Authentic? How would we really know?

[James_cfc]

Hi fanmail, I was just wondering... when we all go crazy over authentically signed or even personalized successes, have we ever stopped to think.. how do we actually really know that the person who signed your photos is actually the celebrities?
Before there are 50 replies saying "we can compare them to IPs", what if the person who signed is so used to faking it that the sigs look exactly like the authentics??
Of course I know that a lot of these celebrities actually will want to sign themselves, but how would we really know?
James

[margotchanning]

We don't have any way of knowing for sure. It's very unlikely that a secretary could forge an autograph to look EXACTLY the same as the celebs' authentic autograph but nobody knows for sure. It's all down to opinion and research in this hobby. That's why I love it! It's something to work at {thumb2}

[cb1892]

Noone can know for certain unless they watched the celebrity signing. Comparing to IP successes is the most logical way to do it but many celebrities sign differently in person, they often rush it with squiggles or shorten it.

When I sign my name lots of times most of them look different.

There are many people on this website who have studied autographs for years and I trust most of them {thumb2}

[missmaexox]

That's the point. No one knows for sure. But 99% of the time, my guess is their comparing is right. Usually their right, as I said, but they may be wrong.

I'd make a horrible signer, because if I signed IP it would be just a scribble, but if I sat down at home I'd write it neat, and only my looong last name would be a scribble. And I change my signature a lot too, and always add little decorations, so I'd have autograph experts on here totally confused. Haha.

[lizane]

Hi!

Actually, there are a few ways we can be very sure that autographs are indeed authentic. Of course, probably not 110% sure but for example, secretaries would almost never fill out questionnaires. And if an autograph is personalised to your name, that makes things even easier to know if it's authentic or not: don't tell me there's someone (who accidently happen to be that specific celebrity's agent) who can write and sign exactly like a famous person! Because that's impossible - we all have unique handwriting and certain customs when writing/signing. Also, there's so many things we can look at, such as where the enevlope was postmarked from, if the celebrity was in town in the past month(s) - we can even just watch their movies (if they're an actor) and many times they would write something on screen, and it would match the handwriting on your autograph (for example, Audrey Tautou's "Fibonacci sequence" in "The Da Vinci Code"; Marion Cotillard in "La Vie En Rose" where she sits on a bench and write a letter; etc.). {thumb2} So really, there's many ways to check and actually be, well, 99.9% sure!

Also, please check out this topic and this topic for more info on this where I have discussed this issue.

Thanks,
zanne

[paulmustang1]

It is pretty much a fact most are sec.It is sad but true if cleberties signed all day they would not make a living in life plus most get so much mail they would spend month's at a time signing it all.Some cleberties actually do sign thought so don't take this the wrong way.There are sight's you can compare your autos that will tell you these sites are run by experts who will even answer your question if you have any.

[Lovett_First_Sight]

I think that this hobby is really something like a game of trust. We may not know for sure, but we can believe that the autograph is real. For me though, it's all about just trust.

[paulmustang1]

I am sure they would love to sign for all their fan's but they wouldn't be famious anymore because it would just revolve in signing autographs and not doing what they are famious for.

[margotchanning]

I am sure they would love to sign for all their fan's but they wouldn't be famious anymore because it would just revolve in signing autographs and not doing what they are famious for.

Hey Paul, I know you from movie eye! I'm Bettefan on there {thumb2}

[paulmustang1]

hEY nice to see a member but my moderator day's are done there to much drama!I need a new site now and this seem's a bit more professional than that site,I was a moderator for a long time and now i need new thing's this site seem's very nice.I like a site where people work together as a team there the old moderators are back and think it is their game well the lost membere's is on their hand's now.I worked hard to have a nice site they killed it. time to be on a site more for collectors and friend's not post's.