New Member

TheThing

Hello everyone. I collect mainly NASA autographs, and have several for sale and trade. I have many different items from the STS-107 crew, some inscribed to me, that are the pride of my collection. I'm very familar with NASA autopens, and can spot them easily if you ever need any help.

MrLee

Welcome TheThing. Wow. A real Autograph collector. That's cool. We don't get many of those around here. (As you can see.) The forum here is quite slow but, if you have patience, you can get an answer to questions. Hopefully you'll be able to answer a few. BTW Glad to see you were able to get the pic into your sig line. That's one of the finest I've seen.

Lee

TheThing

Thanks Mr. Lee, I also have quite a collecton of WWII military autographs. I also collect signed photos of my favorite celebs and musicians. I'm very careful about what I buy, I usually only buy ones I'm 110% positive are authentic, or, ones I get personally. I used to watch for auctions or sales by members of the UACC, but after the past month, I have seen several UACC dealers selling autopens of the STS-107 astronauts, that are known autopens, as authentic autographs. I've been thinkng about taking the time to write to the UACC and complain, as all complaints against a member must be done in writing, no e-mail, but I just don't know if it would do any good.

MrLee

Color Me Dumb but whats an Autopen?

TheThing

Its a machine that signs photos. The person will submit an authentic autograph, the machine copies it, and will then start doing the signing. People who receive many requests for autographs, or have to sign many documents use autopens. Mainly though, people in the government. Most Presidental photos you see signed are autopens, and, the govenment uses them for standard letters. Like when my Grandfather died, a WWII vet, my grandmother received a letter signed by Richard Nixon, and it was an autopen. There just isn't enough time for people, like the presidents to sign everything, so hence, autopens.

Cubby

Cool! An automatic autograph.

TheThing

Here is an ebay auction with an ADMITTED autopen.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2163341917&category=14438

MrLee

Link-a-Roo
Is there some way to tell if an auotopen machine has been used?

TheThing

One of the best ways to tell if an autopen has been used to is collect jpgs of admitted autopens, so you can compare them. If you see 3 different auctions of a George Bush signed photo, all claiming to be genuine, but they are IDENTICAL in every aspect, from position on the paper, angle, size, you name it, you know they are autopens. In regards to autopens of Rick Husband, the late Commander of the Columbia, I know that in all of his authentic autographs, he always added "Proverbs 3:5-6". the Nasa autopens only had his signature. Also, most autopens are only from people who receive MASSIVE amounts of requests for autographs. I would say its safe to say people like....uh..... a "B" movie actor doesn't have their own autopen machine.

MrLee

Thanks for the insight. That's something I didn't know .

nucklehead

This autopen thing has been around for years.ESPN did an hour show on it many years ago,showing the process and how it works.This is one reason I don't bother with buying autographs unless I KNOW they are for real and not done by some stupid machine.

nucklehead

TRADERBOBZ

I will need a little more information before casting any opinion on this topic.

MrLee

Does it look like this?

MrLee

Aside from forgers, the "autopen" has got to be the worst enemy for autograph collectors. Autopen's make it easy for the player or celebrity to "reply" to fan mail with a supposedly authentic autograph, when in fact, the particular person isn't signing your item at all. Instead, a machine with a programmed signature is doing all the work. One example of an autopen is located above. This is the basic one. I believe it allows the user to change the size of lettering as well. The "signature" is done in matrix format, meaning, from memory. It moves similar to a robot. The most common people to use an autopen are government officials...especially Presidents. Many baseball stars also use them. A few are Chipper Jones, Javier Lopez, and Nolan Ryan. The only way to know if you received an autopen is by either receiving more than one of the SAME autograph, which I have done, or locating sites that include scans of autopens.

MrLee