Collecting Autographed Letters

[rschisler]

Good afternoon, in efforts to finally breach the 200 HOF mark (196) I finally broke down and stepped outside of baseballs, 3x5s and HOF plaques to include letters from managers and executives. I picked up the attached Harridge letter recently and felt pretty good about the autograph (I hope??) but when I got it today I was a little surprised by how much lighter the signature appeared to be in person. Almost a greenish gray that doesn’t really show up in the photos.

This raised two questions for going forward I was hoping for help with. 1.) Im not really familiar with the tendencies of different inks/utensils so is this something you generally tend to see with fountain pens or is this something else entirely? 2.) Part of my hesitation with getting into letters was a fear of copies of originals. Not something I’ve seen talked about much, so I wondered if that was an irrational fear or something you guys can just generally tell very quickly due to poor quality of the copy. I know that may seem silly for many of you who I know can pick up many very specific characteristics of signatures, but for an untrained eye that is still trying to have those things pop, I continue to doubt. I figured on this particular Harridge I wasn’t out much money either way and it might be a good learning opportunity for me.

Thanks for your time. You guys are great.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by rschisler

Good afternoon, in efforts to finally breach the 200 HOF mark (196) I finally broke down and stepped outside of baseballs, 3x5s and HOF plaques to include letters from managers and executives. I picked up the attached Harridge letter recently and felt pretty good about the autograph (I hope??) but when I got it today I was a little surprised by how much lighter the signature appeared to be in person. Almost a greenish gray that doesn’t really show up in the photos.

This raised two questions for going forward I was hoping for help with. 1.) Im not really familiar with the tendencies of different inks/utensils so is this something you generally tend to see with fountain pens or is this something else entirely? 2.) Part of my hesitation with getting into letters was a fear of copies of originals. Not something I’ve seen talked about much, so I wondered if that was an irrational fear or something you guys can just generally tell very quickly due to poor quality of the copy. I know that may seem silly for many of you who I know can pick up many very specific characteristics of signatures, but for an untrained eye that is still trying to have those things pop, I continue to doubt. I figured on this particular Harridge I wasn’t out much money either way and it might be a good learning opportunity for me.

Thanks for your time. You guys are great.

I collect hand-written letters, not signed typed, because it gives me more handwriting to study; however, yours looks good - I'm basing that on the ink at the end of the signature which has the characteristics of a fountain-pen signature and doesn't have the generally tell-tale signs of a stamp. But it's not a clear enough scan to be certain.

By good, I mean actually hand-signed by 'someone' - I know nothing about Harridge autographs.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Runscott

I collect hand-written letters, not signed typed, because it gives me more handwriting to study; however, yours looks good - I'm basing that on the ink at the end of the signature which has the characteristics of a fountain-pen signature and doesn't have the generally tell-tale signs of a stamp. But it's not a clear enough scan to be certain.

By good, I mean actually hand-signed by 'someone' - I know nothing about Harridge autographs.

Definitely fountain pen

[rschisler]

Thanks guys, appreciate your help with this!

[tazdmb]

Here is a PSA/DNA certified "Lee Macphail" (Yes, I know it is Larry, but that is what PSA initially classified it as before I called them and they changed it) stamped signature. PSA falsely certified it.

[Runscott]

Here's a good example that shows how fountain pen ink fades in the middle. I bought this particular example because of the fountain pen ink characteristics that made it easy to validate.

[Case12]

Have to be careful with autpens too...on letters or books. They are not too hard to pick out, but I have been fooled once (a Billy Graham auto).