OT: Muhammad Ali Signing

[gnishiyama]

I'm posting here because there's never any action in the auto forum.

Does anyone know if Muhammad Ali is still doing paid signings? I've been
getting emails advertising LEAF releasing a new and final Ali product
which includes signed cards and I know KLF had an agreement with them
and was doing signings as recently as last year. (I think)

I see tons of his KLF-PSA/DNA products out but its hard to determine if they were
signed couple years back or recently.

If anyone has any knowledge I would appreciate it.
Thanks

[trsent]

I'm posting here because there's never any action in the auto forum.

Does anyone know if Muhammad Ali is still doing paid signings? I've been
getting emails advertising LEAF releasing a new and final Ali product
which includes signed cards and I know KLF had an agreement with them
and was doing signings as recently as last year. (I think)

I see tons of his KLF-PSA/DNA products out but its hard to determine if they were
signed couple years back or recently.

If anyone has any knowledge I would appreciate it.
Thanks

Any modern signatures of Muhammad Ali will be larger and more shaky than his older signatures. A good clue to when an autographed was signed is look at the PSA/DNA certification number. If it starts with a number, such as "4A976521" then it is from a recent autograph session, as the most recent sessions have been PSA/DNA In The Presence sessions where a representative from PSA/DNA witnessed the autographs.

I personally prefer to buy older Ali/Clay signatures as I do not like many of the more recent signatures. If you are looking to get something signed, Kevin at KLF would possibly be the best person to contact. I'm sure it wouldn't be cheap, but if he does another autograph session he is the man to work with if mail ins are even offered.

Here is a sample of a newer autograph:



A few other things to consider:

- I personally have never had an issue with a Steiner and Online Authentic dual certified Muhammad Ali autograph, but I have found some suspect autographs only certified by Steiner.

- I found that Scoreboard autographs are often genuine, but since the COA doesn't have any way to match-up with the original item, it is possible for people to put their COA with a counterfeit item and try to pass it off.

- I only trust PSA/DNA for Muhammad Ali 3rd party authentication. They fail a lot more than any other authenticator as I believe they have a sharp eye for his autograph while other 3rd party authenticators pass suspect autographs of his.

- I'm always buying vintage Muhammad Ali autographed memorabilia and I pay strongly for better items.

- I personally feel the modern autographs by Muhammad Ali have much of a less value than his autographs signed before The Turn of The Century. Just not the same quality.

[gnishiyama]

Hey Joel,
Thanks for the thorough reply.
I agree with you on all of your points and many Ali collectors
I know say the same thing.
I was just wondering if Ali was even able to sign after seeing
his condition at the opening of Marlins new stadium.

[nycpropain]

Any modern signatures of Muhammad Ali will be larger and more shaky than his older signatures. A good clue to when an autographed was signed is look at the PSA/DNA certification number. If it starts with a number, such as "4A976521" then it is from a recent autograph session, as the most recent sessions have been PSA/DNA In The Presence sessions where a representative from PSA/DNA witnessed the autographs.

I personally prefer to buy older Ali/Clay signatures as I do not like many of the more recent signatures. If you are looking to get something signed, Kevin at KLF would possibly be the best person to contact. I'm sure it wouldn't be cheap, but if he does another autograph session he is the man to work with if mail ins are even offered.

Here is a sample of a newer autograph:

Attachment 63901

A few other things to consider:

- I personally have never had an issue with a Steiner and Online Authentic dual certified Muhammad Ali autograph, but I have found some suspect autographs only certified by Steiner.

- I found that Scoreboard autographs are often genuine, but since the COA doesn't have any way to match-up with the original item, it is possible for people to put their COA with a counterfeit item and try to pass it off.

- I only trust PSA/DNA for Muhammad Ali 3rd party authentication. They fail a lot more than any other authenticator as I believe they have a sharp eye for his autograph while other 3rd party authenticators pass suspect autographs of his.

- I'm always buying vintage Muhammad Ali autographed memorabilia and I pay strongly for better items.

- I personally feel the modern autographs by Muhammad Ali have much of a less value than his autographs signed before The Turn of The Century. Just not the same quality.

Everything I seen from steiner has been real, and OA has this program which they offer a "Physical Review Service" to anything you send them. So the forgers are sending in fake Ali autographs in order to get a OA hologram on them. I would avoid OA like the plague as I have been seeing a tremendous amount of fakes recently with this Physical Review Service hologram on them.

Which means nothing since apparently they "review" anything you send them real or fake, they dont authenticate obviously.

[trsent]

Everything I seen from steiner has been real, and OA has this program which they offer a "Physical Review Service" to anything you send them. So the forgers are sending in fake Ali autographs in order to get a OA hologram on them. I would avoid OA like the plague as I have been seeing a tremendous amount of fakes recently with this Physical Review Service hologram on them.

Which means nothing since apparently they "review" anything you send them real or fake, they dont authenticate obviously.

Odd, I have had quite a few Steiner items only certified by them that PSA/DNA won't certify as authentic. This is over a period of 3-4 years I'm guessing, so I don't have photos of samples anymore to show but someone must have been using Steiner holograms and COA's on questionable items or Steiner bought a questionable batch of stuff over the years. I do not know which is the case, but there were questionable items.

[gnishiyama]

Everything I seen from steiner has been real, and OA has this program which they offer a "Physical Review Service" to anything you send them. So the forgers are sending in fake Ali autographs in order to get a OA hologram on them. I would avoid OA like the plague as I have been seeing a tremendous amount of fakes recently with this Physical Review Service hologram on them.

Which means nothing since apparently they "review" anything you send them real or fake, they dont authenticate obviously.

I've heard over the years from knowledgeable Ali collectors that Online
Authentics Ali items are pretty much the only Ali items where you can
be rest assured its 100% authentic. (aside from the PSA/DNA in-the-
presence signed Ali items from recent years) I also heard the same
about older Koufax signed items with the OA sticker. OA had some sort
of a partnership with both Ali and Koufax and that was their bread and butter.

A quick search actually lead to me to Ali's official homepage

Muhammad Ali Enterprises has partnered with OnlineAuthentics to ensure verification of memorabilia signed by Muhammad Ali.

Each item signed by The Champ is witnessed and recorded by a trained verification expert from Online Authentics. All registered items then have a unique number assigned which corresponds to the number on a unique Certificate of Authenticity paired with each signed item. The COA and its registration number allow collectors to verify their items by simply entering the registration number into the Online Authentics website. Each item has been personally signed by Ali and is not an autopen signature.

Incorporated into each item’s online profile is a text description of the item that includes what type of memorabilia it is, as well as when it was signed. In addition to the text description collectors will see a digital image of the exact signature on their item. The digital image of the exact signature is recorded at time of signing, an actual photo taken just after Muhammad Ali has signed.

Online Authentics’ online registry enables owners of autographed memorabilia to view a detailed profile of their memorabilia, and to verify at anytime, from anywhere.

[trsent]

I've heard over the years from knowledgeable Ali collectors that Online
Authentics Ali items are pretty much the only Ali items where you can
be rest assured its 100% authentic. (aside from the PSA/DNA in-the-
presence signed Ali items from recent years) I also heard the same
about older Koufax signed items with the OA sticker. OA had some sort
of a partnership with both Ali and Koufax and that was their bread and butter.

A quick search actually lead to me to Ali's official homepage

Muhammad Ali Enterprises has partnered with OnlineAuthentics to ensure verification of memorabilia signed by Muhammad Ali.

Each item signed by The Champ is witnessed and recorded by a trained verification expert from Online Authentics. All registered items then have a unique number assigned which corresponds to the number on a unique Certificate of Authenticity paired with each signed item. The COA and its registration number allow collectors to verify their items by simply entering the registration number into the Online Authentics website. Each item has been personally signed by Ali and is not an autopen signature.

Incorporated into each item’s online profile is a text description of the item that includes what type of memorabilia it is, as well as when it was signed. In addition to the text description collectors will see a digital image of the exact signature on their item. The digital image of the exact signature is recorded at time of signing, an actual photo taken just after Muhammad Ali has signed.

Online Authentics’ online registry enables owners of autographed memorabilia to view a detailed profile of their memorabilia, and to verify at anytime, from anywhere.

Goh, in the past year or two there have been some issues with Online Authentics registering autographs that confuses me. There is some concern with more modern certifications in the community about Online Authentics and what they were and where they are going.

I do not know first hand, but I believe they are offering to certify 3rd party autographs or something of that nature that has led to some more recent certifications being questioned.

Don't just assume it is good with OA anymore from what I have been told.

[gnishiyama]

Goh, in the past year or two there have been some issues with Online Authentics registering autographs that confuses me. There is some concern with more modern certifications in the community about Online Authentics and what they were and where they are going.

I do not know first hand, but I believe they are offering to certify 3rd party autographs or something of that nature that has led to some more recent certifications being questioned.

Don't just assume it is good with OA anymore from what I have been told.

Joel,
Thanks for the info..so OA is not doing third party authentication?
oh boy..

[trsent]

Joel,
Thanks for the info..so OA is not doing third party authentication?
oh boy..

I really do not know what they are doing, but questionable items have been shown to me recently that were not ITP (In the presence).