Conman Kevin Conway purchases items for a cheap price on Ebay and then makes up a false story with a COA. His user name on Ebay is just_vintage and I am in the midst of a lawsuit with him as he sells forged items. Notice how he keeps his purchases private on Ebay. That is a major warning sign of a crook. What has he got to hide? What is the goal of a forger of autographs? Basically they try to forge a signature and make their creation resemble an original. Some forgers are not happy with trying to duplicate a simple signature on a souvenir item such as a baseball, photograph or first day cover. Many of these forgeries eventually get Certificates of Authenticity from the companies who claim they authenticate autographs. One of the reasons for this, you simply have to look at who is doing the authenticating. Many of the names are not recognizable. Autograph authenticating has become a big business and it’s all about money!
The autograph market is flooded with forged autographs with COA’s stating they are genuine.
This recent phenomenon of non genuine autographs being accompanied with COA’s stating the item is genuine is now an epidemic and Conway's Store is a leader of this trend.
Some forgers get very greedy and are not happy making a few hundred dollars for one of their creations. Usually the greedier they get the sloppier they get. For example, Kevin Conway decided he wanted to create a treasure that would sell for over $100,000.instead of using his creative mind, Conway went to Charles Hamilton’s book American Signatures, Volume one and chose to duplicate, word for word, including corrections, a John Hancock letter. A fabulous content letter stating: “I do certify that John Paul Jones was duly commissioned and appointed to command the armed Sloop called the Providence and that this Sloop is now employed in the service of the thirteen United States of North America witness my hand October 29th 1776 John Hancock.”
Such a high profile item, illustrated in a major autograph reference book was able to make it into our market because of a few unconscious persons in this industry. Conway's Vintage Treasures actually sold this item to me in excess of $100,000.
I decided to put the item up for sale.
This very high end item was easily identified as a forgery by many professionals when the collector decided to offer this item for sale. Some of the dealers and auction houses who identified this as a forgery was Joe Maddalena and Brian Chanes of Profiles in History, Paul Richards, Superior Galleries, Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles, The History Buff and a few others.
One autograph professional stated: “Don’t know how this letter got this far, anyone doing the slightest bit of research could see this was copied out of Charles Hamilton’s book! ”
So now you know my story. Conway refuses to refund my money and I am pressing charges with the State Attorney General along with the civil suit
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