CRAZY COLLECTING Story: Stopping “Constantine The Forger” Cold In His Tracks

“Constantine” is the name I will use to refer to this forger (who was one of many forgers in the collectibles world). But I’m just using that name because no one will know exactly who I am talking about. At least I don’t think they will! I don’t want to identify him here but I have to refer to him by some name to share this story. The purpose of this post is not to cause problems for “Constantine.” His career as a forger is (to the best of my knowledge) totally over. The purpose is to share what I think is a very interesting hobby forgery story that is legendary among only a very small circle, and virtually unknown by the public, because charges were never filed.
 
Constantine was a hobby fixture for many years. He was at countless shows. He was very knowledgeable. He was easy to get along with. A nice guy with a winning personality who was always buying or selling something. He had a close relationship with some respected retail sellers and auctioneers which gave him all the more credibility. At conventions, he could even be found behind the table of an auction house at a big show, resting, or even manning the booth! He was trusted.

And he had a particular area of expertise in dealing: autographs. With all his running around and legitimate activity, almost no one suspected that he was a forger. Because of his deep knowledge of the hobby, he was able to operate for a very long time, and in a very intelligent manner. He used others to market his sophisticated wares in high-end retail establishments and auctions, which further obscured his activities, making detection, even suspicion, all the more difficult.

Naturally, Constantine had an endless supply. He could make as many forgeries as he wanted. But he was very smart about it. He didn’t go for quantity. He went for “quality,” creating forgeries that could be sold for a significant value per item, but with the least likelihood of exposure. These were all extremely high demand relatively recent signatures. No Babe Ruths. No Lou Gehrigs. No Christy Mathewsons. But “yes” to more modern stars such as Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. And he was smart about what the items on which his forgeries were presented. He knew that an unusual, or otherwise especially interesting, item signed by a ballplayer like Mickey Mantle could sell for MANY times what his signature would sell for on a common or unexciting item. He knew what would get collectors excited. This expert approach made his forgeries more desirable, more profitable, and just as important, allowed him to be very profitable with fewer items, and thus less chance of being caught. The materials he used upon which signatures would be added were old and added more credibility. All the more so because they came from him, and it was “known” he had great sources for autographs. Not just from his own collection but also from other longtime collectors he dealt with for years (due to his interests, activity, and being in the New York area). This provenance all alone was good enough for his outlets. Did the stores and auctions that sold his material have a clue? I have no idea.
 
BUT WHAT I DO KNOW… is that a memorabilia dealer consigned a big group of material to my auction (Robert Edward Auctions) and included were a selection of signed items. The signed items were not the core of the consignment. The core of the consignment was an eclectic array of interesting and valuable non-signed items. But the signed items were a welcome addition to the consignment because all were very marketable and would sell extremely well.

 Autograph authentication is an art not a science. I personally can’t tell what is good and what is bad. I’m not an autograph authenticator. So, like most auction houses, we always used reputable authenticators to vet the autographs in every auction. In fact, I think I was the very first sports auction to implement the mandatory policy that all autographed items had to go through a third party authentication process at all, and be approved by our outside authentication experts. Experienced authenticators can be very good. They are also human. It is always possible a mistake could be made. And they have made mistakes. They would be the first to agree if you asked them. They are humans not Gods! But they have great knowledge and can usually tell if an autograph is real or not. When we show authenticators autographs, they don’t know who consigned them or what was consigned with what (unless it is obvious using common sense; multiple items with inscriptions to the same person, for example.).  Each auction had lots of autographs. Sometimes thousands!
 
A FASCINATING thing happened when the autographs from this particular auction were reviewed: Every single signed item from this big consignment was rejected as a forgery. Almost all signed items NOT from this consignment were fine. The authenticators had no idea who consigned them or even what was consigned together. Items are presented to them for review with material organized by type of item (photos, bats, cards, balls , programs, jerseys etc). But every ball, photo, and unusual item from this consignment was rejected as a forgery. Statistically, this was “impossible.”  If everything was on the level. By that I mean, the authentication process provided statistical certainty in my eyes that there was a forgery problem with this consignor’s autographs.
 
First I called the consignor and gave him the bad news that all his signed items were rejected. He expressed surprise. I assumed he was a victim, not the perpetrator by the way. Then I asked him where he got them from… He volunteered that they all came from a single great source: Constantine. Upon learning this and sharing the information with the authenticators, they all seemed to know Constantine and suspected him to be a master forger. Actually, they expressed that they more than suspected. This was news to me and very interesting, something to file away in the back of my mind in case Constantine ever tried to consign autographs to us.
 
OK, well, that’s part one of the story. Part two is a little shorter: The problem autographed items are returned. But a year or so later, chatting with a New York-based FBI agent about another unrelated forgery investigation, he asked me out of the blue if I happened to know anything about this “Constantine.” Apparently, he did!  I didn’t have much but had the story above. The agent indicated that he was not surprised at all, but noted that actually catching these guys is a lot tougher than people realize. It’s not enough to “know.” You’ve got to be able to PROVE that someone is a forger. Which is a very tall order. And just because authenticators identified his items as forgeries actually “proves” nothing. And anyone can get stuck with a forged autographed item. Or claim to. Proof – real proof - was a whole different level and inherently a great source of frustration when dealing with a clever and knowledgeable forger.
 
But from the inquiry I learned that “Constantine” was on the FBI’s radar. And that there probably was something to it all. All information just naturally filed away.
 
Interestingly, over the years I had few but always pleasant communications with Constantine. I even accepted some direct auction consignments from Constantine. No autographs. Just cards. He actually consigned a complete set of T3 Turkey Red Tobacco premium cards to the auction once. These are great cards that were worth tens of thousands even long ago. Constantine also bought items in the auction. Which is not surprising because he was a collector and a dealer. Nothing big. He was always a gentleman in my very limited communications and dealings.

But by now, (as far as I’m concerned, right or wrong) I’ve got to assume Constantine is a master forger. This didn’t cause me to do anything differently. I only saw him at shows (and I didn’t even go to many shows anymore), and he never consigned any autographs to me. So it was kind of a non-issue. But it was always in the back of my mind that if I was ever offered items to auction that, for any reason, I thought might have come from him, to be on the lookout and avoid them. The dealership that consigned the “Constantine Mantles”…I just didn’t let them submit for potential auction autographed items that might have come from Constantine. This would save us the trouble of returning them to the consignor, save us from the potential for any being accidentally approved for our auction by the human authenticators, and save us lots of time because due to catalog production and auction scheduling. A lot of work such as photography, most of the descriptions (pending authentication), and often even catalog layout is done before the authenticators review items. That's a lot of work. Those autographed items that are knocked out due to being rejected by authenticators are then just removed from the system and the auction and returned. Of course it’s very desirable to not have to invest time and effort into processing items for auction that are not going to be in the auction. But if one has a lot of autographed items consigned, there are always going to be some that are rejected and pulled. That comes with the territory.    
 
Fast forward to an REA auction-in-progress. One of the lots is group of 12 Official American League baseballs from the 1960s (American League “Cronin” baseballs, the style in use from 1960 to 1973 to be exact; see screenshot illustration above).  These baseballs are still in their original boxes and have never been touched or even exposed to light since packaged. They are very collectible and valuable in this form. Not a fortune valuable. They aren’t thousands of dollars each. But at the time they were worth $50 to $100 each. Common sense tells us that theoretically baseballs like these could be “great raw material” for a forger. But then again, so could just about anything old. It just so happens, though, that baseballs (especially Official Major League baseballs) with a single signature on them are considered the ideal form of autograph by many collectors. Despite being the easiest to forge. (One single well-executed forged signature on a baseball is much easier to create and potentially get by authenticators than many fake signatures together on a baseball). And single-signed baseballs sell for a substantial premium to most other items signed by the same player, sometimes 100 times. There are a lot of single-signed baseball collectors out there.

Whenever I see unopened vintage baseballs offered at auction, I’ve always wondered if they ever fall into the hands of forgers. So, with this very substantial group unsigned never-touched original vintage Major League baseballs offered in my own auction, I took note: who should be bidding on these baseballs?

Low and behold...

Constantine. 
 
My wheels were naturally spinning…I knew it was very difficult to catch a professional forger red-handed but this seemed like a special opportunity was possibly presented. I wasn’t sure exactly what this opportunity was - that is, how one might proceed - but I was sure it was there. Possibly, anyway. 
 
All at once, in a millisecond, I had a plan.  I contacted the FBI agent who had asked about Constantine, explained the situation, and pitched him this idea:

I told him that I thought Constantine would win the unopened baseball lot no matter how high it went. If he won the lot, as soon as the auction was over but before his bill was paid, I would send the baseballs in to be marked in an invisible manner that would not in any way hurt the baseballs, but allow them to be identified. I had no doubt the boxes could easily be opened and then resealed. PSA/DNA has a way of marking the balls that is invisible. The markings can only be detected by PSA using a special infrared laser light. This technology would be perfect for marking the balls, especially since (if used as the canvass for forgeries) it was most likely PSA would eventually see these very baseballs in the future. But instead of being blank, they would be graced with forged signatures if indeed that was the buyer’s intention. (PSA is a leader in autograph authentication services, and uses this invisible PSA/DNA technology to mark autographed items they authenticate.) 
 
The FBI agent got back to me the next day and said if I could do this, they were in! They would like to execute this exactly as suggested. This was very exciting to me. Sort of like being in a sting operation in a movie. I didn’t know 100% if Constantine was going to win the lot, of course. And if he did, and the balls were marked inside “unopened” boxes (that were actually opened and expertly resealed), there was no guarantee that anything would come of it. But it was exciting and certainly had potential.

As I recall, I was able to FedEx the balls directly to the FBI. But interestingly (to me, anyway) when they were returned to me after being marked (to send to the winner), they had to be hand-delivered by the agent personally to protect and document the chain of custody of the balls as a legal precaution, which was apparently very desirable should anything develop from this plan, and the baseballs were used as evidence in a future legal proceeding. Which the FBI clearly thought might happen or why would they even bother to do this. (There was a lot of time and effort invested by the agent in charge to make this happen. And no doubt lots of paperwork involved too).

Once in the their possession, the boxes were opened, and the baseballs inside were delivered by the FBI to Joe Orlando (then President of  PSA), who arranged to have them all marked (as I recall they were marked with characters clearly identifying them as “FBI” baseballs, possibly also the date or some other code, and also individually numbered to differentiate each ball from one another).  Everything had to be kept very much under wraps at PSA. Information about this entire process was available only on a need-to-know basis at PSA in order to keep the plan from somehow leaking and undermining the potential success of the exercise. My small office was instructed to not say a word to a soul.

Before Constantine’s check arrived, I had the balls back in hand, looking like baseballs in perfectly sealed, never-opened boxes. When I sent them out to the buyer upon receiving payment, I sent them in a way that required a signature so that Constantine’s receipt was well documented. He personally signed for the package. 
 
And then the waiting began. Soon we pretty much had  forgotten all about it. Months  passed. 
 
Until one day…I got a call from the National Convention. …”We got him!” 
 
I wasn’t at the show, but I was told that Constantine had personally submitted some autographed baseballs to PSA DNA right there at the convention. I’m not sure how many, but was told that one “auction lot” marked baseball was submitted for authentication, that now had the (expertly forged) signature of Ken Boyer, who passed away decades earlier in 1982 (A single-signed Ken Boyer baseball is rare, in large part because of his early passing at only 51 years old. Examples have sold for thousands of dollars at auction).  From the perspective of Constantine…he probably chose the National to submit to PSA in person because the turnaround time is quickest, they authenticate items right there at the show, and from a forger’s perspective, he probably thought authentication at a show (as opposed to by mail) also gave him the best shot of having his forgeries slip by the authenticators. Maybe because the authenticators would be so overwhelmed and rushed. (I’m not even saying this is the case, just that I can see a submitter thinking this is the case.) Submitters are right there at the show too. So a forger might even think (almost certainly incorrectly but authenticators are human too) that perhaps he would have an opportunity to “lobby” for a positive result in person with lies about provenance. Also, my guess is he hoped that as his forgeries were authenticated one at a time (along with other actually real items for "camouflage"), upon picking it up after authentication he could then immediately submit another forgery for authentication (so the authenticators would not have numerous forgeries from Constantine at the same time).  
 
The FBI was very pleased and I was told they raided Constantine’s home with a warrant, searching for and seizing forgeries and evidence. It sounded exciting! But I was only given snippets of information as a courtesy. Being a civilian I was not privy to comprehensive details. I assumed this was the beginning of a very successful forgery case. They literally caught him red-handed! They had lots of evidence! Bank records! Everything! I remember an agent expressing great amazement to me that Constantine had so much money in the bank. Apparently he had A LOT of money, though I was never told how much. The implication of course was that some (or all) of this money was the result of illegal activity. At least that is how I interpreted it from context. 
 
But days turned into weeks turned into months and nothing happened. Eventually I called to ask “what the heck is going on with Constantine? When am I going to be reading about the indictment?” 
 
I have no idea why - I’m sure there was a good reason - but it was never shared with me and there never was an indictment. I could not be told the details but was told that while there was not going to be an indictment, “We’re never going to hear from Constantine again. His forging days are over.” 
 
And indeed…Constantine was never heard from again. Once a hobby fixture, I’ve never even heard his name mentioned since. Except by the few people involved. 
 
So where is Constantine now? He still lives at the same home. I can see that by checking online. I think he’s doing well and I know he has other interests (that are legal and positive!) 
 
I know that Constantine will eventually see this post. 
 
Here’s my message to Constantine for when that happens:
 
Hey Constantine,..from this blog post you have learned the details of exactly how it came to be that you were “busted.” From my perspective anyway. Obviously, participating in this sting was nothing personal. Our communications were few and positive and respectful. I've helped stop the careers of many criminals in the collecting world over the years. In this case, it happened to be you.

As I’m sure you know from your active days in the collecting world, I have always invested a great deal of energy and effort to educate and protect collectors from being cheated, to make the hobby a safer and better place for everyone. I am going to great pains to not identify you because that would serve no purpose. I like to keep this blog positive and amusing! And I also think everyone deserves a second chance. But I do want to  share (and have documented somewhere) what to me is a fascinating story.
 
I have no idea how you got involved in this forgery “business.” I’m sure there’s a story there too. I appreciate that (to the best of my knowledge) you have completely left these forgery activities to the past. I’d like to think that I may have saved you from a far worse fate than otherwise. Imagine if you had NOT been caught by the sting. Who knows what would have eventually happened, if and when you were caught. My guess is you would have gone to prison. And you might be there to this day. Instead, you stopped and moved on. That sounds like a win not just for the collecting world, but for you personally. Good luck to you in your future positive and legal endeavors.
 
So that’s the story (well, all that I know from my perspective) of stopping “Constantine The Forger” Cold In His Tracks. It’s a pretty unusual, maybe even unique story relating to forged autographs in the baseball collecting world.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this story.
I have enjoyed writing it!

Sincerely,

Robert Lifson

[email protected]