Another Ebay Forger Busted

The ebay name Celeb Factory seems so appropriate as they were obviously manufacturing the autographs. From WalesOnline...

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Mother sold fake Princess Diana autographs

Sep 24 2008 WalesOnline

A single mother who made more than £13,000 selling fake autographs over the internet was given a suspended prison sentence today.

Louise Marney, 32, admitted deceiving people by selling the signed photographs of celebrities, including Princess Diana and Sean Connery, to customers who believed they were genuine.

Swansea Crown Court heard the telemarketer, of Walters Road, Neath, south Wales, was the “forerunner” of a website called Celeb Factory, which was set up by an accomplice she has only identified as Jason.

Through the website, and internet auction site eBay, the pair offered for sale thousands of fake signed photographs of stars including Elizabeth Taylor, Freddie Mercury, Kylie Minogue, Pele, Muhammad Ali, Simon Cowell and the cast of the A-Team.

Ben Blakemore, prosecuting, said prices for the autographs, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, ranged between £19.99 and £89.99, with the exception of the false Princess Diana autograph, which was advertised for sale at £299.99.

Marney admitted conspiring to apply false trademarks to goods between September 2006 and July last year, by purporting the autographed goods were genuine when they were not.

Celeb Factory sold 4,770 items on eBay alone in that period, Mr Blakemore added. The court heard Marney bought legitimate photographs from another website and sent them to Jason to sign before they were returned to her for sale.

She was paid at least £300 per week, Mr Blakemore said, making a total of up to £13,800.

The Celeb Factory website offered customers “one of a kind” original autographs that were “an investment for the future”, the court heard.

Mr Blakemore added: “The defendant even had the audacity to put a peace-of-mind guarantee to it.”

The scam was eventually uncovered by trading standards officers from Neath Port Talbot Council investigating the sale of a fake signed Sean Connery photograph.

Nic Sefton, defending, said Marney had “complete and utter remorse at the situation she finds herself in”.

He said: “It was completely out of character for her. It was undertaken, in reality, through necessity.”

Marney stopped trading with Celeb Factory before becoming aware of the trading standards investigation, Mr Sefton added.

Judge Christopher Morton dismissed claims made in a character reference that Marney is a “woman of high integrity”.

He said: “Over a ten month period, she has taken a full part in conning people out of money.”

He sentenced her on her basis of plea, that Jason was “at the centre of the scam”, but told Marney: “You were fully involved in the sale of these items sent out with counterfeit signatures.”

The judge sentenced Marney to 42 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and ordered her to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing will take place in January.

Me and Marnin and my wife and chicken parm

Had a great dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant in Great Neck, NY Saturday night. The legendary comic dealer and fan Marnin Rosenberg was our host.

We chatted about the history and politics of the hobby... and after dinner, Marnin opened the vault and let me hold books I could only dream of owning. Super high grade copies of early Marvels, Golden Age pedigrees... a jaw dropping exposition of newsstand fresh books.

My wife was even tolerant enough to reserve any sarcastic comments and eye-rolling. All it took was a wonderful dinner capped off with cannolis.

Getting the band back together?

Wow... it's been almost a year since my farewell post.

Now I'm thinking about making another run at it. Lots going on with NOD... plus I have some other stuff on my mind.

Let's see if I can get it going again.

The Final Curtain?

After a year or more of struggling with sporadic posting, I'm calling it quits.

The blog thing was fun for a while, but frankly, I don't have anything new to say. It should be fun, and when it turns into a chore, it's time to sign off.

I will keep everything up and hopefully this can serve as a resource for people new to the scene. Plenty of scam info and juicy reading in the archives.

Best of luck to all, thanks for reading, and farewell. For now, at least.

How NOT to Ship Comics... Or Anything Else

This is how one CGC Message Board member received a lot of 20 comic books he won on eBay.

No kidding.

You'd think it would be common sense, but do you have to ask sellers now to "not ship my winnings in a cereal box?"

You can read more about it here.

It's Summertime, and the Blogging is Hard

Sorry for the long delay between posts. I'm still alive and kicking... but I just can't spend a lot of time in front of a computer in the spring and summer. Plus, sometimes I just don't have a lot to say (believe it or not.)

On with the show...

I have been able to knock a few more Action Comics war covers off my want list. Here's the first one. Thanks to my buddy Alton for finding this for me at his LCS:

More to follow. Soon. I promise.

The Joker Times Seven

Impulse buy alert!!!

Ok, I got it at a great price and couldn't resist this Golden Age gem.

Thanks to SoCal and Esquire Comics who were offering a run of Batman 1 - 100 at very reasonable prices.

I like it so much, I'm going to have to put a bunch of Golden Age Joker covers on my want list.

Priceless Gold

Recently, a previously unknown collector came out on the CGC Message Boards and started displaying comics from his utterly mind-boggling, high-grade Golden Age collection.

Several noted Golden Age experts commented that this collection features some of the best examples of certain books that they'd ever seen.

The still anonymous collector stated that, in 1971, he purchased an original owner collection of 1,000 high grade Golden Age comics for $7,500... or $7.50 a book for some of the finest examples in existence. Interestingly, the person this collector purchased the books from had found them bundled on the curb waiting to be taken with the garbage!

The fact that a collection like this has survived unknown to the community at large makes one wonder how many other outstanding personal collections may be squirreled away, still waiting to make a public debut.

By the way, the owner of this collection has no interest in selling at this time.

Superman 1, Nazi Tank 0

Another Action Comics war cover off the wantlist!

From September 1941...

Zombie Fantastic Four #8

Typically, I'm not one to buy into the Variant Cover madness which has returned to the comic collecting hobby just as the chrome and hologram covers did a decade ago.

I suppose it's only a matter of time before it all comes crashing down again. With the prevalence of variants, multiple covers, and superstar artists calling the shots, there are plenty of people already predicting the imminent demise of the modern market.

That said, I couldn't resist the Arthur Suydam Zombie variant cover to Ultimate Fantastic Four 32... it's a fun homage -- or swipe -- of the Silver Age classic Fantastic Four #8 originally drawn by Jack Kirby. This cover is a 1:15 variant.

Astronaut Archives

Long time space dealer and collector Gerry Montague has finally joined the Internet Age and developed a website -- Astronaut Archives.

It's not exactly the latest in design or flash, but he has some great items for sale. Gerry is one of the best -- if not the best -- in terms of authenticity and no worries transactions.l

Gerald Ford: A Friend To Autograph Collectors

With all the coverage of the late President Ford, one aspect that surely won't be discussed is that President Ford was a dear friend to autograph collectors. The President signed freely for many years and was most generous. It wasn't until he suffered a stroke several years ago that he started turning down requests for his signature.

I was fortunate enough to receive a number of signed items from him, including this photo from the first Presidential Debate of the 1976 election. Perhaps my favorite however, is a large signed engraving of his portrait.

God speed, President Ford.