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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, Charlton Heston signature study by Steve Zarelli.

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.

The Collecting Obsession

Regards,

Steve Zarelli

 

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

Views: 25441

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on December 16, 2011 at 4:50am

I will contact this dealer. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on December 19, 2011 at 7:32am

Cyndi Thomson has removed the secretarial Hestons and thanked us for the heads-up.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 19, 2011 at 9:26am

A big thumbs up, Cyndi.

Permalink Reply by EjsWurhl on December 19, 2011 at 9:33am

That's refreshing!  Good job Cyndi!

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 19, 2012 at 7:52pm

Since PSA/DNA and JSA don't decommission autographs, what if we maintained a database of ones where there's no reasonable doubt they are not authentic?

Not just Hestons, but anything where they clearly made a mistake?

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 19, 2012 at 11:16pm

Yes

Permalink Reply by DB on January 20, 2012 at 11:54am

actually, I believe they have and continue to do so but it is a long and arduous process..   didn't know about the quick opinion limitation... when did that go into effect?

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 20, 2012 at 12:29pm

I'm not familiar with anyone having to use a TPA on all their listings if two pieces fail quick opinion over time. I don't believe that's the case, but maybe it is. But I have heard of eBay having someone's inventory checked out, after they get a number of listings of forgeries reported to them, and then telling that seller they need to use one of their approved authenticators.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 20, 2012 at 12:31pm

Mike,

I wouldn't expect eBay to pull a listing based on our determination that something certed is definitely not good. It would be a list that collectors could check.

Permalink Reply by DB on March 16, 2012 at 5:49am

picked this one up from my pal "vanderhoven" in his unfallable way of thowing a "vanderGrenade" (a new term for you grant) on a UACC RD 304 & an Aftal dealer 075 selling some non-authentic hestons;  The grenade portion in typical fashion is where it goes off track but the good news is he is a convert even if he can't openly speak of the "secret tells" he used to idenfity Heston.   There is still hope for "the vanderhoven"!

http://www.rutlandautographs.co.uk/advanced_search_result.php?keywo...

a few have come down since but of the remaining 4 it would appear only one on a 3x5 index card appears authentic; with the other 3 remaining ones along these lines.

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on March 16, 2012 at 5:55am

Has anyone contacted the dealer to raise awareness or has it been limited to "gotya" message board postings?

Permalink Reply by DB on March 16, 2012 at 6:00am

I did but I can't speak for vandergrenades (gotyas).

Although I have to admit I would have thought by now the word would have gotten out to all UACC RDs.   And if it had and they are still posting I wouldn't consider "gotya" as posting errors around here are commonplace.

p.s. VanderGrenade also cited some Hendricks as well but that is beyond the scope from my viewpoint but perhaps not others.

 

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