President Obama tells us to "put away the Xbox." Sarah Palin? She'll sign it! This Xbox 360 allegedly autographed by the alleged Alaska governor is allegedly on eBay, for $1.1 million. Allegedly. Suspicious? You betcha.
Update: Yup. This sucker's been de-listed. Couldn't've seen that one coming. Now, back to our original story ...
That picture above is one of two provided by the seller at the listing. He's claiming that it "was autographed at the governors picnic on July 24, 2009, in Wasilla, Alaska, just two days before her resignation as governor of that state." She did indeed have a picnic in that town on that date. But if she signed a console there, this is the first I have ever heard of it. And such things usually trickle onto the blogs.
We put the picture to a forensic examination by Kotaku's Bureau of Questioned Documents and could not make a conclusive determination either way, fake or 'shooped. Turning around and comparing it to her actual signature also produced no conclusion one way or the other.
But that $1.1 million price tag is fishy as Fairbanks. Not that any of you do have $1.1 million to drop on a tagged 360, but if you do, you probably know some appraiser who can certify this before eBayer dmorrill123 gets the money out of escrow. According to this list, $1.1 million would be a record for anything signed by a person still living when it was sold. Fellow-soliloquy writer Shakespeare's is valued at $5 million.
Just don't play it. Because if it red-rings and you send it in, well, don't expect Microsoft's power-washers to know the value of political memorabilia.