Are these autographs legit?

[Pop Artist]

I think the original Wire was already active in 1992 - I first signed online in November 1994 (17 years this week ). I actually ran the U2 section on Compuserve starting in 1995, for a long time. Both U2Log and @U2 came into existence not long after.

Popmart had the old Prop mail in system for tix, and there were those old VH1 phone presales, but Ticketmaster Online was in existence then - but fairly unusable still, as was the old official U2 MSN site (precursor to u2.com).

 

[U2BROTHR]

I had a 300 baud modem attached to my Commodore 64 way back when....which could have been called the internet back then but was really a BBS.

Back to the task. Just ask seller for a refund. Make up an excuse that you want to return it for whatever reason. If you state the *fakeness* of the item, you'll insult the seller and they won't budge.

Tell them you've got a new baby and your wife says you need the $$. I dunno. As soon as you get into the dispute process, that will take a while.

I can tell you, there's no way the four band members will sign that cd cover nice and neat like that.

 

[I Move in Mysterious Ways]

Furthermore, I obtained these items from a company that specializes in selling officially signed items - if they were fake, their business would collapse.

That's what I used to think . . . until I realized that the reality of it is that it isn't true. There are a lot of bad guys in the hobby. Dealers who've been around for years aren't necessarily competent in particular autographs and make mistakes - trusting the wrong people and not having the expertise to know what's what. There are loads of forgers out there. These guys are harder to bring down than you think - some are making a killing by selling worthless bogus signatures. I'm talking thousands of dollars. Ebay has the worst of it, of course.

 

[digitize]

I think the original Wire was already active in 1992 - I first signed online in November 1994 (17 years this week ). I actually ran the U2 section on Compuserve starting in 1995, for a long time. Both U2Log and @U2 came into existence not long after.

I believe Wire existed before 1992. I remember someone posting a link to Wire's initial discussion about The Fly when it was released, comparing it to Interference's reaction to Boots (it was really similar).

edit: After a bit of digging, the earliest posts I can find are from 1993 (the year I was born!), but I think some exist from before then.

Also, I found another U2 newsgroup (I like this post). I'm confused - which was actually Wire? Or was it neither of them? I know there's a website for Wire, operated by the original owner of Interference, but that seems to be a second incarnation of it, circa 2001.

 

[Pop Artist]

Wire was a mailing list, different from Usenet's alt.music (or fan).u2. Might have existed prior to '92 although that was the earliest I recall seeing anything from it.

 

[digitize]

Wire was a mailing list, different from Usenet's alt.music (or fan).u2. Might have existed prior to '92 although that was the earliest I recall seeing anything from it.

Ohh. Does an archive exist?

 

[gvox]

alt.music.u2.

NOW we're talking!! Newsgroups ftw! alt.music.u2...Wire came after..then Interference.

 

[WalkOn21]

I don't have any stats, but I do know in around 2000 we got our first computer. That was a Windows 3.1 thing without internet.

Your household was just very late to the party then. I hail from the same country as you, and in the early 90s me and my primary school friends exchanged floppy disks with computer games on them. Basically all of my friends had computers at home with Windows 3.1 or Windows 3.11 on them. I think it was around '96 that most people I knew got a (dial-up) Internet connection.

A Windows 3.1 computer without an Internet connection would've been quite outdated in 2000. Practically everyone was using Windows 98SE by then and had Internet access at home. By then, "free" dial-up Internet had made its entrance so that you did not have to pay a monthly fee, just the telephone costs. This gave the rise of home Internet connections a huge boost.

I guess there was a major difference between where I lived and the US back then. We didn't have internet at school until something 2001.

When I entered secondary school in 1999, not only did it have Internet access, learning how to use it (search engines etc.) was part of our ICT class.

I must add that my childhood home and school weren't in one of the big cities either. On the contrary, I'm from the part of the country which some prejudiced fools think is an underdeveloped region full of backward farmers that doesn't even have electricity, let alone an Internet connection.

 

[Pop Artist]

Ohh. Does an archive exist?

I think one used to exist but is long gone, don't know if it is anywhere now.

 

[loner]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wire-u2/

 

[loner]

What? Why is my post in here? Sorry,wrong thread.

 

[U2BROTHR]

That's what I used to think . . . until I realized that the reality of it is that it isn't true. There are a lot of bad guys in the hobby. Dealers who've been around for years aren't necessarily competent in particular autographs and make mistakes - trusting the wrong people and not having the expertise to know what's what. There are loads of forgers out there. These guys are harder to bring down than you think - some are making a killing by selling worthless bogus signatures. I'm talking thousands of dollars. Ebay has the worst of it, of course.

I can agree with this on two counts. I friend of a friend that I know used to have a business on ebay selling MLB autographs. He started out legit and then made fraudulent autographs to keep up with the demand. This was at the advent of ebay.

There are the card certification places that certify rookie cards and signatures. They have now started to verify musician signatures. (GMA, PSA, CSA). For the most part these companies are good. But if you pay enough money to them, they will authenticate anything without using an original for comparison.

Despite the fact that I have an extensive U2 collection with autographs, prior to this, I fell victim to an ebay ad. I paid $100 USD for a Popmart era photo of the band and all four signed it. It came with it's bogus certificate of authenticity. I had it framed and on display. It was only after meeting Bono several time and seeing other autographs where I realized, the one I had bought was fake fake fake.

I found a picture of it in my facebook photos. I had it on display with Larry's drumstick given to me by him back in 2001.

Here is the right side...

The closest looking autograph is Larry's..... the rest are shite.

I ended up throwing it away when I moved the shrine into the new house. I felt pretty stupid that I did this. Thanks to East Link and facebook, I can spot a legit signature pretty easily....

 

[U2BROTHR]

Holy crap...I found a post that I wrote for alt.music.u2 back in 2001.

Is Security Tighter? - alt.music.u2 | Google Groups

 

[gvox]

Holy crap...I found a post that I wrote for alt.music.u2 back in 2001.

Is Security Tighter? - alt.music.u2 | Google Groups

That was mere days before we met!

 

[Popmartijn]

Your household was just very late to the party then. I hail from the same country as you, and in the early 90s me and my primary school friends exchanged floppy disks with computer games on them. Basically all of my friends had computers at home with Windows 3.1 or Windows 3.11 on them.

MS-DOS 3.21
(and that was early 1988 or so)

 

[Nick66]

The closest looking autograph is Larry's..... the rest are shite.

I ended up throwing it away when I moved the shrine into the new house. I felt pretty stupid that I did this. Thanks to East Link and facebook, I can spot a legit signature pretty easily....

I can confirm that Larry's is close, but no cigar.

 

[doctorwho]

That's what I used to think . . . until I realized that the reality of it is that it isn't true. There are a lot of bad guys in the hobby. Dealers who've been around for years aren't necessarily competent in particular autographs and make mistakes - trusting the wrong people and not having the expertise to know what's what. There are loads of forgers out there. These guys are harder to bring down than you think - some are making a killing by selling worthless bogus signatures. I'm talking thousands of dollars. Ebay has the worst of it, of course.

I accept that - but this is a prominent business in San Fran. Furthermore, Bono's signature on one piece has a drawing of himself next to it. That's very much a Bono thing to do and tough for a forger to duplicate.

Overall, though, I agree. Buyer beware. I did my homework with this company first.

 

[I Move in Mysterious Ways]

I accept that - but this is a prominent business in San Fran. Furthermore, Bono's signature on one piece has a drawing of himself next to it. That's very much a Bono thing to do and tough for a forger to duplicate.

Overall, though, I agree. Buyer beware. I did my homework with this company first.

I hope you don't mean Antiquities of CA. Lots of spotty (and way overpriced) stuff on their website.

 

[doctorwho]

I hope you don't mean Antiquities of CA. Lots of spotty (and way overpriced) stuff on their website.

Maybe. I forget. LOL!

I agree that Antiquities website is crap and overpriced. Do NOT buy from that website. If you want something from that store, the best way is to deal and negotiate in person.

Ultimately, though, whenever something is signed, we take a risk unless we were there. Some of the "fake" signatures I've seen on here could be real. I look at my own signature and the extreme variations I've had when in a rush. I bet a lot of people would call one of my legit signatures fake when compared to another.

Hence, all we can do is hope for the best. I only have a few signed items by U2. One I got in person. The others I bought. One has a drawing of Bono's face and Edge's signature is a perfect match to the one I got in person. Hence I fully believe it's real. Regardless, it looks nice in my house.

 

[I Move in Mysterious Ways]

As far as U2 autographs goe, it seems like it's a somewhat safer bet to buy from European dealers.

Here's a website selling several authentic U2 autographs right now. The store owner is also the collector - he refuses to buy/sell anything he doesn't personally get himself. Many top dealers throughout the UK buy from him, as he has a top-notch reputation for authenticity and quality items.

Hollywood Autographs

 

[I Move in Mysterious Ways]

I can agree with this on two counts. I friend of a friend that I know used to have a business on ebay selling MLB autographs. He started out legit and then made fraudulent autographs to keep up with the demand. This was at the advent of ebay.

There are the card certification places that certify rookie cards and signatures. They have now started to verify musician signatures. (GMA, PSA, CSA). For the most part these companies are good. But if you pay enough money to them, they will authenticate anything without using an original for comparison.

Despite the fact that I have an extensive U2 collection with autographs, prior to this, I fell victim to an ebay ad. I paid $100 USD for a Popmart era photo of the band and all four signed it. It came with it's bogus certificate of authenticity. I had it framed and on display. It was only after meeting Bono several time and seeing other autographs where I realized, the one I had bought was fake fake fake.

I found a picture of it in my facebook photos. I had it on display with Larry's drumstick given to me by him back in 2001.

Beware those certification places as well. Some of them are alright (PSA, JSA), but make do mistakes. On occasion, they may accidentally (incompetently) deem fake items are authentic and authentic items fake. They are ok, but certainly not infallable. Some comapnies "authenticate" absolutely ANYTHING. If you see anything with a GAI certificate, it's almost positively fake.

I got burned twice with Bono autographs around 2001/2002 by a supposedly reputable dealer. It took me a couple years before I realized that both photos were signed by the same person - and it wasn't Bono. They're in the garbage, though I probably should have been more confrontational and demanded a refund.

 

[Nick66]

I have to admit, this is all a bit baffling to me. The only value an autograph has to me is if I actually get whoever it is to autograph it for me. Then it means something, because there's a memory attached to it.

A CD, poster or print with signatures on it that has no personal context means nothing to me...it might as well just be auto-penned at that point as far as I'd care.

Oh well, to each her own.

 

[Galeongirl]

Same here. I don't see the value in a bought autograph. To me the autograph itself isn't important. It's the fact that it triggers my memories of meetings I've had with my heroes. I only have three autographed pieces here, of which one is a U2 member. But all three have different U2 related memories that I treasure. THAT is important to me. Not the autograph itself.

 

[I Move in Mysterious Ways]

Absolutely. I was fortunate enough to get a Bono autograph in 2005, an that one means the most to me by far. My hero signed it for me, which makes it just about the coolest thing I own. That being said, value varies from one person to the next. Certain collectibles might mean a lot to someone and almost nothing to the next person.

I personally think the Achtung Baby super-uper-duper-deluxe-overdrive-collectors boxset is the epitome of wasteful spending, but for many of my friends, the repurchase of a bunch of stuff they already own was a no brainer. I had the Alain Mikli orange shades that Bono sunglasses collectors craved. They didn't mean much to me other than being a neat curiosity (I sure as hell wasn't going to wear them), so I was happy to take a bunch of money for them. The person I sold them to was ecstatic to own them, regardless of what he paid.

 

[doctorwho]

It all depends on what is autographed.

I usually agree - the autograph only means something when obtained by the person.

But in this case, the autographs were on another item I thought was cool. The seller told the story of how they obtained them, etc. So I was really buying the item - the autographs were a bit secondary.