If you don’t have any examples of an individual’s signature available for direct inspection, check online for authentic examples. For instance, look at autographs of the individual in question that are sold in major auction houses or by collectibles dealers. Analyzing a large number of authentic signatures will also enable you to identify how variable someone’s autograph might be. Try to find something unique about the autograph of the person you’re interested in. For instance, Barack Obama always makes the leading letters of his first and last name (“B” and “O”) very large relative to the sizes of the other letters.
the width and length of individual letters the space between letters the position of dots in lowercase “J” and “I” the general style of the handwriting (does it use cursive, print, or some combination?) a dot in the middle of an individual character (this indicates the person stopped, then started the signature)
Items that have multiple autographs, all of which are of a uniform thickness, are probably fake.
If you have a video or a photo that depicts the creation of the autograph you’re trying to verify, your job will be much easier. Just compare the autographed item in the video or photo to the actual object. If the two are different, you’ve spotted a fake. If you’ve nobody to talk to about an autograph’s provenance, look for corroborating documents. For instance, if someone autographs a particular item and then writes in their diary that they did so, you could use that information to establish that the autograph is authentic. You could also, in some cases, ask the supposed author of the autograph directly if they recognize the autograph as their own.
Paper produced between 1900 and 1945, for instance, was far less absorbent than paper today. If the autograph you’re evaluating purportedly dates from that period but shows a “bleeding effect” (an uneven ink trim around each character), the autograph was likely produced by a newer pen pressed against older paper, which was less absorbent than modern paper. [9] X Research source Like most efforts to spot a fake autograph, this is far from foolproof. Forgers often go to great lengths to produce fake autographs. They might use special inks or blank pages that really date from the historical period in which the autograph was allegedly produced. They might also artificially age photos or papers to create the appearance that they are older than they really are. [10] X Research source
Many people who use autopens or other mechanical signature machines to sign things have more than one signature loaded in the machine’s memory. In order to know for sure that a particular autograph was or was not produced by a machine, you need to know how many machine-produced versions of their autograph the individual in question used. Then, compare your autographed object or document against all known variations. It is possible to have an authentic document that has been “signed” by autopen. In other words, a machine-signed letter from the president still qualifies as an example of presidential correspondence (though it will fetch far less than a document containing a hand-signed autograph). [13] X Research source Machines that mechanically reproduce signatures are often used in business and government. Machine signatures are also found on books, sporting equipment, and photos.
Hold the autograph close to a bright light. A handwritten autograph will reflect differently than the rest of the photo.
To familiarize yourself with the fine variation in texture of a photo that has been autographed, locate an old photo that you don’t mind damaging. Sign it with a similar (or identical) sort of ink. Run your finger along the surface of this “practice autograph” several times. When you’ve familiarized yourself with the difference between the photo’s surface and the ink’s surface, run your finger over the autograph you’re evaluating. Touching the photo could cause the ink to smudge and transfer oils from your skin that will, over time, cause the photo to degrade.
