can help much!
Normally on an old sleeve signed the lines look ‘old’,
‘ugly’, ‘streaked’, it’s not like new you
know! Another ‘line effect’ is done when a sign it’s fast
made, and normally a sign it’s fast made.
So when you find a signature that look real, but have not
the tipical ‘internal uncoloration’ (sorry
that’s bad english lol ) but he have a plain/full color,
and look like slow and accuracy made,
beware! That’s why it’s always important to ask close up
and detail picture of the sign!
Method of payment. This is a good things also for
staff not signed: if you close a deal (especially
outside ebay) it’s a good think to pay with paypal. Don’t
think im a paypal fun, isn’t so, I hate the
4% fees! But if you don’t recive any items (so seller have
fuked you!) you can open a claim trought
paypal and have a total refound! If you pay with bank
transfer or whatever…, at your risk! Beware.
(I tasted it on my skin.., not beautiful lost money on
this way for an asshole seller!)
This is some kind of help on find fake or real signed
items, isn’t absolutely, so you will never
have the certainty about real deal or fake shit!!!
METALLICA SIGNATURES
1983-1986 - CLIFF BURTON ERA
I love metallica
old style, from ’80, especially Cliff Burton era, like much more collectors.
So the must have
of any die hard collector is of course a signed lp, cd’s or whatever, from
1983-1986.
Well, in the last
10 years I got a lot of signed records (lp it’s what i like more…) and see a
lot of signed staff.
Sadly, they are a
lot of fake signed lp’s too. Here you can find some pictures from my
collection, frends
collection and
from internet…, with some advice/guide about how to check real signed staff…,
and fake.
I will not write
just FAKE or REAL. I try to explain why i have some doubt in some lp’s signed
that
tell me that’s
better don’t buy it!
As write before…,
first at all look at the pictures! Pics say all! Than read also all the
possible bullshit
about how and
where was signed…, cause sometimes signs looks good, but maybe story/seller
not!
REAL SIGNED LP’s
|
|
Kill em all,
megaforce, 1983 Signed on dec
1983, This is a nice
example of early signatures type, even look much more like an 84 style, with
generous ‘add’ from all members. Also quite classic is the cliff sign on
simple pen, with ‘fuk em up’ add. Also james and lars classic hand writing
very visible (‘K’,‘TH’ and ‘S’ for james and ‘N’, ‘M’ and ‘E’ for lars).
Finally signatures look really old (30 years old!), the color it’s faded up
partially, signs look unregular, stunning. ‘Hetfield’ on
james sign it’s typically from 83-84, change a little on 85-86. Also ‘ |
||||||
|
|
Kill em all,
megaforce, 1983 Signed on 1983,
from Chris (invisible chris 23) collection Early days!
Small signs with a lot of special add. Cliff sign look not so classic, but
old/faded signs and look real signs in general confirm the deal. Look at classic
kirk hand write: ‘EA’ and ‘TH’ of death word, is exactly the same as my kea.
Above the hammer stay ‘metallica’, lars classic hand write. ‘Ulrich’ from
lars sign: classic big ‘g’ to finish the sign, that disappear on 85-86. |
||||||
|
|
Jump in the fire
From alex
website (metallisigned) Awesome 1984
signed (in |
||||||
|
|
Ride the
lightning, megaforce 84 Signed on 1985
(my ex copy, sold) Unfortunely
cliff sign is smudged off, but nobody made a fake like this right? Anyway,
special add disappeared (exept lars that add the year), not more lars final
‘g’ but only a sign like ‘m’, ‘hetfielf’ from james final sign goes back
(earlier he goes back and front again), kirk sign it’s similar but ‘hammett’
start below kirk and second part of cliff sign have only ‘BA’, without any
‘o’ or ‘t’ as final. Signatures looks
again old and faded off, more big as he early days. |
||||||
|
|
Kill em all Signed 1985 (my
ex copy, now on metallifreak27 collection) Stunning
signatures, no special add but egually nice, just perfect. On reality can
show the small faded from sharpie. |
||||||
|
|
Master of
puppets Signed 1986
(from popsike) Sold for 1000$,
I think it’s the real deal. ‘Hammett’ from kirk sign it’s more below kirk
(not always its like this anyway) and lost the central part of sign, also
‘james’ it’s write much linear and ‘hetfield’ it’s also more simple. ‘VOD’
from vodka word write from lars it’s a classic (‘V’ like an U and ‘O’ ‘D’
similar (sometimes attached), also the ‘6’ from 86 it’s a classic (small hole
finished on below). Big sign, no
add, and not more longer sign but ‘fat’. This is a perfect fake or the real
deal! Story/seller can help much on this case… |
||||||
|
FAKE SIGNED
LP’s (just some
example!) |
Another nice
signed jump (probably ’86) from the Sergey collection, many thanks… Here a holy
grail kea testpress signed back on 1986, (owner unknown) thanks to Title Sticker for sharing it. |
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
This is
absolutely my favourite: comic signatures, all same ‘big’, same handwriting
look, too much regular location of the signs, sharpie not faded, even not similar
to a real tallica sign. Well, this was
sold for more than 1000$ !!! Sad but
true… “… come with a
certificate of approval…” seller says. My God. |
||||||
|
|
Sold for more
than 600$ !!! No comment. |
||||||
|
|
550$ Again no comment. |
||||||
|
DOUBT SIGNED LP
– Here show only the picture, but a lot of other info are important to
conclude if real or fake!!! (in the doubt
don’t buy it!) |
Drunk or fake…, more
than probably the second one…. |
||||||
|
|
More I look at
it, more I say it’s a fake.., even without read any story about, or any pics
showing the boys sign it in person… First of all the
sharpie: plain black like do this morning. Look not old at all. ‘BOOZE’ isn’t
the classic james hand write and it’s more a ‘creeping death’ |
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
This look not so
bad…, look like an 1983 signed jump, in pen. But on
description seller say signed on 86, so he really don’t know what he sell or
sell a fake made by him. Strange that all 4 signs are horizontal made, same
big too, too much big for an 1983. Doubt = not buy |
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
Bad quality
picture, anyway this is on ebay now (jan 2013) for more than 2500$. First impression on a better picture I have
is the hand write ‘die fuker!’, never seen it. Than cliff sign look slow
made, again black sharpie plain, no faded. Well for that price must more than
100% sure about…, but even for 500$! |
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
Bad picture
again, but first strange is the final hammett sign: normally finish on front,
this one goes back. Also james sign look bad and word ‘booze’ it’s strange
too. Same location on the cover, same ‘big’, same orientation.. With a better
pictures and seller feedback will have more detail to say fake. |
||||||
|
|
