Very often autographs are not authentically
signed by the individual in question. "Fakes" come in several forms:
Autopen
A mechanical device that "signs"
flat objects such as photos, cards, letters, etc. A writing instrument is inserted into
the mechanical armature and the device "signs" a name using a preprogrammed
pattern (matrix) that simulates the person's real signature. Almost any type of pen can be
used by an Autopen. (Note: Autopen is capitalized because it's the brand name of the
device.) Good Autopens can be difficult to detect, but there are some tell-tale signs that
an Autopen has been used.
- "Shaky" signatures
- A signature that appears unnaturally "shaky." This happens when the Autopen
armature vibrates as it signs. Here is an example of a shaky Autopen. The vibration
appears most prominently on the "W", "R" and "G."
- Exact matches - Autopen
signatures match each other exactly. This does not occur with
real signatures. Sign your name a million times and no two signatures will be EXACTLY the
same. If two signatures match exactly they are Autopen signatures. Of course you need 2
samples of the signature to conduct this test. Publications like Pen & Quill, Autograph Collector and Autograph Times frequently publish
known Autopen patterns. Buy and save these magazines for reference. There are also many
online sources where you can see Autopen patterns. If you're checking out scans on
someone's web page and their signature matches yours, guess what? You both have Autopen
signatures. Importantly, size of the signature and pen type don't matter. George
Bush typically sends Autopenned photos -- some signed with a fine point marker, others
signed with a thicker Sharpie. At first glance they may appear to be different signatures,
but they match exactly. It's just a different type of pen that was used in the Autopen
machine. Also, be aware that some celebrities -- most notably Nolan Ryan -- use several
different Autopen patterns.
- Lines are all same thickness
- An Autopen holds the writing instrument at a 90 degree angle from the writing surface.
This means that, in an Autopen signature, the lines are all the same thickness. When
signing, a real hand holds the pen at a 50 - 70 degree angle to the paper. This makes some
of the lines in the signature slightly thicker than others. This phenomena can be seen
most visibly when a thick tipped pen is used and there are loops in the signature.
- Abrupt starts and stops -
When a human hand writes, there are often "drag" or "lift" marks left
where the pen was raised from the paper. This can often be seen best at the end of a
signature where the last letter "tails" off. With an Autopen, this doesn't
happen. An Autopen lowers and raises from the surface straight up or down at a 90 degree
angle. This means Autopen signatures often start and end abruptly leaving a dot of ink
where the pen lowers and raises. The George Bush Autopen signature is a good example. Note
how the signature is absolutely uniform in thickness throughout, and how the signature
starts and ends abruptly with a dot. (You can also see the "shaky"
"B.")
Some people known to send
Autopens are:
George Bush
John McCain
Most politicians in office
Nolan Ryan
Billy Joel
Many current and retired astronauts
Walter Cronkite (seems to have several patterns)
Preprints
Preprints are usually fairly
easy to detect. A preprint is simply a photographic copy of an original signed photograph.
On a preprint, the signature often appears to be below the surface gloss of the photo and
the signature is often very "flat." To test, hold the photo up at an angle to a
light source -- a real signature is written on the surface of the photo and should have a
different level of reflectivity than the rest of the surface. A preprint will blend right
in with the surface because it's underneath the surface gloss. Obviously, preprint
signatures will match exactly, AND the signature will be in the same exact place on each
photo. Depending on the background color and contrast in the photo, some preprints are
easier to detect than others. The Jim Carrey "Spank you very much" is a
notorious preprint that has fooled many people.
Some people known to send
preprints are:
Charles Bronson
Jimmy Carter
Calista Flockhart
Jerry Seinfeld
David Duchovney
Gillian Anderson
Most Star Trek actors
Most TV cast photos
Secretarial
Signatures
Secretarials are perhaps the
most difficult to detect. A skilled secretary can emulate signatures very well. In some
cases, a secretary may have been signing for so many years that even experts can't tell
the difference between real and secretarial. Sometimes a secretarial signature may appear
to be more "deliberate" and slowly written. Also look for loops -- sometimes
secretarial loops are looser and more "feminine" than authentic. (This assumes
it's a female secretary signing for her male boss, of course.) If there is an inscription,
does it match signature? Sometimes secretaries let their guard down when writing
inscriptions and you can tell the inscription handwriting doesn't look like it came from
the same person who signed the item. Often publications like Pen & Quill, Autograph Collector or Autograph Times have articles which
will focus on the differences between authentic and secretarials for particular
celebrities. Buy and save these articles -- they are valuable reference tools. Some online
sites also publish authentic vs. secretarial comparisons.
Some people known to send (or
have sent) secretarial signed items are:
John Travolta (sorry)
Robert DeNiro
Al Pacino
Paul Newman
Robert Redford
Bob Hope
Frank Sinatra
Barbara Streisand
Strom Thurmond
Alan Shepard
Pamela Anderson
Kevin Costner
Rubber
Stamps
Perhaps the crudest of all fake
signature types, stamped signatures are simply signatures applied with a rubber stamp.
They are usually easy to detect. Look for these signs to detect a stamped signature:
Uneven ink distribution. The
ink may "pool-up" in part of the signature.
Bleeding or smudging may occur
when too much ink is put on the stamp.
In a real signature, you can
often see a "brush stroke" in the direction that the pen moved - especially with
felt tipped pens. A stamp will not have this. This ink is simply laid down on the surface,
there is no directional stroke.
Of course, stamped signatures
will all be identical.
Forgeries
A forgery is when one forges a
signature for the purpose of selling it to another under false pretenses. Unfortunately,
there are many forgeries on the autograph market today. Some forgeries are excellent and
can fool the most knowledgeable experts, however, most forgers are as unskilled as they
are greedy and unethical. To detect forgeries go through this checklist:
Compare it to samples known to
be authentic. While everyone's autograph varies slightly from signature to signature,
there should not be major differences in any part of the signature. For example, a person
whose real signature has a pointed "A" is unlikely to use a rounded
"A."
Compare the letters within the
autograph in relation to each other. For example, if Babe Ruth's real signature always
has the "B" and "R" twice the height of the other letters, be wary of
a signature where the "B" and "R" are the same size of the rest of the
letters.
Also look for the tilt and
size of the signature. Most people are very consistant in the size and tilt or angle of
their signature. Stay away from a signature that varies greatly from known authentic
exemplars.
Be wary if the signature looks
like it was written slowly and deliberately or it looks like the pen stops in the middle
of the signature. This happens when someone is trying to imitate or trace the autograph
from another source.
Make sure there are no
anachronisms in the autograph. Forgers often make stupid mistakes. Is the paper and pen
type appropriate? I've seen "Einstein" typed signed letters printed with a laser
printer. Einstein was dead for 30 years before the laser printer existed! I've seen
"Humphrey Bogart" signed with blue Sharpie. Bogie was dead for many years before
the blue Sharpie was introduced. Astonishingly, forgers sometimes misspell the name!
Don't trust Certificates of
Authenticity (COAs). They aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Anyone with a printer
can make a COA, and if they're going to forge an autograph, they won't hesitate to make a
COA.
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