We are an eBay affiliate and may be compensated for clicks on links that result in purchases.

 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: 25880

Attachments: No photo uploads here

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Can you move the watermark off the signature please? :)
The odd thing about this signature is the R doesn't appear to be there at all. It's spelled "Chalton."  ???
cannot answer on this watermark is over the signature....
DB, I am into the "es" in Heston as well, so please remove the watermark ;-)

Here you go Rolf -

 

I have my doubts on the b/w one, I believe this is a secretary, but the colour one can be genuine in my opinion as the Heston looks like what I would call has the "es", not very well, but as good as it's possible for an In Person one signed standing or walking !

I agree, the top on looks too much like the other presumed secretarials. The bottom one I couldn't tell one way or another.

Rolf, could you send me a link to the article on your site on Heston please?

Jan Schray is what I have received so far who many know of an original in-person specialist of somewhere around 45 years.  All I have so far.  Steve, you are in california ... know her whereabouts?

 

However, we got 'em listening as the dialogue is helping... unfortunately, I hate being the go between but since I have one that I'll try and post but duty calls in the next few days...  

DB,

I've never heard of Jan Schray, nor did an in-person collector I know who's been out there a long time. But that doesn't mean he/she doesn't exist.

Maybe Mike Aring knows.

U mean there is actually someone in this biz you are not familiar with!

UACC RD0104, In-Person Autographs, Jan Schray 6721 Troost Avenue #5 North Hollywood, CA 91606 USA.

 

Times Article on one of the original pioneers;

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE0D7123EF934A257...

DB,

It's true--I'm embarrassed to say, since she's a UACC-RD, but I don't recall ever hearing her name. I didn't get into autographs until I bought the magazine in 2004, and the in-person collector I went to didn't recall ever hearing about her. But she's obviously for real.

thx for the link to the article, interesting to read !

RSS

Photos

  • Add Photos
  • View All

© 2024   Created by Steve Cyrkin, Admin.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Service