"FRAUDULENT SIGNATURES, 101" 

Unethical sellers who offer AUTHENTIC SIGNED items often make use of the growing online practice of creating the APPEARANCE of a true handsigned item, in books, sports cards or photos, celebrity photos, posters and other memorabilia.  This is done through the use of photo imaging software that transfers an authentic signature image (often clipped from a signature image on someone's website), to the exact position the seller would like for it to appear on the UNSIGNED item they hope to sell fraudulently as a SIGNED item.  This process is often called "Photoshopping an image or signature." When the "winning bidder" receives the "signed" book or other "signed" item, most buyers should recognize that the signature on their item is NOT the same as the one shown in the auction.  Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen.  People frequently don't even think to compare the two signatures.  Most of the time, the signature the buyer receives will have been pretty amateurishly forged or even traced.   

A second type of signature found in so-called "signed" books or other documents is a FACSIMILE SIGNATURE that came already printed in the book or on the item by the author's publisher or printer.  Facsimile signatures can be hard to spot for some buyers, and even for new booksellers. 

I'm friends with a couple of longtime reputable booksellers who each listed a copy of the same title as being SIGNED by the author, a popular (or perhaps unpopular) US Army general. ;)  Only after they each had received emails from other booksellers who had seen their auctions did they learn they had made the same mistake: the signatures in the books were actually FACSIMILES.  They quickly made changes in their listings, lowered the prices of the books, and emailed their thanks to the sellers for the info. 

Other times, I've found there are sellers who are totally aware they have listed books as SIGNED when the "signatures" really are FACSIMILES.  This type of seller usually doesn't respond well to a friendly "heads up" with a "thanks!"

PLEASE NOTE:  eBay allows the sale of items with FACSIMILE SIGNATURES, but only when the seller so notes in the auction or store listing that the signature is a FACSIMILE. 

Here is a quick -- and usually effective -- way to spot facsimiles.  By using a small jeweler's magnifying loupe (or any other magnifier of at least 8X power, which can be purchased at myriad stores for less than $7.00), take a slow close look following the lines of the signature.  If you see pixels (little dots!) where the signature's unbroken ink line should be, then the signature has been printed, most likely by an offset press  (by the publisher), and is NOT handsigned. 

It could even have been printed by a photocopier in a home or at an "office stop" store.  FACSIMILE SIGNATURES are common publication devices used by the books' designers (who are employed by publishing houses), particularly for books written by the publishers' most renowned, prolific, and best money-making authors. 

These signatures, often found on the half-title or title pages of books, are much the same as the recreated signatures of authors' signatures that often grace a hardcover book's front cover, often impressed in gold or silver gilt.  To collectors of authentic SIGNED books, facsimile signatures are worth NOTHING.

All collectors of signed books, documents, and original art should carry a small magnifying loupe with them when searching used bookstores or antique shops, where some real GEMS can often be found for very little money. 

A small magnifying loupe is a MUST-HAVE for collectors of rare original stone-pulled lithographs (as opposed to offset liths), original woodblock artwork, printed artwork (often found at small-town auctions, or even estate and yard sales) that looks like it could be a "real" ORIGINAL painting, lithograph, pen-and-ink or pencil illustration, etching, drypoint, or even old signed documents and other ephemera. 

There are often thousands of dollars difference between original stone-pulled lithographs (esp. those created by acclaimed lithographers, such as Charles Banks Wilson), and offset lithographs or "prints" that can appear almost exactly the same at first glance, especially to the novice collector, and both can bear the artist's "signature."  

Artists' signatures on prints of their original works are often found in the lower right-hand corner of the item's image.  If the work is in a frame, a signature may be covered by part of a matte or by the frame's edge.   If you check the image itself (the "painting" or "etching") for pixelization and don't find it, then it's probably worth the money to carefully remove the piece from its' frame to look for a signature. 

Many art prints will have the author's signature signed "in the plate," ie, printed directly onto the art print, but sometimes the artist also will have HANDSIGNED a print that already bears his or her printed signature. The AUTHENTIC signature is most always found on the lower side of the piece opposite that of the printed signature.  

At gallery shows or art exhibitions where one or more artists' works are offered, both high-priced originals and  lower-priced prints (frequently referred to by the gallery or seller as "fine art prints") are usually for sale. At many of these showings, the artists are present and usually happy to HANDSIGN even lower-priced prints for buyers.  In this case, the artist will likely sign the "real" signature on the side opposite the "printed signature."  And depending on many factors, the two signatures may look completely different.

Think about your own handwriting.  Take a look at your handwriting throughout one or more of your checkbook registers, then look at your handwriting on envelopes you've addressed, contracts you've signed, or other items that bear your signature or handwriting, things that you may have considered "important" at the time you signed or wrote them. 

I took this experiment to the extreme a couple of years ago when I carted out boxes of items I've signed or handwritten over the past 30 years (including even a couple of hand-drafted essays written while still in grad school ... luckily, I did have an electric typewriter, then a word processor for the final products. :). 

I compared all of my signatures and handwriting details.  The world's most reputable handwriting experts would have to concur that for whatever the reason, I'd had a couple dozen people sign and write for me throughout my adult life, as my signatures and handwriting overall is so very different. But I can honestly swear that each signature on those items, some absolutely illegible, while others are quite nicely penned, are indeed, my own. 

The biggest laugh I had was when I found a certificate presented to me for having won FIRST PLACE in the "1960 Penmanship Contest" while attending sixth grade at a school in Oklahoma. 

Forty years later, if any of the teachers who chose the winner of that award are still alive, they would surely demand that I return the award. 

Back to signatures to be on the lookout for when considering purchasing books or other items that are said to be authentically signed. 

One more type of signature to learn about particularly if you collect signed political books and documents, is one that has been in use for decades, but now is becoming more and more prevalent as more books are being written by politicians whose signatures almost ALWAYS signed with AUTOPEN. 

This practice mainly involves the signatures of well-known political figures, most ALL presidents and vice-presidents, sitting and former, as well as countless others who've held or hold high political offices. 

For longer than I can remember, the majority of documents sent out under the signatures of presidents, past presidents, vice-presidents or those in similar offices, HAVE NOT BEEN HANDSIGNED, but have borne signatures created by the AUTOPEN. 

Since as recently as the presidency of Ronald Reagan, even the wives of presidents have had their personal AUTOPEN for signing documents or correspondence.  Rarely these days do you ever see a book or document that has been HANDSIGNED by a president, vice-president or even their spouse.  Every kind of signed item, from political family holiday cards and thank-you notes to BOOKS written by presidents, veeps, and their wives are most ALL signed in AUTOPEN. 

The SECOND MOST COMMON method of signing the multitudes of documents that require the signatures of politicians is to have them signed by a member of their staff, often by a specific secretary, or even their spouse.  

For example, it is now well known that ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, one of the most active First Ladies ever, handsigned most all cards, invitations, and replies that were ever allegedly signed by her president-husband, FDR. 

I can think of several HIGHLY ACCLAIMED (and still LIVING) authors and musicians -- and politicos -- who receive so many requests for signed books and other items at their offices, homes, or even at their agents' offices, that they often have the items signed by staff members. 

Do they want to admit to it? 

Would you want to tell your constituents -- or your fans -- that you don't have time to sign your name to a book authored by you after they've purchased said book for a good price, then packed and mailed it to your office with only the request that you sign it for them? 

No matter, it has long been a common practice and is surely to remain common practice for highly collectible and/or reclusive authors and other notables.

Given these little bits of personal advice that I've learned the hard way, I urge novice collectors of signed books and other collectibles to make it a habit to ask sellers exactly where, when, and how they acquired the signature on an item that is being considered for purchase, unless, of course, the buyer, who may be a most serious collector of the works of a particular author or other notable and is fully aware of the author's varying signature exemplars and/or eccentricities of the author's handwritten signatures.  

Thanks for reading and I hope this has provided a few simple tips on a complicated subject!  CV