Based on recent reports, the biggest news of the year, if not the decade, is the advent of “A.I.” – artificial intelligence. I’d wager it could even achieve the immortal status of allegorically being named Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year.” We’ll see.
In reality and by definition, it isn’t a person. It’s artificial. But, it’s designed to accurately pretend to be real. That’s the concern of everyone from musicians to collectors. Artificial Intelligence has become so advanced the technology can precisely emulate the speech of an individual or a song being performed.
In fairness, replication has been a concern of collectors for centuries. Since the 1600s, artists have had their unique styles copied and sold as the real deal. The same is true for replica signatures. U.S. Presidents have long used the autopen to sign letters and other documents. Now, the technology and ability has become so perfected, legions of individuals and companies are lining up to regulate A.I.....
For countless people, this directly affects them insofar as what something may or may not be worth. Most telling are fun, collectible and/or historic items people cherish and pay top-dollar for.
Recently, I ran across a selection of signed items. Each has skyrocketed in value over the past decade or so. At a current auction, two items were vintage baseballs signed by Babe Ruth. One had seen better days. It was clearly worn, having been handled a lot. Even so, the auction price was $41,000. Another ball in substantially better condition with a nicer signature of the Babe was commanding $55,000. Several other non-sports items were even more impressive. One was a small, 250-year-old promissory note for 14 shillings and 10 pence. It was signed by George Washington and made out to Colonel William Crawford. A few years later, Crawford accompanied Washington when he crossed the Delaware. It brought a modest $18,500.
I say “modest” because another small cut piece of paper from the same era brought far more. This one had almost no determinable printing on it other than the signature of Amadeus Mozart – one of the rarest autographs to obtain. The sale price for it was a flat $100,000. Eclipsing that was a business-sized card with a photo. Known as a Carte De Viste, these were calling cards left when an individual stopped by someone’s home. This one jumped out because the photo was of Abraham Lincoln hand-signed “A. Lincoln.” Fewer than 10 such cards are known to exist (but surely, others are out there hiding). It sold for a whopping $150,000.
The examples go on and on. As corporate tycoons, lawyers, sports stars and the like earn stratospheric salaries, demand and prices keep going up and up. So much more now is the temptation for skilled fakers.
One recommendation for modern autograph seekers is to have a picture taken of the celebrity signing the individual item. It’s a nice thought but would be next to impossible to obtain a photo taken close enough to visually confirm what the celebrity is signing and when. Anyway, once the item changes hands a few times, who will be around to attest to the original signing event in the photo?
This underscores the vital importance of professional authentication services such as the PSA/DNA; Beckett Authentication; or James Spence Authentication. These are three of the highest rated firms verifying the veracity of collectible autographs including sports, political and entertainment.
If not obtaining the autograph personally, the other safeguard is to absolutely know the seller. As I’ve lamented many times, it has been stated over 50 percent of the “celebrity” sports autographs for sale on eBay are considered counterfeit. Also, beware the accompanying Certificate of Authenticity (COA). In this day and age of professional-looking desktop printing, it’s so easy to produce a certificate that looks great but means nothing. After all, who actually signed the certificate? Oh, and is the certificate even genuine?
The bottom line goes back to appreciating what you may have obtained, and enjoying it for what it is. Years ago, Steven King was nice enough to sign five of his books for me. So too for Dave Barry. I even was able to get Alex Haley to autograph my copy of Roots. Do those have considerable value for collectors? Probably. But, they certainly always will for me.
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