Kind of hard to do with propworx since they went bankrupt.
Bankruptcy can mean re-organization, not just the disappearance of the company. The company is still around, they still conduct auctions online, and the owner if it is a member of this forum.
And even I mentioned that if a company does go completely out of business, then it makes things harder, and likely impossible. If Profiles in History where to shut down, do you think the COAs/LOAs would mean anything anymore? Who would you contact about something they sold later proved to be fake?
Simply put- The value of COA depends _entirely_ on the issuer still be around to listen to a complaint. Once they are no longer around, the COAs are worthless like all the others. COAs from movie studios aren't worth much either, since I can pretty much guarantee that the person that signed them no longer works there (or in that department) after about a year, and I really don't see any studio refunding any money or doing anything 'to make it right' if you somehow got stiffed...
They also got caught misrepresenting some of their items as well
That wouldn't surprise me.... I never said any of those companies were perfect... I'd bet there's not a single prop seller around that hasn't sold something that wasn't quite what it appeared to be (at least, one that deals in a lot of merchandise)... The point is, these companies will do what's necessary to make it right if you have the actual item they sold and it's been made clear it wasn't what they said it was. I'm sure Propworx would still honor their COAs if something was proved to be fake. It still doesn't negate anything I said in my post.
The point of this thread is the value of COAs, period. I gave some examples, and examples of how they can be corrupted. This isn't a discussion about any one company (and, if it is, that company is PIH per the OP), please don't turn it into a thread complaining about individual companies. I simply don't care what problems you may have had with any company or it's owner. Talk to _THEM_ if that's the case, or start your own thread. If you are just referring to past history, we've all heard it before, it's old news, and doesn't need to be re-iterated here. (But you should always do your own research, don't just rely on COAs or descriptions given to you by _anyone_. Take it into account, sure, but don't blindly follow anyone into a purchase.)
Another interesting story I've heard from a propmaker was where an executive producer demanded a screen-used prop from his recent film (apparently he was kind of a jerk the whole time they were working on it). The propmaker essentially took a commercial replica, and dressed it up like the screen-used ones and sent that to him. Now, out there somewhere, is a prop in the hands of an Exec Producer (iron-clad provenance you'd think,right?), and it's a fake. And no one knows but one person that doesn't even follow auctions/sales, so he'd never even know if it was sold.
Or the Rosemary's Baby necklace recently pulled from a Juliens auction apparently consigned by the actress that wore it herself. It was clearly a replica made by someone online, and I think the actress stated she carried it home from the set, and doesn't know how it's now a replica. Assuming she's telling the truth, someone might have actually stolen the original from her and replaced it with the replica, but it's likely we will never know the truth about that one...
There's just so many stories that can throw doubt on nearly anything that sometimes it comes down to just trusting your gut...
If you can't 100% screen match it, or you, PERSONALLY, didn't remove it from the set, you can never _prove_ it's exactly what it's being claimed to be. It's always just someone's word, and how much you trust them.