How to Identify Authentic Autographs

Examine the ink and paper or other material on which the autograph is written. Make sure they are appropriate to the period when the signer lived. Ink from the 18th and early-19th centuries, for instance, contained high levels of iron and, when it oxidized, the markings of the ink faded to a rusty brown. Official documents might be written on vellum --- actual sheepskin --- rather than paper. In a later autograph, the materials can be quite personal; perhaps the signer is known to have refused to use a ball-point pen or to have signed only in felt-tip. Watch also for the "feathering" of very liquid inks as opposed to the sharp starts and stops, with steady ink flow in between, of signatures by "autopen" machines.

Evaluate the autograph in context. Is it on a letter, on relevant letterhead? Is it on an instrument played by the signer or a photograph mailed to any fan who asked? A "clipped" autograph without context is rarely valuable because it lacks this essential piece of verifiable authentication. On the other hand, an inscription to someone who isn't famous, scrawled in one of millions of copies of a recent book by a living writer, is hardly worth bothering to authenticate. The context should be not only relevant, but somewhat uncommon and unreproducible.

Research the autograph's provenance (the history of how it came into the hands of the present owner). A bestselling book autographed last year on the writer's publicity tour is fairly uninteresting, at least now. Sports figures and musicians also provide large numbers of autographs on materials they would never use professionally. On the other hand, a collection of personal letters from a famous late musician, discussing his experiences on tour and tracing that tour by the letterheads of hotels, may be quite valuable even if they were received by, for example, a couple no one had ever heard of. The authenticity of such letters would also be enhanced if the collection was owned by the couple's son and the musician had sent greetings to that son by name.

Compare the autograph to authenticated samples. Take note of how the signer crossed "t"s and dotted "i"s: Did the stroke for the "t" cross or touch other ascending letters? Did its right end skip up in a flourish? Does the signature simply end, or is the signer a John Hancock who adds a flourish? Compare samples for the "flow" of the authenticated signature: Was the pen lifted from the paper at any point, or is there a single continuous line from start to finish? Did the signer use a middle initial, and did he write a period after it? The form of capitals, especially of the "E," "S," and "G" (and others that may be easier to print than to scrawl in perfect cursive), is also a good place to look for consistency between your sample and a proven signature.