Autograph hunting has always been a popular thing for collectors to do ever since there was such a thing. Unfortunately in recent years the pass time has seen a more commercial angle to it (because, of course).

This, naturally, has lead to a rise in forged / fake / counterfeit autographs been brought into the market as the nefarious scum try to scam people out of their hard earned cash. It’s also led to a rise in Celebrities charging for their autographs instead of just being happy to hand them out at public events.

It’s a shame in more ways that one for both the celebrity, and their fans.

But, that’s a rant for a different day on a different website.

Virginia Madsen’s autograph can be found in many different places, my favourite place to look is on sites like eBay. The price can vary from a couple of pennies to well over $/£100.

Some come with Certificates of Authenticity (COA) and some don’t. Those that do tend to go for a higher price than those that don’t. The only problem being…

… If someone is prepared to sell someone a fake autograph they are only going to be all too happy, ready wiling, and able to go about faking a false COA to go with it.

Take this for an example;

The seller on eBay claims this as a Virginia Madsen autograph, from the original Highlander film.

The problem being that Virginia wasn’t in the original film. The picture is of Beatie Edney who played Heather.

It might be real, it might not – But would you want to take that risk all things considered? COA or no COA?

I’m not *that* much of a collector of autographs, they are a “nice to have” as far as I’m concerned. That and the possibility of fakes leaves me looking but not buying most of the time. I’ll bid, if I win, I win, if I don’t then… So be it…

That said, I do have a couple in my collection, naturally.

You can use these as an example of what you should be looking for. I believe all of these are real but couldn’t say for sure, even those with COA. Either way they are worth a look so you have an idea of what her signature looks like and the variations of it.

One thing I have learnt over the years is that for an autograph to have a chance of being real then one thing you can do is look at the way the light reacts with the autograph. If it’s a real pen then the light will reflect differently off it than it does the picture. If it’s completely flat then it’s a literal print on the picture.

Happy hunting!