The holidays are upon up. What do you get the man that has everything? A forged autograph of course! He likes baseball, he likes Mark McGwire and he has all the ties in the world. Why not get him a signature of Mark McGwire! Of course when you type in McGwire's name on any of the many On-Line auction sites that run an anarchist business of assuming no responsibility to what sells, you get hundreds of Mark McGwire gift ideas. Therefore you have a problem. Which one of these baseballs do I get him? This one looks good and the sellers guarantees it's authenticity with a piece of paper the size of toilet paper that says it was signed before the guy selling the item. Works for me and only $ 40! Of course authentic McGwire balls sell for around $ 600, but you don't know that and therefore in front of a pile of perfectly innocent gifts, before a Christmas tree, a loving fire in the fire place, he kisses wife holding this item before him with joy. He would have never thought to own such an item. What a unique gift. Thank you honey. This doesn't have to be Mark McGwire, it could just as easily be Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods or Babe Ruth. The holidays make crooks smile.

Here are things to look for when buying for the Holidays.

1) REMEMBER, 90% OF ALL AUTOGRAPHS ARE FORGERIES- Buying from On-Line auctions is tricky. Unless you know the good dealers from the bad dealers, your basically screwed. Even experts are tricked every once in a while and if they get tricked, you're doomed. When dealing with On-Line auctions like eBay or Yahoo or Amazon, it seems like a stupid premise but the more you pay, the better off you are. Why? Simply put, all the big auction houses and serious dealers buy on these sites as well. If your bidding against people who know what they are doing, then your pushing the price up, making it more difficult for them to make a profit in the long run. I've seen some good deals on eBay but not enough to recommend a beginner to look seriously into being a purchasing agent for the holidays.

2) FORENSICS, THIRD PARTY AUTHENTICATORS--AVOID!!!- Why, aren't these the true experts? The dealers that utilize these services have made a habit of standing behind these people that have enough documentation to prove their worth in the business from being court certified and years and years of experience in testifying in courts. Truth of the matter is that eBay has banned several well known forensics and third party authenticators. If you look at the fine print, any item with certain forensic and third party authenticator certificates are removed. The dealers that utilize these services will tell you that they are the true experts because these dealers that utilize them always happen to have a huge supply of rarities and are willing to sell rare signatures at rock bottom prices. These dealers never run out of difficult signatures and instead of sending them to legitimate auction houses, they would much rather get 30% of what they should on-line. Be very afraid.

3) LOOK AT THEIR OTHER AUCTIONS- Do they have ALL the most popular autographs that you want? Kurt Warner, Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Michael Jordan, Lou Gehrig, Derek Jeter? People who sell forgeries pump out only the big names. Why bother dealing with such little names when you have so little in an item that you can profit from the get go. The crooks that sell forgeries sell nothing but the big names.

4) THE CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY- This is the biggest joke in the business. EVERY DEALER offers one! It means nothing at all. It's just a piece of paper. A person to blame if you find out it's forged, but you'll never know it's forged. Most of the dealers on eBay and Yahoo and Amazon got into the autograph business last week so it seems. You have to remember, 90% of all autographs are phony.

5) BUY FROM AUTOGRAPH ORGANIZATION MEMBERS- Buy from dealers that ACTUALLY belong to such organizations as UACC, IACC/DA, PADA and Manuscript Society. Check their Official web sites to see if that dealer who claims to be a member actually is. I would say 60% of the dealers that deal On-Line aren't actually members. These dealers have to be sponsored and must agree to a code of ethics that is somewhat strictly enforced depending on the group.

6) USE ONLINE AUTHENTICS and PSA/DNA- If forensics and third party authenticators are so credible, why does eBay use these experts? Why do these same experts work with such auction houses as Christies and Sothebys and such autograph houses as Mastro and Grey Flannel? For a small fee, Online Authentics will look at a scan of an eBay item and one if it' house experts will decide whether it's true to form. They have experts in all areas. Unlike forensics and third party authenticators who authenticate EVERYTHING, Online Authentics uses experts in all fields. A person may not feel comfortable with authenticating a particular autograph, another expert will take over who feels more comfortable.

7) AVOID DEALERS WHO ADMIT THEY DON'T KNOW IF IT'S REAL- This trend is bothering this writer. I see way to often the words "I bought this in an estate sale and I'm not sure if it's real, but here it is". If you don't know if it's real, don't sell it. Find out if it's real and then sell it. I've seen misspellings and items that could not have been signed do the age. I once saw a ball point Wyatt Earp autograph that sold for $ 150. That's $ 150 profit my friends because the crook who sold it probably stole the pen from the bank.

8) AVOID BUYING McGWIRE, WOODS, RUTH and JORDAN. You're doomed. Sure they make great gifts but are often forged in truckloads. Do you know that Tiger Woods doesn't sign premium items and DOES NOT sign golf balls? He also avoids signing single signed flags. Look on eBay and see how many of these things you see. McGwire is also a difficult signature who no longer signs on the sweet spot of balls and doesn't sign premium items like jerseys and bats. Ruth and Jordan, forget about it.

9) BUY FROM WELL KNOWN COMPANIES AND DEALERS- Companies that come with certificates of authenticity from the likes of Online Authentics, PSA/DNA James Spence, Mike Guttierez, Kevin Keating, Ron Gordon, Richard Simon, University Archives, R and R Enterprises, Danny Cariseo, Thomas Kotte just to name a few. There are hundreds of good dealers in a world of thousands. Look for COA's from Upper Deck, Total Concepts, Mounted Memories, Scoreboard and Steiner as well auction houses like Lelands, Mastro Auctions, Ron Oser and Grey Flannel.

10) WATCH OUT FOR DEALERS THAT SHOW PICTURES OF CELEBRITIES- This is beginning to be more and more common. A picture of Tiger Woods signing a cap, but a signed golf ball is up for sale. A lot of companies show the dealer with a minor celebrity like Gerry Cooney, but sells quantities of Babe Ruth and other vintage autographs. Educate yourself. 

11) EDUCATE YOURSELF- It's a crooks market right now. If you are seriously interested in buying autographs, you must do research. Study signature examples. Buy from the best. Get on the mailing lists of all the big catalogs. Read this site. And now repeat after me: Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself.  yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself. Educate yourself...if you don't want too educate yourself, may I suggest a tie at J.C Penney's because you're probably going to buy a forgery from a guy working in that department of the store. Sometimes a life of crime is better then $ 9 AN HOUR. You don't get health benefits in the forgery business.