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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 Bob Shinn on March 13, 2011 at 4:59pm

DB...

I have been getting some very positive feedback from the ebay sellers I have contacted.

So much so , that I can't keep up with the Heston listings that are being pulled from ebay as we speak.

I plan on posting a Wall of Fame to list all the ebay sellers who have showed their willingness to at least take a look at the studies and due the proper research.

DB, I also appreciate your recognition of my efforts..

Thanks very much...

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 13, 2011 at 5:41pm

Bob,

Thank you for informing the sellers. Great work. There is enough review and feedback for us to publish a release on it. That doesn't mean that people have to follow it, but it's our opinion nonetheless. I'm going to email Steve to see if I can use his images in our release. It will go out tonight or tomorrow morning.

I encourage you to list on your wall all dealers who respond and act within a month of release.

I'll send an email to all UACC RDs and PADA, and ask other groups to do so.

Steve

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Permalink Reply by Bob Shinn on March 14, 2011 at 12:17pm

Steve....

I will follow your advice in regards to my " Wall of Fame"

What are your thoughts in regards to a ebay " Wall of Shame".

Steve, has anyone from PSA/DNA been in touch with you in response to your email?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 14, 2011 at 12:54pm

Bob,

I'd rather not have a wall of shame. It would get out of control. There's a Forum category to discuss eBay sellers and if you list them one-by-one it will be easy for collectors to search for them:

What Do You Think of This eBay Seller?

How about that?

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Permalink Reply by Bob Shinn on March 14, 2011 at 12:57pm

Sound great Steve

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Permalink Reply by Bob Shinn on March 14, 2011 at 1:01pm

BTW

Myron Ross from Heros and Legends just pulled His Heston's off ebay

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on March 14, 2011 at 1:03pm

OMG.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 14, 2011 at 1:03pm

Bob, I missed your question on PSA/DNA. I haven't received a statement from them.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Shinn on March 14, 2011 at 1:22pm

Steve....

Was PSA/DNA at the Chicago Autograph Show this weekend??

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Permalink Reply by john reznikoff on March 13, 2011 at 5:50pm

DB,
No, I have never to my memory or knowledge opined on a Charleton Heston, who's signature prior to this discussion, I would not know from a Charleston Chew. I do not do modern Entertainment at all.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Shinn on March 13, 2011 at 4:52pm

John...

Thanks so much for the feedback.

I appreciate and respect your opinion always...

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on March 14, 2011 at 5:28am

I do know that if ebay is informed that mistakes were made by the authenticators, they will allow the authentication companies to report those items that appear on the site and ebay will remove them based on the information provided. This is the most honest thing to do as we progress. However, that leaves a gaping hole. that hole is "what to do"? What do the sellers and owners of these certified examples do now?

I'm sure many sellers will ask "why" and "how" were these authenticated since there appears to be authentic exemplars on-hand in at least one on-line database. Maybe the authenticator(s) personal exemplar collection doesn't have copies of authentic in-person examples.