von Richthofen Sanke autograph

[slaudio]

I'm new to the site and am interested in purchasing an autographed Sanke card of von Richthofen. I see a few of them offered by various websites, as well as on ebay. The signatures all seem to be in the same hand, but they are relatively expensive. My question is this: how can one be certain that they are getting the real signature? Is there someone who can authenticate these items before purchase and issue a certificate of authenticity?

Thanks for any help.

Steve

[pdauer]

Originally Posted by slaudio

I'm new to the site and am interested in purchasing an autographed Sanke card of von Richthofen. I see a few of them offered by various websites, as well as on ebay. The signatures all seem to be in the same hand, but they are relatively expensive. My question is this: how can one be certain that they are getting the real signature? Is there someone who can authenticate these items before purchase and issue a certificate of authenticity?

Thanks for any help.

Steve

Hi Steve,
I am a long-time collector of signatures of WWI pilots that received the PLM and believe to own one of the most complete collections. I have several MvR signatures and wish to give you some thoughts about his signatures: MvR signed Sanke cards etc. pop up quite frequently at ebay and in my opinion most of them are fakes. Also there are a couple for sale at several dealers and I also believe most of them are not good. Right now, I know only one dealer that (in my view) got an authentic one which is Kotte autorgraphs in Germany. Unfortunately, it is outrageuos expensive (Euro 7.500). In my view, an authentic one should go for 2.500 - 3.000 Euro. If you want to buy one through internet, the best advice I can give, try to get one that is Feldpost stamped and Jagstaffel 11 stamped which minimizes the risk to burn money. In addition, try to get into contact which experienced collector (I know only arond 5 people) that can give you an addional view. Be careful and I wish you luck. Rik.

[slaudio]

Thanks, Rik. You've pretty much confirmed what I suspected...there are just too many available and ironically, the signatures are almost too good. I appreciate your advice.

Steve