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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 Hitch1010 on September 2, 2011 at 5:11pm

They can't inform eBay of their mistake and ask that these be removed? There will keep changing hands until someone stops them on the open market.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on September 2, 2011 at 5:21pm

The people at ebay are not going to have the expertise or time to analyze PSA or JSA certed items and determine which ones have the secretarial boo-boo and which ones are actually good.

It would be nice if they hired someone to keep up on stuff like this and who could routinely audit the listings and focus on known trouble areas, but it's never gonna happen.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on September 2, 2011 at 5:42pm

PSA could point it out though. Not that they ever will. Anyone who has ready this study could go on eBay and get rid of the secretarial Heston's in under an hour. The buck stops with eBay.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on September 2, 2011 at 4:20pm

You are probably also going to see people dumping what they know is bad before "word gets out" widely. If it comes with a COA from a reputable company, they have plausible denial.

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Permalink Reply by Hitch1010 on September 2, 2011 at 5:12pm

That 'another type' of dishonesty that is not talked about in autographs.

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Permalink Reply by Hitch1010 on September 2, 2011 at 4:59pm

That's steep for a secretarial!!! You can get a real one from that signing for about $90 if you don't mind the pose.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on September 2, 2011 at 5:08pm

A vintage signed promotional photo of Charlton Heston signed by him sold for a little more than $20 last month. It had a couple other pictures too, one was a proof picture (a 46-year-old one!).

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Permalink Reply by 2ro69jm8dyt5i on September 7, 2011 at 4:03pm

All is not lost! They did say that it was hand signed.

"Every signed item we sell is genuinely hand signed.

All of our autographs come from reliable sources, often personal signings or public signings within our stores. When purchasing products we only deal with UACC Registered Dealers or members of other leading autograph organisations. This ensures that every item we sell is genuinely hand signed by the person stated. Our small and motivated team will deliver upon our promise to provide you with the best Quality, Service and Value for money when buying autographs on eBay or via our website or stores. We have been successfully trading on eBay for 9 Years. We are not a 'wannabe' outfit trying to make a fast buck before disappearing without a trace. We were here last year and the years before that, and we will be here next year and for the years to come - should you ever need us.

It can be a scary decision when buying signed memorabilia online and especially on eBay. With the marketplace flooded with fakes it is very difficult to distinguish between genuine items that have to potential to increase in value and worthless counterfeits."

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Permalink Reply by E.B.G. on September 7, 2011 at 4:07pm

Hi Daniel, It has been discussed here many pages back. EBay is too busy to take these off their site. Maybe if one of us will email them the link to this study they can remove things like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CHARLTON-HESTON-PHOTOGRAPH-SIGNED-/37031962...

Notice its nearly $600.00

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on September 7, 2011 at 5:31pm

As the Ethics Chairman of the UACC, I have been auditing ebay auctions of UACC members. I send a polite message referring them to the study. Most UACC sellers read the study and promptly remove the item. A few have not and they are being dealt with.

But I am one person and the process takes a long time. Even sending 10 messages can tie me up for days with the back and forth.

This will take time. Most people I contact have not heard of the study and it is still "news" to people.

When the article is published in the P&Q it will help.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on September 7, 2011 at 7:23pm

Mr. Zipper,

What about writing it up as a formal study for our editorial site, autographmagazine.com? It could be up in days.

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on September 7, 2011 at 7:27pm

I think it breaks down to the point where honest sellers concerned with authenticity have made the right decision and pulled the "Chall's"/given the refunds on them and the ones that haven't aren't all that honest and aren't all that concerned with authenticity.