GENERAL INFORMATION

It has become "buyer beware" in the SRV collectible market. The value of memorabilia, and the ease of moving merchandise in internet auctions has turned fans into victims of criminal forgers and mass merchandizers of shoddy and illegal material. You should be careful with autographs in particular (see below) and concert posters, many of which have been reproduced in large quantities. Use some common sense - if something should be rare, and there are a lot of them on the market, you may be looking at a reproduction rather than an original. As for other memorabilia, if it isn't a licensed (authorized) product, don't count on quality. I'm not even going to get into the morass which is the bootleg market. If you shell out money for bootlegs, be prepared to be disappointed or flat ripped off. I do not offer bootleg audio or video for sale, nor do I tell people where to get them, so please don't ask.

I guarantee everything I sell or trade to be as described or your money back. Collectibles in the SRV Store are originals unless stated otherwise. 

For a few pointers on caring for and preserving your collectibles, scroll to the bottom of this page.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan includes a chapter of my tips on collecting memorabilia, information on known counterfeits and forgeries, and hundreds of color photos of SRV collectibles. 

1. "FAKE" GUITAR PICK S  

By "fake" I mean picks which were not made specifically for Stevie between 1983-1990. Internet sellers may simply describe their merchandise as a "Stevie Ray Vaughan pick," but that could mean any number of things. In mid-2000, fake SRV picks began flooding the market. It is not my intention to accuse, but merely to report my experience in researching SRV picks for over 12 years. Beware of the following recently manufactured picks which may be deceptively advertised, leading you to believe they were Stevie's picks:

1. Solid white, blue, red, black or green picks with his full name in gold print. These fake picks are common in internet auctions. Stevie had solid white, blue and red picks, so this area of SRV collecting is now very treacherous. Stevie did not have black or green picks.

2. White picks with black letters reading "STEVIE RAY" (no last name) are fake, to my knowledge. 

3. Picks with a picture or graphic printed on them are definitely recent "novelty" picks. These include any picks with a photo, silhouette, dates, "tribute" picks with various caracitures of Stevie and slogans such as "soul to soul" etc. I think some of them are supposedly printed in 24k gold lettering.

4. Picks where the "i" in "STEViE" is a lowercase or dotted "i" while all the other letters are uppercase. The picks I have seen are solid blue and solid red, but there may be other colors. 

5. Any picks bearing only "SRV" initials. A tribute band in Florida in the early 1990's had some "SRV" picks made. Stevie did not have picks with his initials.

6. Yellow picks with gold lettering and red picks with silver lettering are apparently being made now. The yellows are bogus. How the new red picks differ from genuine red picks, I don't know because I've haven't seen them up close.

7. If you have a Stevie Ray Vaughan guitar pick, tortoise shell color with full name in gold lettering on two lines, please contact me with details on where the pick came from. I am trying to determine whether these picks were made before or after Stevie died. Contact with an employee of Stevie's suggests these picks are fake.

8. In late 2002, fake multi-color SRV picks started appearing on internet auctions. The gold lettering is thicker than on the originals. For many years the multi's were among the safest bets for genuine picks, but now virtually all the styles have been bootlegged.

9. In 2003 I started seeing purple picks with white lettering that are fake. There are genuine purple and white picks, but they are easily distinguished.

10. In the Fall of 2003 yellow picks with "Stevie Ray Vaughan" appeared. They are fake.

11. In early 2004 dark purple picks with gold lettering started appearing, originally in England I think. They are fake.

12. In August 2006 another fake pick began circulating on internet auctions. The one I saw was white with gold lettering, and the lettering is not straight. It looks like it was hand-stamped or otherwise home-made. I am not aware of any of Stevie's picks having lettering that was so severly crooked. 

13. December 2006 - red picks with huge silver, offcenter letters. "Vaughan" barely fits on the pick the letters are so big.

How many different styles of genuine Stevie picks are there? Seventeen have been confirmed.

2. AUTOGRAPHS

Forged autographs are so prevalent that I have had to create a separate page for the discussion and examples.  CLICK HERE.

3. OTHER SCAMS

Other known fakes which have been on the market:
 - at least two black hats, one signed in gold paint pen, each sold for $5,000 through major auction houses; each proved fake and money refunded.
 - the pickguard from Number One, allegedly signed by Stevie and Jimmie on the back - fake. The last I heard, a dealer in England was trying to sell this even after I informed them that it was fake and where the real one is.
 - two-page setlist from Stevie's last show at Alpine Valley, each page sold separately in major auctions - fake.
 - guitars allegedly in photos of Stevie - at least one instance of a guitar being digitally inserted into a photo of Stevie and then the guitar being passed off as one of Stevie's guitars. Fake. Analyze even photographic proof very carefully.
 - and of course fake guitar picks which now litter the internet.
 - illegal and unathorized merchandise also litters the internet: ash trays, mugs, flasks, photographs, bootlegs, etc.
 - posters, particularly Syria Mosque, Fitzgeralds, Tipitina's, w/ Stray Cats, basically 99% of the concert (distinguish promotional) posters on eBay are all copies or fictional.
 - almost all the backstage passes in internet auctions are fake, and many are not even copies of real passes but are just "fictional" artwork made in the shape of a backstage pass.

4. "STEVIE'S" GUITARS

Every few months another guitar shows up on the internet with someone claiming it was Stevie's. While it is true Stevie had a lot of guitars, evidence of him giving away guitars is exceptionally rare. Here is just one story of the lengths to which one criminal went. BEWARE because this guitar is still out there.

On April 1, 2003, someone listed a Fender Strat for auction on eBay, alleging that it was owned and used by Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was signed in gold paint pen, and had "COBRAS" in small mailbox letters on the pickguard. The starting price was $125,000. 
    I purchased this same guitar from a major auction house in New York in 1995 (which later refunded my money). The guitar came with two pieces of documentation which purported to authenticate it:  (1) a full page handwritten letter, supposedly in Stevie's hand, describing the history of the guitar and the circumstances of it passing to a man in Vermont. The letter stated that Stevie obtained the guitar from a member of the Cobras in the 1970's, and that it had been used on stage the night the man got it in 1990, among other things. (2) A short handwritten note from Rene Martinez about the guitar, dated 1994.
    I personally contacted that Cobras band member who stated that he never owned this guitar, and never transfered it to Stevie by sale or gift. He also stated that he and Jimmie Vaughan do not believe the handwriting is Stevie's. Rene Martinez stated he did not believe this was Stevie's guitar, he did not recall any transfer of a guitar from Stevie to anyone while on tour that night, and that he never marked guitars he worked on in the fashion this guitar was marked inside the neck cavity. I personally compared the note purported to be in Rene's hand with a known genuine example of his handwriting, and it did not match, in my opinion.
    On January 26, 1997, the man finally admitted to me on the phone that the guitar was not played on stage the night he got it "from Stevie" in 1990, despite "Stevie's" handwriting saying he did. 
    On January 29, 1997, the auction house stated, "As a result of the substantial issues which have been raised with regard to the authenticity of this guitar, [we] will rescind the sale." My money was refunded in full.
    I met the man and spoke with him on the phone on several occasions. It is my opinion that on at least one occasion between 1987 and 1990 he met Stevie and probably obtained at least one autograph from him. I have seen a photo of the man and Stevie together. It is possible that the autograph on this guitar is genuine, but due to other circumstances which I will not go into here, it is my opinion that it is not. 
    I spoke with the current owner. He says he has no connection to the previous owners. After listening to what I had to say, he closed the auction. Based on our conversation, I have no reason to believe the current owner had any intention to defraud anyone or pass along bad merchandise. 
    This is just one more reason why you need to be very careful buying collectibles. Apparently, I was not the only one who was ripped off (almost) regarding this guitar. The same forger is suspected of creating other handwritten letters supposedly in Stevie's hand, a signed black hat from Texas Hatters, a pickguard alleged to be off Number One, another guitar purported to be Stevie's, a two-page set list alleged to have been from Alpine Valley, and other items.

INSURANCE

I am often asked whether a certain item should be "insured."  Many times the question is actually about value, not insurance. As stated elsewhere on this website, I do not make free appraisals unless the item was purchased from me. This section assumes you have some kind of insurance, because if you don't, then obviously you "need" insurance.
   I am not an expert on insurance. My advice is talk to your agent, whether you have homeowner's or renter's insurance. If you don't understand your policy, make them explain it until you do - it's their job and responsibility to you.
   My understanding, not to be substituted for professional advice from your agent, is that you need to make sure your collectibles are covered for market value, as opposed to replacement cost. Replacement cost coverage is for things like your clothes or TV or furniture. If you have a suit that is stolen, the replacement cost may be $300 for a new suit. If the suit you lost formerly belonged to Stevie Ray Vaughan or some other celebrity, getting a new $300 suit is not likely to make you feel adequately reimbursed for your loss.
   Critical to your success in proving any claim in you suffer a loss of your property is proving what you had. You need clear photographs or scans of your collectibles which show condition and any other important factor affecting value. For example, if you have a book that is autographed on the title page, you better have a photo of the autograph, not just the book. It is important to keep your proof someplace other than where the insured items are. If you lose your collection in a fire, it won't do you any good to have had great proof that burned, too. I suggest not keeping your proof in your computer either, as that is a prime target for thieves. Put your proof on a disc or other media, and keep it in a safe deposit box. Or, keep one copy at your office or relative's house, and another copy someplace else safe.
   The next thing you need to ascertain about your insurance is whether there are limitations or exclusions based on the type of collectible or its market value. For example, jewelry, coins and some other things are special cases. Make sure you understand the insurance company's definition of "jewelry." I have been told  that "jewelry" only includes items which have gold or precious stones, and consequently, a necklace made of silver and turquoise is not "jewelry" for insurance exclusions. Your policy may differ. Also, some policies may limit coverage to a certain dollar amount either per item, per collection or per loss. If an item is over a certain value, you may have to "schedule" it, meaning you have to declare it specifically and separately and pay an additional preumium amount.
   The final insurance topic I will attempt to sketch is specialized vs homeowner's insurance. After talking at length with a collectibles insurance company and a homeowner's insurance agent, I finally got them both to say the same thing: collectibles may be covered under a homeowner's policy for market value, meaning I do not "need" another company to insure memorabilia. HOWEVER, in the event of a loss, a company which specializes in collectibles insurance will probably process the claim more quickly and easily than a standard homeowner's insurance company because the specialists are used to dealing with market value of collectibles. Your standard insurance company is more likely to be more difficult to satisfy regarding market value of items they are not used to dealing with. In either case, it is a good idea to have a third-party expert prepare an appraisal for you if you have a significant collection. Who is an expert? Someone whose experience and knowledge quailfies him/her to provide convincing testimony about the market value of your collection - someone you would want to speak on your behalf to a claims adjuster or jury.