Sharpies
 

I was reading the fake Rube Marquard thread and I got to thinking about Sharpies. It looks like the fake signature was done in a Sharpie-like marker. Maybe it was in a kid's marker, but let's say it is actually real and indeed done with a Sharpie.

Rube passed away in 1980 and Sharpies were first marketed around 1964, so one could have been used in that 16 year window.

My question is: what is the earliest Sharpie autograph anyone has seen?

When I was a kid in the late 70's and early 80's, Sharpies were a work item, for instance my father was in the garment industry and used them to mark patterns. He used to give worn out ones to me and I would take them to school where they were a novelty because they weren't something that was mainstream at the time. Or they were used to mark clothing and were commonly kept in a kitchen "junk drawer" or toolbox. I seem to recall that collectors started getting Sharpie autographs later than that, like the late 1980's?

Anyway, whenever a Sharpie signature turns up on a suspect item, the date 1964 is thrown out as if people used them as early as that to get autographs. What's your oldest Sharpie signature?

:eek:
I would also think that the fine point sharpies would be preferable for autographs whether authentic or forged. I believe the fine point sharpies are considerably “younger” than the original sharpies. Does anyone know when the fine point sharpies were introduced?

Try signing a T206 with a standard Sharpie.:eek::eek::eek:

A little more food for thought....

In 1979, a new style tip was introduced in four colours, the Sharpie Extra Fine Point marker.

In 1989, the Sharpie Ultra Fine Point was introduced. With its slim barrel, metal pocket clip and precise tip that produces clean and accurate lines, the Sharpie Ultra Fine becomes the first marker to truly write like a pen.

Source: http://www.theofficesuppliessupermar...of-the-sharpie

There's also the felt-tipped marker pens that came out right around the same time as ball point pens in the 1960's. They produce lines that look like sharpies at first glance.

https://static2.jetpens.com/images/a...3144.jpg?q=90&

Some kind of felt-tip pen was available in the early 1950s. I acquired a bunch of signed 1953 Bowmans from someone on Net54, which he had sent off to be signed back then. Some of them came back with relatively fine point, felt-tip signatures, like this one ...

That signature looks like fountain pen though it may be some other style of pen. Is that card from Dwight Chapin's collection? He is a long time collector from Mill Valley.

Set Builder - Ball point pens came into common use in the 1940's. I have an autograph album from the 1948 Olympics, purchased from the person who got it, completely signed with a red ball point pen.

I saw the Marquard thread and thought Flair pen, which were much more prevalent int he 60's than Sharpies.

Thanks. I couldn’t think of the name and it was killing me. Flair. My grandparents had those everywhere at their house.

Ah, Flair! I remember them well.

Someone posted a super-closeup shot of the fake Marquard and you're right, it looks like it could have been done with a felt tipped marker which was common from the late 60's and 70's.

Thank you for mentioning this. Many people seem to refer to any felt tip signature as a "Sharpie," but it's simply not true. The old water-based felt tip markers (Flair and others) have been in common use much longer than Sharpies.

This was signed with a felt tip pen in July 1969. It was not a Sharpie.

Only dullards don’t use Sharpies.