Dealer and Auction services
Don't let questionable autographs become your problem.
Specialist autograph expertise for dealers and auction houses.
Authentication · Valuation · Lot Examination · Staff Training
Whether you're buying collections, accepting auction lots or preparing autograph material for sale, experienced specialist advice can help protect your business and your customers.
Protect your stock. Protect your customers.
Authenticating autographs is a highly specialised skill. For dealers and auction houses, being able to identify genuine signatures — and recognise increasingly sophisticated fakes — can protect both your business and your customers.
If you regularly buy collections, accept auction lots or handle autograph material, we can provide experienced, independent support when you need it.
What we can help identify
Mixed collections and auction lots can contain anything from genuine and valuable signatures to:
Freehand forgeries
Secretarial signatures
Printed signatures
Stamped signatures
Autopen signatures
Machine-made signatures
Increasingly sophisticated modern forgeries
Some of these can be extremely difficult to identify without specialist experience.
We can work alongside your existing team to examine autograph material before it is offered for sale, helping you identify potential problems before they reach your customers.
Services for Dealers
If you are a dealer and regularly receive collections or auction lots, we can provide hourly or daily specialist appraisal and authentication services.
We can examine individual items, complete collections or existing stock, helping you identify material that requires further investigation before it is offered for sale.
We can also provide guidance on valuation and help your team develop a better understanding of the different types of signatures and reproductions they are likely to encounter.
Lot Examination
Systematic examination of autograph material received from customers, estates or auctions.
Authentication Support
Identification of genuine signatures alongside potential forgeries, Autopens, printed and machine-made signatures.
Valuation
Experienced guidance on the potential market value of suitable material.
Staff Education
Practical guidance to help your team recognise common problems and improve their ability to assess material themselves.
Services for Auction Houses
Smaller and provincial auction houses can be particularly vulnerable when autograph material is consigned for sale. Specialist knowledge isn't always available in-house, yet increasingly sophisticated forgeries can be difficult even for experienced professionals to identify.
We can provide half-day or full-day specialist services to examine, sort and value autograph material before it goes to auction.
This can work particularly well alongside your existing valuation days, giving you access to specialist autograph expertise without the cost of employing a full-time specialist.
We can help with:
Autograph collections and individual lots
Pre-auction examination
Identification of questionable material
Valuation and cataloguing guidance
Advice on whether material is suitable for sale
Staff training and ongoing education
Immediate advice on individual items where required
Ongoing specialist support
For auction houses and dealers who regularly handle autograph material, we can also provide ongoing email advice based on scans or photographs for items that require an initial assessment.
A fixed monthly arrangement can be agreed where regular specialist support is required.
This gives your business access to experienced autograph knowledge when you need it, without the cost of employing a specialist full-time.
Experience that matters
Autograph authentication isn't simply about knowing what a famous person's signature looks like.
The ability to distinguish a genuine signature from a freehand fake, secretarial signature, printed reproduction, Autopen or modern machine-made signature comes from experience, comparison and an understanding of how these different signatures are produced.
With more than 30 years of experience buying and selling autographs, we have encountered a huge range of genuine and fraudulent material and understand the methods being used to reproduce signatures today.
Our aim isn't simply to tell you that an item is questionable — wherever possible, we want to help you understand why, so that your own team becomes better equipped to recognise potential problems in the future.
Covering Kent, London, Surrey & Sussex
We currently cover all of Kent and most of London, Surrey and Sussex, with travel further afield available where required.
Need specialist autograph support?
Whether you're a dealer receiving a large collection or an auction house preparing autograph material for sale, we can provide practical, experienced support tailored to your requirements.
01634 830062
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