Autograph authentication: Know the Identified Forgers
Pre-eminent among the known forgers were Robert Spring and Joseph Cosey. Spring lived in the mid-19th century and specialized in Washington autographs. They are...
Understanding Content and Importance
Quality depends directly upon the autograph’s content or intrinsic importance (by this latter term I mean that it has importance in and of itself)....
Autographs uniquely link people of the past to the present.
Men and women of great principles, of extraordinary achievements, of profound consequence and inspirational leadership, with human feelings and emotions, come alive in the...
Autograph authentication: Signed Images
Photographs. The first photographs of people to be mounted on paper (and thus be capable of being signed) were taken about 1845. They measured...
The Impact of Supply and Demand on Value
Like everything else, autographs respond to the basis laws of supply and demand. Demand is determined by the extent of the public’s desire for...
The Impact of Condition
Another factor affecting the value of autographs is condition. A significant condition problem will reduce the value of an autograph, even one of high...
Conduct a Forgery-Avoidance Inspection
The next step in authenticating is simply, does it look right and natural? Sign your own name a few times and look at other...
Steps in Autograph authentication: Apply the Burden of Proof, Ascertain Provenance
Many people start with the idea that an autograph is authentic and look further only if they are suspicious. This is backwards. You must...
Autograph authentication: Assess for Evidence of Facsimile
This word often used to be written fac-simile. It comes from the Latin words “facere” (to make) and “similis” (like), and means an exact...
Buy Fewer Things, and Make Them Great
I first got started in this field back in 1985. At that time, I was like a kid in a candy store, buying without...