Autographed Items Just Got Harder to Sell in California

If you sell – or buy – baseball cards, autographed documents, books, pictures or just a single celebrity autograph, avoid California. A new law meant to protect collectors of sports memorabilia goes too far. If you sell anything worth more than $5 that has an autograph, it must have a certificate of authenticity. The certificate costs money. And the certificate must include if the seller is insured, the date, place and name of a witness to the appraisal, and who might have sold it before. Anyone selling books, sports or movie memorabilia, art, or “stuff” at consignment shops or house sales must get certificates and the records must be stored for seven years. There is a large fine for selling a fake or anything without the certificate. We autograph hundreds of our books each year. Would we need a certificate for each book? The law covers sales in California or items sold to a California customer. There seems to be no way to change the law until 2017. Some California shows say they are already losing dealers.