What is Genuine COA?

Genuine COA provides signature confirmation for the signing of memorabilia, issues a Certificate of Authenticity, and a unique serial number to memorialize the event and maintains information about the signing in an online database, searchable by the assigned serial number.

What does COA stand for?

Certificate of Authenticity

What is third-party witnessing to a signature?

A third-party witness is a party (person), outside of the signing transaction between the person signing and the person who is acquiring the signature, who can testify to the authenticity of the autograph.  In other words, a Genuine COA representative must be present while your item is being signed and, therefore, would be able to confirm your claim of authenticity.

Is a third-party witness important?

YES.  If you have an item of memorabilia signed with the intention of the item having value to anyone other than you, you have to be able to prove that it was signed by the actual person whose name is subscribed on the item of memorabilia.  In other words, you need to prove it is not a forgery.  An impartial, credible, third-party witness can mean all the difference between an autographed item of memorabilia having value and being worthless.    

How does Genuine COA authenticate an item being signed?

At signing events, where an authorized Genuine COA is present, after a signature is created, the representative can apply an exclusive, serial numbered, holographic sticker to the autographed item, and issue a Certificate of Authenticity.  That serial number will be entered into the Genuine COA database and will be searchable on the Genuine COA website for confirmation of the details of the original signing event.  

Will a Genuine COA Certificate of Authenticity, likely, increase the value of my signed item?

YES.  There are millions of pieces of signed memorabilia being sold worldwide.  The sad truth is that the vast majority of it is fraudulent.  Even if a signature is authentic, without a third-party witness, there is no real way to validate the signature with 100% confidence.  This is why you see so many autographed items being sold on online auction sites, sitting with zero bids.  Educated buyers know better than to buy an item with a signature that can’t be substantiated or supported.  An autograph that has been verified by a Genuine COA representative, is an item of memorabilia whose signature can be supported by a third-party, outside the person selling the item.  This gives the buyer greater confidence in the signature.  An autographed item that has been verified by a Genuine COA authorized representative will, likely, sell faster and for a larger sum of money.  

How does Genuine COA support the authenticity of a signature?

An item that is signed in the presence of a Genuine COA authorized representative can be issued a tamper-proof, holographic sticker with an exclusive serial number, and an associated Certificate of Authenticity.  That serial number can be searched on the Genuine COA website Verification search feature, and the details of the signing are made available to the person utilizing the search.  This feature allows the verification of the respective signature and details of the signing event to be available to anyone that is given the related sticker number.  In addition, anyone searching the serial number will be given a link from www.genuinecoa.com to an affidavit from the authorized representative of Genuine COA who was present at the original signing.  

What information will be publicly viewable after searching a serial number on www.genuinecoa.com?

Information will include, but not be limited to, the following:

• A brief description of the item that received the autograph(s)

   

• The name(s) of the person(s) who signed the item

   

• The name of the authorized representative of Genuine COA who was present the signing

   

• The date, physical location and name of the event during which the signature was obtained

   

• A link to the affidavit signed (electronically) by the representative, attesting to the autograph being genuine.

   

Is there anything that binds the authorized representative to being truthful?

After the conclusion of the signing event, each authorized representative of Genuine COA is required to register the associated serial numbers and complete an affidavit, which is asserting to the fact that, for each serial numbered autographed item for which they were responsible, they were present when the signatures were placed on each item by the named celebrity at the event.  This affidavit is retrievable by anyone, when the corresponding serial number is searched on genuinecoa.com.  

How do I get an answer to a question not provided in the on this page?

You may reach us by the following:
Phone – (817) 473-9229
Email – info@genuinecoa.com
Or, you may use the Contact Us Form located within this site and we will reply within 24-48 hours.