The History Buff, Inc.

A point that has never been made in print before is that , in almost every case, any authentication of an autograph is an opinion and not a fact. It is therefore more appropriate to apply the term opinionators to those representinmg themselves as authenticators.Of course this is also true in other collectibles fields-art, antiques, etc. In other words it is a very unusual case where someone can prove in a scientific sense that any autograph or any other collectible is authentic irrespective of claims to the contrary. The only time one can be certain that an autograph is authentic is if someone signs an item and hands it directly to him or her. But there are also special circumstances outlined in the next paragraph where a technology used to create a fake or forged item can be dated that proves a document bogus. Other than these special circumstances, once again, any authentication in autographs is almost always an opinion and not a fact . Therefore, all so called certificates of authenticity (COAs) should be viewed only as expressing a best opinion that the item that has been examined is authentic.We therefore issue certified opinions as toauthenticity and we indemnify that opinion with a lifetime full refund of purchase price guarantee.

A dealer who sells five and six figure sports items stated recently that he really did not pay much attention to all the adverse publicity regarding the authentication services because they are right more often than they are wrong. After recovering from the shock of that statement it was pointed out that authenticators have two choices: bogus or authentic. That means, from a statistical standpoint, at worst their baseline is a 50% chance of getting the right answer by guessing-that is, without even looking at the item. The question is, how much better do they perform above their baseline or coin flip standard ? That information is not yet available.In otherwords, a guessinator has a 50 per cent chance of being correct when there are only two choices as there are with any autograph-bogus or real.

Exceptions to the main point of the foregoing paragraph are a few instances when experienced forensic document experts with vast resources from Federal or other law enforrcement agencies have been able to prove that a document is bogus. To whit: the FBI showed that the supposed marriage contract between Marilyn Monroe and JFK referred to previously was typed on an IBM typewriter that was not invented until after they both were dead and an erasure tape was used that was not available until long after the date of the bogus contract.Several experienced dealers were duped by this fraud but one later testified against those who perpetrated the scam and helped send them to prison. In the case of the Mormon papers, a forensic expert from the FBI using high power examination discovered that the documents had all been hung up to dry at the same angle suggesting that they were all forged. Another recent example of proving documents false was the CBS-RATHER-MAPES Bush National Guard Memo fiasco. Once again, disproving their authenticity was accomplished by demonstrating that the documents were produced by a technology (Microsoft Word) that was not in existence at the time the documents were alleged to have been written.In addition, there were no supporting datato back up[ the authenticity of those bogus documents including participants in the Texas Guard at the time. It is interesting in this episode that the clowns involved allowed that, yes, the documents they were touting may in fact not have been real but that we all should believe CBS because they (CBS) believed the story was true. Now there is a standard for journalism excellence if I ever heard one. This was one of the first examples where a fraudulent activity of a major news organization and its sources was exposed by the web log crowd (the 'bloggers'). (Recently the bloggers have also exposed major news services 'doctoring' their wire service photographs and the beat goes on). So,with the exception of the special circumstance where a technology that can be dated is involved,once again, proving the authenticity a document or autograph or even a photograph may be difficult. And most dealers do not have resources like those of the U.S. government at their command.

So what are the criteria that most dealer-experts use to render their opinion on authenticity? Most dealers have experience or the equivalent of the collective memory of " the mind’s eye." They often know intuitively when something is not right.But, as Ken Rendell wrote. "you have to authenticate the dealer. The principle I stated in the introduction to Forging History: The Detection of Fake Letters and Documents still holds true: “Ask dealers about their experience—not just in terms of years but also how much similar material they have handled. Ask about articles in scholarly journals, papers delivered before authentification and library groups, recognition by their peers of their being experts. But, most important, ask dealers how they authenticated pieces in question." But, beyond all that, the first step for most dealers is to compare any autograph with known examples of the subject’s writing. There are extensive reference books with reproduced examples (exemplars) of the writings of famous people and experienced, reputable dealers have this reference material at their command. Signatures on checks and contracts are especially valuable references for obvious reasons. With the advent of the internet, more and more ‘signature’ studies are being done that detail,especially in the case of U.S. Presidents so the signatures of not only all of his secretary or proxy signers have been documented but also all of the known examples of his printed or autopen signatures are cataloged. These studies appear on the web on a regular basis and some have been published in book form (references below). Second, it is important to know the history of paper making and to make sure that the paper matches the era in which the autograph was written. Again there are good articles and books available on the history of paper making and paper water marking and this history is known to experienced dealers. Third, dealers also pay particular attention to the writing instrument and ink** used to produce the autograph. George Washington could not have employed a ball point pen which was not in widespread use until mid-1940’s nor did old George use a felt tipped pen which first appeared in the 1960’s. Fourth, one can be reassured to some degree if the autograph has been bought and sold several times by reputable dealers or by auction houses that stand behind what they sell as authentic. Fifth, high power magnification will show trace-over signatures and sometimes a pattern of ink application indicating a machine generated signature. Sixth, any reputable dealer has a record of where all his inventory came from-in other words, the dealer's source. Forgers can never produce a ‘source’ that can be checked. This is a key point.We have the source for every item we sell. Seventh, beware of dealers selling primarily cut signatures on small scraps of paper at bargain prices. An upper Midwest dealer known for selling questionable cut signatures just bought a large archive of old documents with no historical value at auction-probably for the paper. ( BTW-Since this article was first written this character has even been tossed off ebay) These dishonest sellers, like all psychopaths, think legitimate dealers do not notice such things. Many of these forgeries of one sort or another are found all over ebay.Eighth, look for supporting material such an envelope of transmittal that may accompany any letter. And, finally, reputable dealers have one thing that sustains them and that is their reputation and most good dealers offer an open-ended, money back guarantee that everything they sell is authentic. We have all made mistakes and other good dealers, despite best intentions, have missed some forgeries despite what some may tell clients: The point is, admit the mistake and refund the money.

In addition to the basics mentioned previously herein there are certain categories of autographs that are either more likely to be authentic and others that are more frequently forged. For example, certain documents like the standard ship’s papers signed by the early presidents, the Military Commissions of Lincoln and early documents like Revolutionary War Discharge Certificates by Washington are all authentic. However, cut signatures without a contiguous example of writing are probably one of the most likely types of autographs to be forged-especially signatures of modern celebrities and, recently, Lincoln cuts. Here again, the experience of a dealer is very important in sorting out the real ones from the fakes. That is why free franks are preferred when looking for signatures although attempts at forging free franks before there were postmarks has been reported. Of course, many dealers shy away from modern sports and Hollywood material unless it is obtained by a company at an in-person signing and backed up by a hologram or some such device. In addition to the basics, most experts draw on a wealth of experience that is part of the ‘unpublished’ knowledge about how certain historical personages signed or did not sign. Dealers have been reluctant to set forth this type of nuanced information because it is the expertise they employ to detect forgeries. For example, certain personalities almost always signed on the darkest part of a photograph rather in a light area where their signature would be seen more clearly and thus was more easily copied. Further, dealers know that some presidents, e.g. JFK and LBJ almost never signed anything during their political careers: they used proxy signers ,secretaries or autopens to sign for them.

The autopen is a mechanical device (See illustration) that is the bane of the autograph collector. It is a mechanical device that, using a genuine signature as a template, mechanically signs documents or photos all with identical signatures. The problem is most individuals, like a president for example, have multiple autopen templates which make detecting them more difficult. The autopen has been used by people you might not think would need to do so like, for example, Wernher von Braun while he was at Huntsville, as well as our presidents or other celebrities who simply cannot answer all autograph requests. And, recently it was reported that Albert Einstein had an autopen to sign checks. This is a major new discovery in the field and was cited by Steve Koshal. Dealers and collectors have worked assiduously to detect and document autopen patterns of everyone from the astronauts to those of our presidents. These studies often appear in the publications of the major autograph clubs that any collector can join or on the internet on sites referenced at the end of this article. Again, there is a rather extensive literature on the autopen and reputable dealers are familiar with this problem and many have autopen archives. Modern forgers have gone to great lengths using photographic and other image reproducing techniques such as screen printing to create forgeries.Some of these techniques were enumerated on the web site http://www.autographalert which no longer exists. These reproductions abound on ebay. One infamous dealer was even detected buying an autopen machine as well as old typewriters on ebay. People are still buying from this dubious character. Although many of the early forgeries by Spring and Cosey, two famous forgers of a bygone era, have now been removed from the market, they still appear on occasion. For example a well known dealer recently sold a Spring forgery of a George Washington signature and the client consulted another dealer for verification of authenticity who recognized Spring’s characteristic work. However, it is now more difficult to create forgeries of founding Americans because of the unavailability of period paper and period ink. But one venue for special attention is ebay. I do not know what percentage of autographs on ebay are authentic but we can state unequivocally that a very large number are bogus. And, as of the time this was written, PSA/DNA has the ultimate decision on authenticity on ebay. The scoundrels selling bogus material often maintain a favorable feedback profile by immediately returning the buyer’s money if there is a complaint. But, more regarding autograph auctions in Part II of this series.