RFID Certifies Celebrity Collectibles

Each tag's unique ID number will be recorded in a database that will include the item's date of purchase, appraised value, owner, manufacturer and other data. To make it difficult for hackers to duplicate the tag, RFID Ltd. will encrypt the tag's ID number recorded on the data and might also mark the tag with a unique physical identifier, such as a hologram. Chavez, however, declines to explain what sort of encryption technology his company is using.

Owners of memorabilia with an embedded tag will receive a password to access the AuthentiChip database. Once they log in, they can review items owned by others registered in the database and submit offers to make purchases, creating a secondary market for such RFID-authenticated items.

Chavez says the application works with several different types of tags. The type his firm will most likely utilize is Alien Technology's 915 MHz passive EPC Gen 2 Squiggle tag, similar to those product manufacturers apply to cases and pallets of goods shipped to U.S. Department of Defense supply depots.

To maintain items in the database, RFID Ltd. charges a one-time fee based on the volume and value of items tagged. For example, it would cost less to RFID-tag and register a signed celebrity photograph than to register an original Picasso painting. For athletic jerseys, photographs, movie props and comparable memorabilia, the fee would be less than $50 to apply an AuthentiChip RFID tag and record information about the tagged item in the database. Pricing could change in the future, the company notes.

Chavez says he plans to partner with an organization specializing in memorabilia, and that he would like to develop kiosks utilizing RFID interrogators and computer terminals linked to the AuthentiChip database. His hope, he adds, is to place the kiosks in stores, to be used by anyone looking to authenticate items. Collectors would also be able to search for items online, in the AuthentiChip database, to check the authenticity of those items.

Ideally, auction houses will possess RFID readers and access to the AuthentiChip database to authenticate items up for sale. RFID Ltd. intends for the application to replace the manual process of taking a Polaroid photo of someone signing a piece of memorabilia and printing a certificate (the only method presently used to prove the authenticity of collectibles, Chavez claims).

According to Chavez, RFID Ltd. could possibly sell RFID interrogators in the future. If his company can make the readers inexpensive, he explains—about $100 each—then the average eBay seller or buyer would be able to use the application, as well.