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I was wondering if anyone with experience authenticating LBJ signatures can explain something for me:

LBJ is known to have signed with a triangle J and a dot under the B in his name as President. Does this mean that signatures dated/sourced to a post Nov 1963 timeframe that are missing the dot or have a rounded J are certain to be secretarials?

The reason I'm asking is an estate recently disposed of two LBJ artifacts supposedly signed by the President.

The first item was a copy of "The Professional: Lyndon B Johnson" by William S White. The book was accompanied by a letter from the DNC Chairman dated June 1964 stating the book was signed personally by the President.

I didn't bid on it, because it looked wrong... like a late 50s autopen or rubber stamp. There's severe skipping on the y upstroke of the loop which made me initially think stamp.

The other item was a photo lithograph, which looked legitimate at first, but later looked drawn. It was in a frame and the auction house refused to take a photo of the picture not in the frame, so I can't verify the presence/absence of the dotted B. Also, the edges look REALLY hard. Anyway, I won the second item on the condition that I can return it if inauthentic.

It would be great if I can know good or bad before the item ships, as it's in one of those cheap frames, and the vendor won't ship without the frame. Shipping is $78, which is pretty much entirely due to the glass of the $20-$35 photo frame.

According to the vendor, both signatures were deemed authentic by JSA, which made me curious about JSAs other LBJ authentications, and it seems they've authenticated at least a handful of secretarials.

The first photo should be the book and the other two should be of the litho.

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For what it's worth, on the photo, the ink for the dedication appears different than the ink for the "best wishes, LBJ."

I kind of had that impression, too. The lettering (font/handwriting style?) seem different too.

Another thing that seemed "unusual" is the height of the h in Johnson. In the limited experience I've had the h usually comes up about 2/3-3/4 the height of the J, but on this one the h seems higher.

Thanks Zip.
If the book was signed during or after his presidency, I think it's fake. The writing is close, but off, and the signature looks way off to me for that timeframe.
Not sure about the pic...he did always underline To' in inscriptions, like in the photo. And the handwriting looks better on the photo.

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