Our experience - Fake Signatures
One star might be a bit harsh, but this is my experience.
We bought 2 pieces of signed art, One from Taylor Swift and another from Jurgen Klopp. Both were bought in person from their store in Ambleside, Cumbria. The store is filled with hundreds of beautiful pieces of artwork with supposedly authentic signatures. These signatures are supported with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA), so we assumed we were buying with confidence. When we returned home, and looked at the COAs, we noticed they were self issued. This doesn't really make them meaningful, as I could sign a piece of artwork fraudulently and issue my own COA if I wish. As the phrase goes, it's like marking your own homework!
We emailed David Ramsey (or David Ramsay, not sure on spelling as it differs depending on where you look), asking for more information. At this point, we were just looking for any evidence, such as photos of the artwork being signed, that could help authenticate the signature. At £195 per item, these were not cheap and we explained that we wanted something more concrete than the COA. David was very quick to reply, and the communication was great. This gave us a bit more confidence. He explained that his signatures are received from a mix of paid signing events and the rest are obtained by autograph hunters. It is only the paid signings that tend to have photo proof of the celebrity signing the pieces. Neither pieces that we had bought were obtained through the paid signings (neither Jurgen or Taylor needs the money!).
We mentioned to David that we wanted to keep the pieces, and that we though they were incredible (as were all of the items in the shop), but we wanted something more concrete on the authenticity. We also mentioned we had decided to send the signatures to a third party verification service. This is where we started to get a bit fishy. David's response was that we were welcome to use a third party authenticator, but that in his experience they would likely say the signature was not authentic. He also said that he had never had so many questions asked about the authenticity, and that perhaps I would be more comfortable just getting a refund. We continued looking at authentication and did some digging, and used what we understand to be a very reliable third party authenticator. I won't mention their name, but they come up high in searches and have done work for multiple TV programs on authentication of signatures. They came back immediately and said that the signatures were likely fake. This was based on the signature itself (not matching known examples) and also the reputation of the seller. He had numerous authentication requests from the same shop and none of the signatures were authentic. They were quite scathing about this shop.
Looking for additional confirmation, I posted the Taylor Swift signature to a fan group on Facebook dedicated to authenticating TS signatures. Again, the feedback was conclusive and damning. Fake! I pushed the members of the group on why exactly they were so convinced it was not authentic, and they gave multiple reasons (she doesn't sign things in person much, she hasn't signed anything from the Era's tour, the signature doesn't match known examples, etc.).
On top of this, we have also heard other accounts of incidents with this shop buying up cheap ebay fakes and selling them on at increased prices.
Knowing what I know now, and what I have been told from various people, on the balance of probability these signatures are most likely fake. They don't look fake to a casual person who doesn't know any better. The signatures are obviously hand-drawn, they are not auto-pen replicas. They are free flowing and not stuttery like they have been traced. But they are different when compared to known examples. For me, the most telling sign that they aren't authentic, is just how beautiful these pieces are. When you look at authentic signed pieces, they are never beautiful. The person getting the signature can't ask the celebrity to sign in a certain place, using a certain type of ink, in dry weather on a beautiful picture. It just doesn't add up. The signed pieces are outstanding, the perfect colour ink, the perfect position on the picture. Personally I just think the signatures are done by a very good forger.
To be fair to David, he has issued a full refund and covered the cost of postage and packing. I don't know if the issue is that David is knowingly selling fake signed art, or whether he truly believes that his suppliers are legitimate autograph hunters, but something is off. Like I say, it is possible that some of the pieces in his shop are genuine (possibly the ones he gets in person), but it seems likely that many, probably the majority, aren't.