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News

What to Know About Collectible Autographs

Wednesday January 8th, 2020
By Appraisals Staff Writer


Newport Beach, Calif. — California’s new law governing the sale of autographed memorabilia, AB-1570 is creating a difficult sale environment for all auction houses, dealers and collectors.


The new law named Collectibles: sale of autographed memorabilia goes into effect in January, 2017. The law as written stipulates that when selling any autographed items exceeding $5 or more, a certificate of authenticity (COA) for the item being sold must be provided. Further, the law redefines who is a dealer such that now anyone selling autographed items is a dealer. The new law requires that any representation, either oral or in print, made regarding an autographed item be supported by a COA. The details of what must be included in a COA are detailed in section (9) of the law.

A few more details of the law include:

  • Dealers must post a disclosure near autographed items or within printed or online material stating that the dealer is required to issue a COA in conjunction with the sale of each item.

  • Dealers must be surety bonded to protect against errors and omissions, and in possession of a State resale certificate.

  • The dealer must list on the COA the name and address of the person who sold him the item.

  • Dealers must store COAs for seven years.

  • The law goes into effect in January 2017.


Dealers who fail to issue a COA, or who issue fraudulent or false COAs face penalties of “actual damages (plus) a civil penalty in an amount equal to 10 times actual damages, plus court costs, reasonable attorney’s fees, interest, and expert witness fees, if applicable, incurred by the consumer in the action. The court, in its discretion, may award additional damages based on the egregiousness of the dealer’s conduct… in addition to any other remedy that may be provided by law.”


Clearly, unless the California legislature re-visits the law and makes the language less broad, lawyers are going to have a heyday with this. Frivolous lawsuits will abound as con-men try to cash in on COAs that aren’t up-to-par. California Mom-and-Pop antiques dealers will cease to carry autographed items, and specialty sellers will move out of the state. Online sellers will cease to sell to customers in California. I’m sure that none of these consequences were what legislators had in mind when they passed the law, but experience with other such broadly worded legislation indicates that such results are commonplace.


AB-1570 will affect a wide range of autographed items, including those offered by: booksellers, memorabilia sellers, art dealers, auctioneers and estate tag sale companies, and consignment shops
Estate executors and administrators will also need to supply their names and addresses to dealers for inclusion in an item’s COA. Per section 8, dealers must “Indicate whether the item was obtained or purchased from a third party. If so, indicate the name and address of this third party.”


The intention of the legislation was to curtail autographed memorabilia fraud. In sports memorabilia alone, fraud costs consumers more than $500 million annually. California Legislators and Governor Brown had consumers’ best interests in mind when the legislation was passed into law. However, the industry and consumers will be negatively impacted until the legislators amend the law to ease commerce in collectible signatures.


If you have any questions about buying or selling rare signatures, an autographed book, sports memorabilia or collectibles please contact GoodLife Auctions to discuss options for the sale - appraisals@goodlifeauctions.com

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