Newsletter #1 - October 16th, 2000

The Importance of Authentication

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Our job is to facilitate the flow of collectibles between custodians. Because collections do not always change hands during the original collectors' lifetimes, and some pieces are separated from their documentation, provenance is not always easy to establish. For example, a prospective seller recently contacted us by e-mail offering a very rare unissued stamp, the 1860 New Brunswick 5c Connell withdrawn Postmaster's likeness, for sale. We wanted this rare stamp for our clients. A genuine unused Connell is scarce and worth upwards of Cdn$5,000.00. When the owner brought their stamp in for us to look at we felt that the stamp looked good, but there was a possibility that it was a proof, on stamplike paper, that had been perforated to look like a genuine stamp.

To protect the seller, ourselves, and the next buyer, we felt that the only fair way to approach the sale was to seek third party authentication before proceeding. This takes time and often requires that the item leaves our hands to be examined by an expert panel. The seller has to entrust their object to our care. We carry insurance to cover this. We then trust the mails and an authentication committee. Certification also costs money. Fees vary according to the value of the item being verified and are payable regardless of the outcome. We use different authorities for different items and these expert opinions are part of our professional contacts.

Most items we see are straightforward enough that we can immediately verify their authenticity and value, but we never want to pass on a problem to our clients. Most dealers offer free instore appraisals as a service and in hopes of buying items offered. Likewise, we arrange third party verification. Usually, dealers offer lifetime guarantees on items they sell as further assurance to their clients. The Connell proved to be the forged perforated proof we had feared. Detecting problems is a skill experienced collectors and dealers develop. Always trust that sixth sense gut feeling.

Luckily for the seller, even a Connell forgery is saleable, as a spacefiller, for about a tenth of the price of the genuine article. A longtime client brought in a silver coin collection he was being offered. All of the coins, including quite recent commemoratives, with a retail value of about Cdn$10, were either cast copies or lookalike fakes. Good thing he checked with us before buying that collection. Another caller claimed he had a Babe Ruth signed baseball for sale. While not exactly in our line, we hate to miss an opportunity to bring buyers and sellers together and pick up a little money for our trouble, so we said bring in your ball and we will see what we can do. We arranged for another dealer who has more expertise in that field to come in and view the autographed item. Unfortunately, once again the article was fake. We hate to burst people's bubbles but we have a job to do. Often moral dilemmas arise from these activities. When we discover something is not right might we mark it fake to save the next person? Remember that a certificate of authenticity is only a piece of paper reflecting an expert's opinion at a certain time. With new information, or at another time, someone could offer a different opinion on the same collectible. You are buying the collectible not the piece of paper, so your best protection is to know as much about what you are doing, and who you are dealing with, as possible.

Genuineness is also only one aspect of provenance. We do not want to buy anything we think might be stolen. We do not want to encourage criminal activity, nor do we want to pass on objects without clear title to the next collector. This gets tricky with antiquities and ancient coins which may have been looted and exported.

Modern errors and varieties may also fall into this unclear territory. Collectors and dealers need to work together to keep the (re)distribution chain of collectibles strong and clean. A willingness to learn accompanies our collecting, and buying and selling efforts. Humility is useful too. We cannot possibly know everthing about every collectible, but we should know where to find the information we need. Other dealers and collectors have much to teach us.

We were surprised this week when we put a lot of German Inflationary Period banknotes up on eBay and the auction bids came in at much higher levels than we anticipated. Did the buyers know something we did not? Were they thinking the high denomination notes were reedemable perhaps? We soon learned the reason from a dealer friend. Some people purchase high denomination banknotes as burial money, to be thrown to the winds, burned, or interred at a funeral to bring wealth to the recently deceased in their afterlife. This gives new meaning to being the custodians of collectibles.

Newsletter #2: Forgeries and Speculative Markets

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