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Basic Forgery Detection

As in a criminal case, the evidence can be both physical and circumstantial. And you may choose to enlist the help of an "expert witness" (an authenticator) to build your case.  Except in those cases where you saw the autograph signed yourself, it is unlikely that you will ever be able to prove it's authenticity beyond a shadow of a doubt. In most cases, you will have to base your decision on a preponderance of evidence -- pro or con.

    The Marketplace

The adversarial relationship between collectors and forgers is nothing new. It dates back to the days of Socrates.

When the construction of large ancient libraries pushed demand for original manuscripts of the philosophical masters beyond the available supply, forgers found an eager and less-than-discriminating market for their wares.

Fast forward to the 1980s to witness a modern-day twist on this age-old issue. The massive influx of collectors into the sports autograph hobby created a similar imbalance between supply and demand. Enter again the forger, this time with an eye fixed on the rapidly expanding market for the autographs of the masters of the ballpark. In his landmark book on manuscript forgery, pioneer philographer (autograph collector) Charles Hamilton singled out baseball autographs as a particularly troublesome area for collectors noting,

"The quantity of forged signatures of Baseball Hall of Famers, usually in pencil, is awesome. They are turned out by the hundreds, and gullible collectors snap them up as if they were treasures."

At least one thing has changed since Hamilton penned these words: forgeries are now turned out in the thousands. On top of this, autograph values have increased and the stakes have grown correspondingly higher. What is a collector to do? Is buying a baseball autograph any less a gamble than rolling the dice in Las Vegas? Everything we do in life from taking a shower to driving a car involves some degree of risk. So does buying an autograph. The question is, can that risk be reduced to an acceptable level? We believe that through education and the application of common sense, the risks associated with buying and autograph can be dramatically reduced. Zero risk is out of the question (as it in is every endeavor) but it can be managed to a level that most collectors find acceptable. As Hamilton implies, a forger's success is entirely dependent on the gullibility - or inexperience - of the collector. Our goal, as someone interested in building a forgery-free collection, is to replace gullibility with guile. This section will not make you an expert at spotting forgeries overnight. It will, however, help you recognize some of the more obvious red flags, focus your attention on the anatomy of a fraudulent sample and help you steer clear of some of the common traps that ensnare collectors.

Collectors should familiarize themselves with common errors made by forgers in two key areas:

1. Medium: Use of improper instrument, medium or handwriting styles.

2. Mechanics &Technique: Improper execution of the forged signature. Before we delve into these topics in depth, a little role-playing may be helpful. Put yourself in the shoes of a forger. Ask yourself what hurdles you would confront in trying to get your "product" onto the market.

There are three.

1. Medium Replication: The forger must obtain an item from the appropriate era (baseball, paper sample etc…) to apply the signature to, the correct ink and the correct writing instrument.

2. Autograph Replication: The forger must be able to convincingly replicate the signature of the "target.

3. Marketing: Finally, the forger must find a channel into market that accepts the product as genuine. Let's examine the first two area - the physical problems a forger encounters. Forgery marketing will be addressed in-depth on another page,

Medium Replication: On rare occasions forgery detection is simple. An authenticator can dismiss an item without even considering the validity of the signature when the forger makes mistakes in his choice of writing instruments or the item to which the bogus signature is applied. Here the analysis is non-scientific. In other cases, forgers may leave tell-tale evidence of their attempt at deception. As in every walk of life, there is a wide gulf in the degrees of "professionalism" (if crime is a profession) exhibited by forgers. A highly skilled forger is unlikely to make any of the easy-to-detect errors described here. Poor forgers commonly do.

        · Use of improper writing instrument: No self-respecting professional forger would ever use a pen from the wrong era. But an amazing number of hacks selling their wares seem to think that the Bic pen has been around since the turn of the 20th Century. If you're offered a Josh Gibson-signed 8x10 in red felt-tip marker (don't laugh we recently examined a Lou Gehrig Sharpie-signed bat) or a Frank Chance letter signed with a Sharpie pen, you'll want to steer clear.

        · Use of improper or impossible media: Satchel Paige signed thousands of baseballs in his lifetime. But if you find his signature on an official 1986 All-Star baseball, think twice. Media mistakes are usually more subtle - Leon Day-signed Hall of Fame plaques. He died the same year he was inducted - but did he sign any plaques? Also watch out for key signatures to be added to otherwise legitimate items.

        · Evidence of Tracing. Examine paper samples carefully for the ghosts left by forgers attempting to trace a signature. These may include erasure marks and indentations on the paper. A five-dollar photographers magnifying loupe (which should be in every collector's toolbox) can save you hundreds of dollars of heartache. Also beware of signatures on lightweight papers which make easy canvases for tracers. Always keep an eye out for erasure marks.

        · Authorized Fakes. While not technically forgeries, rubber stamps, secretarial signatures and ghost-signed material can be passed off as original to unsuspecting collectors.

Another point to bear in mind when addressing the forgery issue is that you'll probably never see a counterfeit one dollar bill. It isn't worth the forger's time to make them. They tend to print twenties and fifties. The same principle holds true with autographs. Forgers generally concentrate on high-value autographs. To take a quick trip down memory lane, it wasn't long ago that forgers concentrated almost exclusively on deceased players whose signatures commanded premium prices- the Christy Mathewson, Cap Anson and other early luminaries. But as the stakes in the sports autograph world have increased, things have changed. With stars such as Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Michael Jordan charging more than $200 for an autograph, they have become attractive targets for forgers. And because the pens and balls that are commonly used when these player's sign are so readily available, the forger has no problem no material hurdles to leap.

Autograph Replication: Writing samples can vary dramatically depending on the time, place and environment. It's hard to imagine, for example, that the virtually illegible scrawl that came from Roy Campanella's pen when he hastily signed autographs at the ballpark came from the same man that produced a tight, uniform signature on his signed letters and documents. Penmanship evolves and changes over the course of years - or fluctuates over the course of hours or even minutes. Anyone who has ever seen items signed at the beginning of a public autograph signing session and at its end can attest to this fact. Despite such variations, and apart from mechanical problems associated with illness or infirmity, certain underlying characteristics of penmanship remain remarkably constant when a population of samples is examined. The production of a signature is a conscious act resulting from a series of generally unconscious mental processes and patterns. The conscious replication of these patterns to produce a high-quality forgery is an inherently difficult process. All but the most accomplished forgers have a difficult time mimicking and marrying the mental and muscular-skeletal patterns necessary to produce a passable fake. Most commit errors. Those listed here are among the most common. .

           · Instrument Pressure: Forged writing often lacks the variability in the pen or pencil pressure that commonly occurs throughout the execution of a natural signature. The pressure applied when a signature is "drawn" by a forger often lacks uniformity. It often takes on a lighter or heavier look when it is compared to a genuine exemplar. Such drawn signatures also tend to feature abrupt stops, starts and hesitations and the consequent "pooling" of ink in uncharacteristic areas. Naturally fluid handwriting begins with tapered strokes resulting from the fact that the pen attains a certain speed before contacting the writing surface. Tapers also consistently occur at natural signature breaks and at the end of a word as the instrument is rapidly pulled away. These characteristics are often missing in forged signatures. .

          ·  Tremulous Writing: Shaky handwriting is often the product of advanced age or may result from illness or lack of writing skill. It is also a common (albeit often subtle) trait when a forger attempts to replicate someone else's handwriting. Such signature tremors are the result of subtle hesitations that occur when the forger attempts to replicate an unnatural pattern or is concentrating on the act of tracing.

          ·  Improper Scale: The natural size of a signature varies due to any number of factors such as the size of the item to which the signature is being applied. But many amateur forgers tend to produce writing that is smaller than what would naturally be expected. Some have theorized that this is an unconscious attempt to hide the imperfection of the forgery. Increasing the size of the forgery in essence magnifies the inherent irregularities. Scale variations are harder to determine when examining a single signature, but become more obvious as the number of words in the writing sample increases.

      ·  Improper Signature: Signatures can vary dramatically over an individual's lifetime. Many otherwise well-executed fakes fall asunder because the forger did not account for this variability. For example, there is a considerable difference in the handwriting of a young Willie Foster in the 1920s and that of an elderly Foster in the 1970s. Beware of "vintage" Foster-signed items with a 1970s-style signature or vice versa.

      ·  Character Formation: A good forger is usually adept at replicating the individual letters that comprise a signature. Since character formation is the most obvious aspect of a sample, being as close to the mark as possible is essential to create the illusion of genuineness. If the forger can't come close, he or she should retire or choose another brand of criminality. Ironically, the formation of individual letters is one of the last areas handwriting experts examine when evaluating a sample, provided it is relatively close to accepted standards. Instead they initially focus on more subtle yet telltale traits such as transitions, starts, stops, spacing, breaks and instrument pressure as these are areas where a forger is more likely to fail.

       ·  Feel: You may hear an expert say that an autograph, "doesn't feel right." The concept of "feel" is more substantive than it appears. It is the sum total of some or all of the technical flaws described above. A good authenticator can usually be more specific as to the precise nature of the error or errors but often times there is no one glaring fault in execution. Many forgeries are calligraphic Frankensteins. They are collections of characteristics patched together to resemble a natural signature but taken as a whole are decidedly unnatural.

    Purchasing Issues

Not everyone who acquires an autograph wants to be an autograph expert , nor should they have to be. While most collectors enjoy educating themselves on issues related to their hobby, few have the time, need, resources or desire to catalog acceptable variations of Babe Ruth's signature.

Auctions and Plausible Deniability: Auctions often represent a cost-effective way for collectors to obtain legitimate autographs at reasonable prices, and they continue to increase in popularity. Consequently, the number of autograph and memorabilia auctions have increased dramatically in recent years. This is particularly true since now literally anyone with a computer can run an internet auction. Buyers beware! Not all auctions are created equal.

Letters of Authenticity and Provenance: A letter or certificate of authenticity (LOA or COA) has no magical power. It does not make a fake item real. Most dealers continue to provide them upon request as they seem to provide an increased level of comfort for some buyers. Be aware that LOAs can boomerang. An LOA from a reputable dealer can be a forger's gift certificate. A legitimate paper pedigree accompanying a Ted Williams or Satchel Paige-signed baseball can quite easily be "transplanted" to a ball that someone has created. Presto, instant credibility. There have been instances of vendors selling LOAs for $3 at baseball card shows.

If it Seems to Good to be True... : In the autograph hobby, like anywhere else, you get what you pay for. If you pay $100 for a $500 autograph which turns out to be fake, you just threw away $100. While genuine bargains do surface on occasion, be extra cautious when you see a Willie Keeler cut signature for $500. To sell a genuine sample at that price is akin to that person writing you a check for $2,000, since a genuine sample can easily be sold for $2,500-plus. Few people would be willing to make such a sale out of the goodness of their hearts.

Remember, one of the three challenges to a forger is the marketing of their work. Pricing a forgery low tends to attract the unsophisticated buyer. Often this buyer turns out to be the unsuspecting or uncaring dealer who lacks the expertise and or the concern to determine the pieces' authenticity. Such a dealer is typically motivated by greed and the confidence that a piece bought for pennies on the dollar can almost certainly be easily flipped for a quick profit. In addition to the obvious need the forger has to entice a buyer with a blatantly low price, the forger also has the benefit of profiting by almost any sale price, since he manufactured the piece for little or no cost. Thus, maximizing the sale price is completely subjugated to the goal of selling the piece altogether.

· Who's An Expert?: One of the most vexing and controversial questions facing collectors is whose opinion to trust regarding the authenticity of an item. Hundreds, if not thousands of your hard-earned dollars, are spent (or not spent) based on the opinions of "experts." In the absence of an official accreditation system collectors might justifiably ask, "how do we know someone is an expert?" It's an important question and one that is not easily answered.