Latest News |
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23rd November 2011
Martin Colman "Mustav" |
For some time, there has been the suggestion within the autograph trade that some items being sold by Martin Colman of Mustav were not authentic. The thought was that they were probably secretarial, and as some of our own members had made complaints about this, we decided to ask Mr Colman what he intended to do about it.
After some discussion with Mr Colman, he took the decision to allow us to try to deal with this as for him. Mr Colman is now cooperating in every way with us to try and resolve the problem and ensure that these items are removed from the market and the source etc resolved. It should be made clear at this point that Martin Colman was not at any time an AFTAL dealer.
Mr Colman has agreed to allow us to look through around 700 items from his stock that had been withdrawn from eBay and his website, and deal with the issue as though he was an AFTAL dealer. We are aware that Martin had sold many of these same items already over a period of some time, so the implications of this are indeed very serious.
We have now started to check through those 700 items, and are now able to confirm that the following items have been considered by us to be not authentic.
Piper Perabo, Maggie Grace, Justin Bieber, Bruce Willis, Denise Richards, David Tennant, Usain Bolt, Kim Cattrall, Sebastian Vettel, Orlando Bloom, Scarlett Johanson, Uma Thurman, Cate Blanchet, Nicole Kidman, Kristin Davis, Elijah Wood, Anastasia, Pink, Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp, and Kylie Minogue.
All of these items are almost entirely ink jet type images on A4 (12 x 8) photo card with no brand name on the reverse.
We must be clear that Mr Colman has agreed to allow us to do this, and has so far complied with our every wish, but the above list is not complete, and more names will be added over the coming weeks.
Mr Colman is happy for any customer to contact him for a refund on any item that they may have purchased, and is offering a full refund as per his lifetime guarantee. We know from past experience with this business, that it is very important for both dealers and customers to deal with kind of problem in the correct manner and ensure that refunds are made, and non authentic items removed from the market. If not removed, then the items tend to go around again and again, with the money gained often going into the hands of those who least deserve it.
Because AFTAL was formed to help prevent the sale of fake items, and to expose fraudulent dealers, it is important that we will be looking into the full detail of this case, and make sure that everyone who might have lost out is refunded.
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5th October 2011
Tom Smith - Signatorium |
It is with deep regret that we have to announce the passing of Tom Smith of Signatorium. Tom was taken ill a short while ago and passed away in Hospital in Cyprus.
Tom, a native of Grimsby although based in Cyprus for work reasons, was known to many in the autograph world, and was a keen supporter of AFTAL and held very strong views regarding forgers and fraudsters, who he was prepared to chase and expose as he felt fit.
Tom left a wife and 4 children and will be sadly missed by many in the autograph world.
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12th July 2011
Fake Britain |
 Watch AFTAL Chairman Dave Davies and Vice Chairman Garry King on the BBC 1 show Fake Britain on Monday 8th of August at 7.30pm. |
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7th June 2011
Chaucer Collectables Auction |
| AFTAL Approved Dealer Chaucer Collectables #048, are holding a 650 lot autograph auction on Saturday 11th June via The Sale Room. Take a look |
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24th May 2011
Jason Thanos talks autograph collecting |
 Watch AFTAL Approved Dealer Jason Thanos talking autograph collecting on Granada TV. Granada Reports |
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