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July 29, 2021 - Droog Magazine periodical for investigative journalism

The Hitler Forgery Industry

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Garo Certificates

Introduction | Traced Certificates of Authenticity

Report for Bavarian State police on Frank P. Garo

Frank P. Garo (main page)

By Jaap van den Born and Bart FM Droog

The strange business of selling fakes, forgeries and other concoctions attributed to Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and other Nazis.

Frank P. Garo

One of the recent 'Certificates of Authenticity' issuers to obvious forged Hitler signatures on photos, watercolors, oil paintings and sketches is the American Frank P. Garo from Coopersburg, Pennsylvania.

We've detected fraudulent certificates of authenticity issued by Frank P. Garo at 'Hitler' auctions in the United States, Canada and Germany. But authenticating forged Hitler signatures is only part of his business: as long as he is paid $45.- he authenticates any signature, even if there's no signature to authenticate.

Proof for that is Garo's certificate of authenticity belonging to this text allegedly written by the first American president, George Washington:

The seller, Lori Ferber Collectibles from Scottsdale, Arizona, who offered this envelope with a Garo CoA for $3,200.-, stated (bold by us):

"Original handwriting of President George Washington, the 1st President of the United States. As we photographed this item we were struck by the overwhelming feeling of holding something in our hands that was once held by the first President of our great nation.

While the item does not contain the signature of the President, it is written in Washington's own hand (...)

Comes with our 100% guarantee of authenticity and a Certificate of Authenticity from Frank Garo, Forensic Handwriting Examiner."

The Certificate of Authenticity Garo issued to the above depicted piece of paper, is quite interesting. Especially because his remarks on the signature:

george-washington-autograph.html

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Certificates issued by Frank P. Garo

Traced in March 2021.

At first Garo operated as 'William Tell Research' (WTR). In 2007 Garo changed the name of his company in 'Frank P. Garo FHE [Forensic Handwriting Expert]', FPG.

Garo continued the numbering system he used on the 'William Tell Research certificates, after he changed the company name.

The last WTR certificate we traced was issued in 2006, the first FPG one originates from 2008.

If his numbering system is correct, then this would mean that Garo issued almost 30,000 certificates. Given this high number, a few of these might be correct. But given his 'authentication' methods, most of them will be fraudulent.

They are not valueless , though. Their true value is that the mere presence of a Garo CoA accompanying an object, is a strong indicator for the false nature of such an object.

Garo's rates

In 2003: first and second signatures $45.00 each, each additional $25.00 each. Plus $5.00 shipping per order.

(source: William Tell Research-website, March 28, 2003; via:https://web.archive.org/web/20030328155527/http://www.williamtell.us/

In 2019: $20 for the authentication 'research' and $25 for the certificate.

In 2019 Garo started to make use of this stamp en relief:

Traced Certificates of Authenticity issued by Frank P. Garo.

Date	#	to signature(s) of	Object

04-07-2000	1542	Robin Yount (baseball)	Photo
04-02-2001	6628	Cy Young (baseball)	Ball
29-01-2005	10933	Franz Liszt	Music score
27-07-2006	20884	Salvador Dali	Sketch
18-10-2008	23524	Pablo Picasso	Lithograph
25-05-2009	23615	Neil Armstrong	Postcard
06-12-2010	24229	Pablo Picasso	Drawing
31-01-2011	24469	Michael Jackson	Photo
22-02-2011	24499	Michael Jackson	Photo
21-07-2011	24669	Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston S. Churchill, three naval officers	Photo
29-07-2011	24677	Ron Santo (sportsman)	Paper
29-07-2011	24678	Jim Palmer (sportsman)	Paper
29-07-2011	24685	Joe DiMaggio (sportsman)	Paper
05-09-2012	25118	Andy Warhol	Card
25-10-2012	25164	Adolf Hitler	Painting
16-11-2012	25166	Keith Haring	Artwork
16-11-2012	25171	Cast 'Wizard of Oz'	Paper
13-01-2013	25236	The Beatles	Photo
17-01-2013	25246	Satchel Paige (baseball)	Photo
17-07-2013	26115	Muhammed Ali	Drawing
20-08-2014	26493	Eric Clapton	Guitar
27-09-2014	26609	Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston S. Churchill	Paper
05-12-2014	26661	Eric Clapton	Guitar
16-01-2015	26693	Oliver Winchester	Note
22-01-2015	26697	Audrey Hepburn	Photo
30-03-2015	26764	The Beatles	Album
20-05-2015	26801	Michael Jackson	Helmet
09-07-2015	26862	Bart Starr (Am. football)	Lithograph
15-07-2015	26893	Adolf Hitler	Painting
03-08-2015	26980	Stephen King	Book
03-08-2015	26981	Pope John Paul II	Book
05-08-2015	26985	Adolf Hitler	Sketch?
17-08-2015	27002	Adolf Hitler	Painting
01-09-2015	09115	Gerald Ford	Card
11-09-2015	27045	Andy Warhol	Cola bottle
12-09-2015	27049	Heinrich Himmler	Book
12-09-2015	27050	Heinrich Himmler	Book
07-10-2015	270940	Andy Warhol	Postcard
27-10-2015	27144	Charles Schulz	Envelope
15-11-2015	27168	Bela Lugosi	Photo
19-11-2015	27174	Bill Waterson (might be authentic)	Autograph in book
07-04-2016	27530	John F. Kennedy	Card
05-05-2016	27577	Steve Jobs	Magazine
28-05-2016	275653	Babe Ruth	Ball
29-07-2016	27060	Adolf Hitler	Sketch
29-08-2016	27097	Curly Lambeau	Program
16-09-2016	27129	Adolf Hitler	Painting
16-09-2016	27130	Adolf Hitler	Painting
16-09-2016	27134	Adolf Hitler	Sketch
16-09-2016	27135	Adolf Hitler	Sketch
04-10-2016	27161	Adolf Hitler	Photo
03-11-2016	27233	Andy Warhol	Artwork
28-11-2016	27268	Several basketball players	Ball
03-02-2017	27372	Adolf Hitler	Sketch
03-02-2017	27373	Adolf Hitler	Sketch
03-02-2017	27374	Adolf Hitler	Sketch
03-02-2017	?	Andy Warhol	Title page book
28-03-2017	28010	Charles Lindbergh	Envelope
28-03-2017	28011	Alexander Hamilton	Letter
28-03-2017	28016	George Washington	Letter
28-03-2017	28018	William Henry Harrison	Letter
28-03-2017	28019	Andrew Jackson	Letter
31-03-2017	28021	Adolf Hitler	Photo
16-05-2017	28245	Cast 'Wizard of Oz'	Poster
16-05-2017	28251	George H.E. Bush	Letter
13-07-2017	28306	Babe Ruth	Ball
17-07-2017	28308	Andy Warhol	Dollar bill
?	28431	Andy Warhol	Lire bill
30-09-2017	28438	Roberto Clemente	Photo
02-10-2017	28463	Heinrich Himmler	Photo
17-10-2017	28502	Ernst Röhm	Photo
25-11-2017	28594	Adolf Hitler (Kloss)	Postcard
12-12-2017	28668	Adolf Hitler (Born)	'Painting'
12-12-2017	28672	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2018)	Sketch
12-12-2017	28673	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2018)	Sketch
12-12-2017	28673	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2018)	Sketch
04-01-2018	28692	Anton Mussert	Photo
05-01-2018	28710	Arthur Greiser	Photo
15-01-2018	28744	Stephen Sondheim	Book
31-01-2018	29006	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2021)	Painting
31-01-2018	29008	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2021)	Painting
07-02-2018	29024	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2021)	Painting
07-02-2018	29025	Adolf Hitler (Kloss, 2019)	Painting
07-02-2018	29029	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2021)	Watercolor
13-02-2018	29033	Michael Jackson	Photo
18-03-2018	29116	Heinrich Himmler	Document
19-03-2018	29117	Andy Warhol	Artwork
21-03-2018	29124	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2021)	Painting
21-03-2018	29125	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2021)	Watercolor
21-03-2018	29126	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2021)	Painting
30-03-2018	29137	Josef Goebbels	Photo
09-04-2018	29152	Harry Houdini	Photo
10-04-2018	29156	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2021)	Watercolor
10-04-2018	29157	Adolf Hitler (Kloss, 2019)	Painting
16-04-2018	29165	Reinhard Heydrich	Letter
10-05-2018	29210	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2021)	Painting
23-05-2018	29231	Andy Warhol	Artwork
23-05-2018	29235	Andy Warhol	Artwork
28-05-2018	29249	Herman Balck, Hans Gollnick, Alfred Jodl	Pieces of paper
11-06-2018	29280	Andy Warhol	Artwork
11-06-2018	29281	Andy Warhol	Artwork
22-06-2018	29306	Jack London	Autograph in book
30-07-2018	29357	Buddy Holly	Record
31-07-2018	29361	John Wayne	Canteen
01-08-2018	29366	Adolf Hitler (M321)	Painting
04-08-2018	29369	Derek Jeter (baseball)	Card
04-08-2018	29370	Derek Jeter (baseball)	Card
04-08-2018	29371	Derek Jeter (baseball)	Card
05-09-2018	29400	Jean Harlow	Paper
05-09-2018	29401	Janis Joplin	Paper
18-10-2018	29471	Mickey Mantle	Glove
01-11-2018	29489	Andy Warhol	Artwork
01-11-2018	29490	Andy Warhol	Artwork
01-11-2018	29491	Andy Warhol	Artwork
01-11-2018	29494	Andy Warhol	Artwork
19-12-2018	29563	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2021)	Watercolor
14-01-2019	29590	Andy Warhol	Artwork
14-01-2019	29594	Andy Warhol	Artwork
22-01-2019	29611	Adolf Hitler (AA, 2019)	Sketch
14-02-2019	29631	Andy Warhol	Artwork
14-02-2019	29634	Andy Warhol	Artwork
14-02-2019	29637	Andy Warhol	Artwork
14-02-2019	29642	Andy Warhol	Artwork
15-02-2019	29646	Pablo Picasso	Artwork
04-04-2019	29727	Ivanka Trump	Photo
24-07-2019	29870	Keith Haring	Drawing
31-08-2019	29324 (!)	Judy Garland	Photo
30-09-2019	29934	Andy Warhol	Artwork
07-12-2019	30023	Keith Haring	Drawing
01-02-2020	30072	Hergé	Drawing
01-02-2020	30072	Paul McCartney	Guitar part
03-02-2020	30075	Keith Haring	Drawing
07-02-2020	30077	Andy Warhol	Artwork
27-02-2020	30115	Adolf Hitler (Catawiki)	Postcard
07-04-2020	30152	Paul McCartney	Guitar part
15-06-2020	30251	Slash (Guns N Roses)	Guitar part
29-06-2020	30270	Keith Haring	Dollar bill
29-06-2020	30274	Keith Haring	Schilling bill
21-09-2020	30446	Yoshitomo Nara	Artwork
01-02-2021	30695	Freddy Mercury	Microphone
21-04-2021	30820	Mai Trung Thu	Artwork`

AA = Affiliated auctions, Tallahassee, Florida.