OK, so everyone knows I'm just slightly obsessed with Battlestar Galactica.

I've got one of those weird collector brains, and when I get interested in something, I tend to start collecting things related to it. Guitar effects pedals. Books about the Titanic. Stuff related to BSG, naturally. And, naturally, that includes autographs.

Now, a lot of people sell autographs on eBay, which means a lot of people buy them. Like most things on eBay, it's definitely caveat emptor, but ... who'd forge Katee Sackhoff's autograph, for example?



I got interested in this when I noticed someone on eBay selling autographs of Katee (and Jamie Bamber) that were clearly bogus, not only because they bore no resemblance to Katee's real signature but they actually misspelled her name in some of them. Here, for example:

I think she can spell her name...

Here's a genuine Katee Sackhoff autograph for comparison:

Oh, look! She can spell her name!

Aside from those, however, it hadn't really occurred to me that people might be faking BSG autographs on a larger scale. I mean, come on: It's not like they're Marilyn Monroe or something, right? (Or even Marilyn Manson.) But then a couple weeks ago I noticed an item that really caught my eye: A picture of the cast at the Paley Festival in LA, autographed by the cast. This was a real head-scratcher: The ad claimed that the picture had been signed at the Paley Festival, but the picture was taken at the Paley Festival! The signatures looked pretty good, but I was, to put it mildly, highly skeptical: How could the cast have signed a picture taken that same night, particularly since the picture was taken by a Sci-Fi Channel photographer and released a couple of days after the festival? Plus, the cast didn't do any signings that night; they didn't have time. I talked to Katee, as everyone knows, but I didn't get an autograph, although as I mentioned yesterday, a woman did get a couple of trading cards signed while I was talking to her. Anyway, I emailed the seller of this little gem and asked about it. She had a bunch of excuses, but after a while she did take it down. However, she has a bunch of other less obvious items which I am nevertheless certain are fakes. Here's one of their current ads:

Very, very rare indeed!

(If you are reading this more than 3 months after it's posted, that link won't work anymore.)

For the provenance of the item, they have this to say:

"This particular cast hand sign (sic) photo of EIGHT was obtained in person at the most recent EVENT in Los Angeles WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MICHAEL HOGAN AND TRICIA HELFER. THEIR SIGNATURE WAS OBTAINED EARLY THIS YEAR DIRECTLY FROM THE BSG SET IN VANCOUVER,B.C. CANADA."

Although they're kind of coy about it, it's clear that they are referring to the Paley Festival as the occasion on which this was signed. I want to stress again that the cast did not sign autographs at the Paley Festival. Now, these folks are smart enough to realize that Tricia Helfer and Michael Hogan weren't at the Paley Festival, so they claim that they signed "early this year directly from the BSG set." Too bad BSG hasn't been in production since last year. Ooops.

Note that nice "Battlestar Galactica Autographs" logo? That belongs to a company called Iconographs, which is owned by a fellow named Brian Eick ... who is David Eick's brother. Iconographs has an exclusive deal with the cast members of BSG. They run a website called bsgautographs.com, and also sell on eBay. Those other folks ("jeexpress") are using BSG Autograph's logo, lifted either from their website or one of their (legitimate) auctions. And claiming that they have inside sources at the studio. (Yes, I've contacted Iconographs and told them about the folks using their logo. Hopefully something will get done about it.)

After I saw this stuff, I started poking around, and I've come to the conclusion that buying any autograph on eBay is a crapshoot. There's a lot of skanky stuff there: Photographic copies of autographs (with clever weasel-wording to imply that they're originals while trying to stay clear of the law), really bad fakes like the misspelled ones of Katee, and subtler fakes like the ones "jeexpress" sells. There's another dealer who sells what are pretty clearly fake BSG autographs as well as lots of other autographs, which makes me suspect that all of his items are fakes.

A big, big problem on eBay is that you really can't trust the feedback scores to tell you who to stay away from. "jeexpress" has a feedback rating of 99.7% positive -- only one negative out of nearly 450 comments. (One of the neutrals, however, is complaining about a BSG autograph, noting that it's a computer-printed photo and that the signatures are flaking off -- surprise, surprise, since the print probably hadn't even dried when they were applied...) The problem is that people rarely leave negative feedback for fear of getting negative feedback in retaliation. It's also the case that most people who buy an autograph just assume that it's real; most people have no way of knowing whether the signature is authentic or not. So why would they complain?

Most of the dealers on eBay will reassure you by saying "comes with Certificate of Authenticity!" Of course, the problem is that a "Certificate of Authenticity" is worth precisely as much as the paper it's printed on. I mean, come on: Any fool with a computer and a laser printer can print a "Certificate of Authenticity!" Most legitimate dealers, on the other hand, are members of the UACC, the Universal Autograph Collectors Club, and the best ones are registered dealers with the UACC (see the list here). Iconographs, for example, is a UACC registered dealer.

There are some ways to avoid getting screwed. The most obvious is to only buy from a company that is definitely on the up-and-up, and that offers an ironclad guarantee that the autograph is real or they'll refund your money. For BSG, obviously, that's going to be bsgautographs.com, whether by buying directly from their website or from one of their eBay sales. (Another legitimate source of BSG autographs is Creation Entertainment, who produce the BSG convention.) The best way to be absolutely sure the autograph is real is to get it yourself, of course. Barring that, writing to stars usually gets you a signature, although, ironically, those are frequently not real, being either signed by a secretary or using an "autopen," a device that copies a signature. (As far as I know, if you write to any of the BSG actors, you get a real signature, however.) Frankly, I'd recommend that a typical casual buyer shouldn't buy any autograph on eBay unless they know that the seller is legitimate, e.g., BSG Autographs. Otherwise, be prepared to look at a lot of real signatures to get an idea of how to spot the fakes.

For BSG, there's another way to get a real autograph: Buy a trading card. Rittenhouse Archives has made two sets of BSG trading cards that include autographed "chase cards" like this one:



These are real autographs, no question about it. The catch is that they're relatively expensive: That card with Katee's signature on it will set you back $100, whereas a picture signed by Katee from BSG Autographs can be had for around $30. The reason the cards cost more is that they're sought after by trading card collectors trying to get a complete set. So, unless you're a card collector, you're probably better off buying a picture from the autograph dealers. The legitimate ones, at any rate.

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