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

Isn't this an Autopen signature?

Ebay auction

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 6, 2011 at 1:40pm

Great letter! When was this signed?

BTW, what does the last sentence say? "...keeping in step with the story because Hitchcock helped ????"

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Permalink Reply by Peter Lougheed on November 8, 2011 at 8:15pm

Here's a PSA/DNA certified Stewart autograph from my collection. Is there a chance it is not authentic?

Thanks,

Pete

Attachments: No photo uploads here

Stewart PSA DNA.jpg, 350 KB

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 8, 2011 at 10:10pm

Nothing raises a specific red flag for me on that autograph, Peter.

I'm more skeptical of those in general. I wonder when James Stewart signed hundreds upon hundreds of index cards, manilla/plain paper 3x5, or what have you, and how PSA authenticated them all. There's one seller on eBay who lists them, they (many of them) look pretty good to me, but the guy has sold like 25 of them at the very same price. It's strange.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 9, 2011 at 7:26am

If I had to bet, I'd say this is probably okay. I think if a forger could do Stewart so well, he'd be wasting his "talent" on 3x5 cards when signed pics would be much more profitable.

Stewart signed TTM for many years. My sense is some people really stocked up.

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Permalink Reply by L Louis on November 9, 2011 at 7:42am

That's really interesting, and that reminds me of a story a buddy of mine told me over the weekend. It had to do with John Wayne's fan mail. John Wayne would answer each letter that came to him, according to his son. His son was recently on a t.v. show showing the bag(s) of fan mail which his father never answered because he just didn't have time, in the end. I believe he was still answering mail up until the time he died.

It makes me wonder if Mr. Stewart ever had anyone answering his mail, or if it was really just him? The one I posted earlier of him on the front steps (link below) is quite curious, as it has the original studio envelope.

http://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/james-stewart-muelle...

I wonder if the studio send-outs were more likely to be non-authentic than the ones from his residence. So many questions...

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 9, 2011 at 7:51am

We've discussed the secretarial issue in a few threads and I know it has been a topic of conversation elsewhere as well.

(I will limit my comments to fan mail sent in his later years... the 70s and after. The issue of a possible studio ghost signer during his prime is a different discussion in my view.)

When a star as big as James Stewart signs TTM, there will be suspicion of secretarial. And the Heston revelation just adds more scrutiny and paranoia. BUT, to date, no one I am aware of has come forward with any evidence or credible claims Stewart TTM was secretarial.

Further, his office started using an Autopen when Mr. Stewart was not well enough to sign any longer. This adds some creedence to the theory that he may NOT have used a secretary. If he was using a secretary all along, why switch to an Autopen when he became ill?

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 9, 2011 at 5:29pm

That's an excellent point about the autopen, Mr Zipper. I'd never thought of that.

I don't think buyers and sellers should be specifically more cautious against James Stewart ttm signatures because of what happened with Heston. He still signed books, and with his late-life schedule of speaking across the country and attending numerous conventions etc. that's pretty good. James Stewart I don't think had the same rigorous schedule at that point.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 9, 2011 at 5:32pm

I don't think that James Stewart photograph from earlier in the thread was a secretarial/studio secretarial or anything else. I think that way for the same reason I don't think it's authentic. Besides everything else being a little funky, the signature in that photo has a trait which isn't present in all the 1930's examples I've seen of James Stewart's signature. A secretary or anyone else wouldn't have thought to do that. Only a forger later on would have.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 26, 2011 at 2:57pm

Yet another dose of reality. Somebody spent $104.49 on a Harvey sketch from the regular seller of them, jm7184611.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-HARVEY-SKETCH-DRAWN-AND-SIGNED-JAM...

Sometimes I wish there weren't so much blind stock placed in third-party authentication. It's flawed as everything is with something as subjective as autographs.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 30, 2011 at 6:51am

silverscreensignatures has had a productive week for James Stewart sales.

$131.99 + shipping

$58.99 + shipping

Does GA get Mr. Magoo to authenticate these?

$249.99 + shipping

This one I think is a real TTM unless we find out one day that Virginia Linn signed them all. It was also real some months ago when it sold on eBay for around $45. I was on vacation at the time or I probably would have bid. My name doesn't need to be Richard Donatelli to appreciate it.