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James Stewart Autographs: Which are Genuine, Autopens or Forgeries?

Isn't this an Autopen signature?

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 1, 2011 at 8:34pm

This one is currently on eBay. Has been since May... of last year. Only 174.99, unless someone wants the real thing for a fraction of the price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/James-Jimmy-Stewart-Spirit-St-Louis-Signed-...

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Permalink Reply by JJKANDLAK on November 3, 2011 at 11:30am

I've got a thru the mail signature from around 1989-91.

What does everyone think? is this one real? Thank you! Jim

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 3, 2011 at 11:41am

Beautiful.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 3, 2011 at 4:58pm

I've probably talked enough about items I feel are forgeries. Some great authentic examples were posted earlier on in the thread by Mr Zipper.

I want to post some examples I think would be considered genuine by most experts and then of course amateur collectors like myself.

One thing I like to see in James Stewart autographs is a shaky, quick sign. A lot of items we see were signed in Stewart's 70's and 80's. These perfect, smooth autographs I see all the time never look right. In the contracts and checks I've seen signed all the way up until the '80s were usually signed with the S in Stewart attached to the t and the r attached to the t at the end of Stewart. He wasn't writing smoothly and perfectly in autographs we see that aren't vintage with his autograph that isn't attached.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 3, 2011 at 5:26pm

One thing I like to see in James Stewart autographs is a shaky, quick sign.

Exactly. But be wary of examples that look "deliberately" or "drawn" shaky. Some forges try to emulate the unsteadiness, but it is difficult to do convincingly.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 3, 2011 at 7:44pm

I definitely agree with that, Zipper.

I do wish the forgeries looked worse than they do. Some can be deceiving because James Stewart's signature is relatively simple.

Did you have a problem with any of the four I posted? Three, except for the second posted, were at time sold by RR. Some didn't look as good to me, I posted a few that I thought did. The second one was just pulled from eBay. I would bet that most of the four I posted were signed in the '90s.

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Permalink Reply by L Louis on November 4, 2011 at 1:05pm

This item was recently on ebay, and the signature was a little different to me. It appears faded, quite early, along with the original studio envelope. Are these photos/envelopes fairly common? I was wondering what the verdict might be, by some JS experts here? Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 4, 2011 at 6:56pm

That's the right period for that photo. But... I'm not excited about the inscription nor the signature. Perhaps it was signed by someone at the studio who had a little knowledge in Stewart's writing and signature style. I don't think I've seen that "B" in Best before from Stewart, not from that time. Also, what are the chances every single s in the inscription and signature would be closed and the signature itself wouldn't be stylized at all? That's my opinion. I don't feel right about it.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 5, 2011 at 5:29pm

I can say with more certainty today, probably close to 100%, that the Best Wishes James Stewart signed photo wasn't authentically signed by James Stewart. I mentioned a possible studio secretarial yesterday but I actually lean toward plain old forgery.

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Permalink Reply by JJKANDLAK on November 4, 2011 at 5:38pm

I posted the 5 X 7 that I got via the mail around 1989-91 and wanted to say "thank you" for your input.

If I remember correctly, the reason that I wrote to Mr. Stewart back then was that I had read an article that he was one of the few major stars who signed authentically thru the mail. Thanks Jim

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 4, 2011 at 6:40pm

That was a neat item. It looks like it was signed James 8tewart. It's easy to trace back and see how that S was formed that way, a characteristic very genuine to his autographs.