How to Spot a Fake Autograph - 56juqingba: How-to instructions you can trust

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1 Reading the Autograph
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Last Updated: December 6, 2023 Approved

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To spot a fake autograph, your best bet is to compare your autograph to examples of the same person’s autograph, looking for significant differences. If the autograph contains too many differences when compared to a known authentic autograph, it is likely a fake. Find out as much as possible about when and where the autograph was produced. If you’re in doubt, consult an authentication agency or someone who has more expertise in spotting fake autographs.

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Method
1 Method 1 of 3:

Reading the Autograph

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- 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.
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- 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)
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{“smallUrl”:”https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/5\/54\/Spot-a-Fake-Autograph-Step-5-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Spot-a-Fake-Autograph-Step-5-Version-2.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”\/images\/thumb\/5\/54\/Spot-a-Fake-Autograph-Step-5-Version-2.jpg\/aid835916-v4-728px-Spot-a-Fake-Autograph-Step-5-Version-2.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=\”mw-parser-output\”><p>License: <a target=\”_blank\” rel=\”nofollow noreferrer noopener\” class=\”external text\” href=\”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/3.0\/\”>Creative Commons<\/a><br>\n<\/p><p><br \/>\n<\/p><\/div>”} 5 Look for lots of variation in items with multiple autographs. If you’re evaluating a baseball signed by the whole team or a production photo signed by the whole cast of a film, the individual signatures should all look a bit different. For instance, the pen or marker strokes should be of varying thicknesses. Some lines will be thick, while others will be thin. Some signatures will probably overlap. ^{[2] X Research source}
- Items that have multiple autographs, all of which are of a uniform thickness, are probably fake.

Method
2 Method 2 of 3:

Learning More About the Autograph

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- 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.
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- 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.^{[6] 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.^{[7] X Research source}
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- 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).^{[10] 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.

Method
3 Method 3 of 3:

Identifying Preprint or Reprint Autographs

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- Hold the autograph close to a bright light. A handwritten autograph will reflect differently than the rest of the photo.
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- 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.
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Question I see tiny red and green dots around the ink when I look through a strong magnifier, what might this mean? Community Answer Ink is blended from many materials of various colors. The presence of these “dots” is simply minuscule splatters from where the ink spilled out past the stroke. There’s nothing to worry about if dots are the only odd thing about the autograph. Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.
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Question What do I call a person who can determine if a signature is fake? Community Answer You call a person that determines if a signature is fake a Forensic Document Examiner. Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.
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Question Are there people who work at banks who can help me spot a fake autograph? Belle K. Top Answerer The people who work at banks would not be the people to go to, there are classes both online and in person to teach you how to spot fake autographs. Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.
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Tips

Buy only from respected dealers. If you find signed memorabilia or photos at your local pawn shop, the autograph is more likely to be fake than an autograph at a museum store or respectable dealer in collectibles. Trusted auction houses are also good places to buy autographed goods. Do some research to identify who the most respected purveyors of autographed collectibles are in your country. ^{[14] X Research source} Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Spotting a fake autograph is often difficult or impossible. Even expert authenticators sometimes make mistakes. ^{[15] X Research source} Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
When writing to a celebrity for their autograph, don’t assume that they are going to sign it themselves. In many cases, an assistant will do it for them. The best way to avoid this phenomenon, alas, is to be there yourself to witness the person signing it. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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