Posted By:
RhysI am big into autographs as many of you know, but do not usually try to authenticate items for other people as it gets sort of dicey. I have handled thousands of pre-war signatures and my personal opinion is that both Anson signatures are Secretarial. I could be proven wrong but that would be my opinion. Anson signed in a VERY choppy and dramatic up and down stroke as evidenced by the top two signatures which come to points on almost up and down stroke of the pen. I have seen very little variation in this from the decades spanning his playing days through his death, most true signatures look similar in the way he signed. Both your examples are flowing and hardly come to a stop anywhere. It would also not be uncommon for secretaries or those with government authority to sign for Anson on just about anything whether it had the stamp on it or not.
I just sold a similar Joshua L. Chamberlain Civil War era document which was secretarially signed but still desirable. It is a nice piece but as an autograph collector of this type of material for years, my opinion is that both are secretarial. I could be proven though as I am not an authenticator.