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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

2 members like this

Attachments: No photo uploads here

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

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rich on May 5, 2011 at 10:51am

$200 would be too much even if it was authentic.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on May 5, 2011 at 10:59am

C'mon... don't forget to add the value of the frame... it would cost at least $7.99 in Wal-Mart!

I like how he offers a money back guarantee if found not authentic. I wonder what level of proof would be required to qualify for a refund. Perhaps a signed notarized statement from Heston himself indicating he did not sign the photo?

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Permalink Reply by Rich on May 5, 2011 at 11:03am

Good point. If he's not taking it off ebay now despite the wealth of evidence that it's secretarial, what are the odds that he'd give anyone's money back?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on May 5, 2011 at 11:24am

Zero.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on May 5, 2011 at 11:30am

I will, of course, give that gentleman the benefit of the doubt, as we must many buyers of the secretarial. But at the same time, I'm sure he didn't read this study. Maybe he just read the title and decided not to read any further. Also, when he replied to my email, he wrote that he didn't know what a "secretarial" autograph was.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Zarrillo on May 5, 2011 at 12:59pm

then he should not be selling autographs! thats quite a warning sign right there!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on May 5, 2011 at 10:53am

When an item of percieved value may suddenly be rendered worthless, it's amazing how "skeptical" some people can be.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on May 5, 2011 at 10:57am

What was his reasoning for it being authentic? Be really trusts TTM? Or he really trusts the dealer he got this from, who got it TTM?

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on May 5, 2011 at 11:01am

Richard, he believes the dealer he purchased it from.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on May 5, 2011 at 11:08am

I figured. I had a friend years ago who thought EVERYONE was an honest, competent dealer and refused to believe any of the the stuff he bought was fake. I'd bet you most of it was.

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Permalink Reply by DB on May 7, 2011 at 3:26pm

listing was removed.

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Permalink Reply by David H. Downs on May 7, 2011 at 7:38pm

I just posted two of my heston autographs. looks alot like these and they were through the mail. He signed an index card and sent a signed mini photo as well. Im not thinking they are sec autos . check em out sometime.