These are ten quick tips that would erase a million dollars in forgeries instantly!  Every now and then you don't have to look at a signature to know it is a fake; if you know it's not possible in the first place!

     Here are ten quick entertainment related tips for knowing ahead of time you're being offered a forgery.

* 1 - John Bonham of Led Zeppelin never signed an LP with a Sharpie.  Neither did Keith Moon of The Who.

* 2 - A picture of a celebrity signing an 8x10 with a black Sharpie is NOT proof for the guitar signed in blue Sharpie that you are selling.  (Seems like common sense yet this is the norm in eBay sales of "in person" items.)

* 3 - Stevie Ray Vaughn never signed anything with a silver Sharpie.  A silver paint pen maybe, but silver Sharpie no.  Learn to tell the difference.

* 4 - Kurt Cobain also never used a silver Sharpie.

* 5 - The Rat Pack never signed anything all together.  In other words, when you see autographed pages un-inscribed and signed by Lawford, Sinatra, Sammy, Dean, and Joey, run... There aren't authentic - ever.  No one collected them as The Rat Pack while they were known as that.  The phenomenon started 20 years after Lawford's death when galleries like Gallery of History, Piece of the Past, and Field of Dreams started framing their individual signatures together, which is the only way to collect them authentically.

* 6 - The photos below are the ONLY two images as 'The Joker' that Heath Ledger could have signed before his death along with the original release movie poster.  No other images were available and everything else is fake - period - end of discussion.
                       

* 7 - Ayileah didn't sign any Queen of the Damned photos - she died before any were released.

* 8 - Brandon Lee didn't sign any photographs from The Crow because he too died before they were released.  Run from these!

* 9 - Marlon Brando of The Godfather fame - what a mess... If he ever signed anything it would be from the 70s premiere dates, but even that is doubtful as his long-time secretary and personal assistant Alice Marchek stated in her book.  She signed his mail and only on rare occasions would he sign and inscribe a handful of favorite 8x10 portraits of himself (b/w) to someone usually around Christmastime.  He didn't sign in person and all runners know that.  Certainly anything he did sign in person would cost you hundreds of dollars if real.  Michael Wehrman and two other in-person experts got him to sign hastily once.  It was profiled in past printed stories and even then they were shots from  The Wild Bunch, etc... not The Godfather.  Buy a vintage signature or contract and matte it up if you ever want one with a Godfather movie shot.  One thing that is absolutely for sure - he NEVER signed a Godfather movie poster - NEVER!

* 10 - Jerry Lewis is an unhappy soul who was always a tough signer.  Recently when offered tens of thousands for a private signing, he stated he would only sign "Jerry" and not his full name.  He does sign in person from time to time, but the neat "Jerry Lewis with all good wishes" and dated coming all these years in the mail is ALL secretarial!  We even discovered who was signing them and surprise - it's not Jerry!  But hey, Dean Martin wasn't sending mail for years near the end of his life - his family members were, and if asked, they would lie outright and say they were his signature - but they were not.  Dean's signature was nearly illegible the last several years of his life, even in person signing at a table - carefully...  So maybe Jerry feels it is okay to lie to fans too.

     Gene Kelly did in fact sign much of his mail over his lifetime, but in the last years it became secretarial because he'd suffered a series of strokes.  He told dealers who wanted to do private signings and kept up the charade so the tabloids like the National Enquirer wouldn't keep vigil on his medical condition and think he was going to die soon.

     Roy Rogers always signed his mail though, right?  Nope!  Not nearly as much as you'd think, and to someone who knows the difference there are points you can tell.

     In future issues, I'll show you exactly how I know which ones are fakes, and how you can tell for yourself before buying one!

by Shawn Morgan