Charlton Heston Secretarial Signature Study

Hi:

At Steve Cyrkin's invitation, I'd like to call your attention to a signature study I've posted on my blog, www.MrZipper.com.

I believe I have identified the "tell" in Charlton Heston secretarial signatures, and if I am correct, the news is not good for most collectors. It appears that most Heston signed photos are secretarially signed.

Here is a synopsis:

The Theory
Photographs and other memorabilia sent to Mr. Heston's office were signed by a secretary. However, Mr. Heston did authentically sign books through-the-mail.

Real vs. Secretary
In authentic signatures, the R in "Charlton" is distinctly a lowercase "r" and less than half the height of the L. The first four letters are clearly "Char."

In secretarial signatures, the R looks much more like a lowercase "l" and is about the same height as the L. So, the first four letters appear to be "Chall."

I have attached two images to give you a small sampling.

For more details and images, please visit my blog at the link below.

I'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts on this. I fully anticipate some resistance to the theory, because denial is always the first step. In fact, I would love to be proved wrong, because that would mean I wasn't sitting on a bunch of secretary signed photos!

By way of introduction, I have been collecting since the early 90s and I am the UACC Ethics Director.

I look forward to the discussion.

www.MrZipper.com

Regards,

Steve Zarelli

Tags: Charlton, Forgery, Heston, Secretary, authenticating, autograph, secretarial

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Attachments:

Figure 1.jpg, 60 KB
Secretary 1.jpg, 37 KB

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Permalink Reply by DB on March 17, 2012 at 5:37am

A good baker's dozen (as reported earlier have been taken off EBAY). Leaving around 18 left. There are still 5 bogus ones and 4 of them are with this seller americaniconautographs who lists locations as either Anaheim or San Diego. I start to suspect there are two styles of secretarials when you look at the ones below (not ruling out the forgeries) that have that "short" first L. IF you have a chance to zoom (that new feature of ebay is not that great) you can sometimes identify it is an L =vs= a "straight line" trying to make it look like a very bad R. Don't know what the holdup is on removing but might have something to do with 11k worth of items sold...

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Permalink Reply by DB yesterday

Haven't visited this thread in awhile and thought I'd take a peak at some on EBAY. Like wildflowers popping up after a spring rain these counterfeits. I've come to a conclusion that it doesn't really matter if it's signed by his secretary, sister, or Joe the Forger (they aren't signed by Heston) and thus counterfeits plain and simple.

I find this first one rather entertaining. That one will be followed by hitting the EBAY trifecta; 3 bad ones from JSA, PSA (more than 1 and by this seller;americaniconautographs ) and finally one by GA according to the Seller. The last one in the group is from Todd Mueller. Of these non-authentic ones, I suspect the only one that has a chance at reimbursment is Muellers. On another thread I noted the issue of having a COA with the seller's name on it. Now if this one sells the set of questions down stream become self evident.

The power seller; : Member id nike3523 says the following and at least he got the 1st part right too bad he missed the 2nd Part.;

This is not an authentic signed 8x10; this is a copy of an authentic hand signed autograph http://www.ebay.com/itm/CHARLTON-HESTON-SIGNED-8X10-PHOTO-BEN-HUR-P...

CHARLTON HESTON SIGNED 8X10 PHOTO BEN HUR PLANETS APES

This is JSA's entry; IS D10967

only to be followed by GA's (or maybe it's GAI) GV 524626 http://www.ebay.com/itm/SIGNED-DECEASED-MOVIE-STAR-ACTOR-CHARLTON-H...

and finally Muellers. Although the post from this seller is also amusing especially the last part; (the original owners name has been covered for privacy). CONDITION: This item has minor wear but is in very nice condition, please look at the pictures and judge for yourself. http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-x-10-Color-Photo-Autographed-By-Charlton-...

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Permalink Reply by Louie reeves 19 hours ago

These to are for sale now in the sports card section?

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Permalink Reply by DB 3 hours ago

Louie provide a links in future por favor as it makes it easier to locate.

last time I looked into one of these was with leaf and spoke with owner who declared that the supplier of the "signature cut guarantees" the item they just slab it.

He further noted there were several problems with a number of the slabs from his viewpoint. I believe I posted this information around here somewhere. Here is just another example of UD screwing up as well.

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Permalink Reply by DB 1 hour ago

This ought to make all collectors feel comfomfortable wihen it comes to Heston as announced by PSA/DNA on March 19, 2010 (although it doesn't state which set year)... I wonder if there are any gleasons.

PSA/DNA Authentication Services, the world's largest, independent third-party autograph authentication company, has certified the more than 7,500 signatures offered in the Upper Deck Company's latest release, Prominent Cuts. To accommodate collectors a special Prominent Cuts category is being created in the popular PSA/DNA Autograph Set RegistrySM.

"The signatures in this extensive autograph collection series include some of the greatest entertainers, athletes and historical figures of the 20th century, and each was certified genuine by PSA/DNA," said Joe Orlando, President of PSA/DNA, a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT). "The Upper Deck Prominent Cuts is an exciting product that will give collectors an easy opportunity to own an assortment of great signatures, all with the assurance of PSA/DNA authentication."

The Upper Deck Prominent Cuts product is now available from many hobby retailers.

"The base set consists of 60 regular cards of sports icons, celebrities and political figures. In addition to premium-sized swatches of Hollywood memorabilia, each box of Upper Deck Prominent Cuts will have a combination of three autographs or cut signatures from some of the greatest stars of film, literature, art, politics, sports and mixed-martial arts," said Grant Sandground, product manager for Upper Deck.

Subjects included in the set are MMA fighters, basketball stars, actors and political figures. Hollywood Memorabilia inserts will include swatches of costumes worn by premier actors and actresses on film.

PSA Authenticated rare signature pieces from entertainment icons, both living and deceased. The checklist reads like a "who's who" of Hollywood. Presidents like Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama will also be included. Rare Dual and Quad Cut cards will feature either two or four signatures of two superstars on one card.