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Permalink Reply by Brandon Chisholm on August 26, 2012 at 9:49pm

See, all of his signatures look different to me depending on when/where he signed them.

This signature was acquired on location in Chicago at the old Post Office when shooting wrapped in late April 2007. The Dark Knight  filmed in Chicago from April 18^th-24^th 2007 using the old Post Office as the "Gotham National Bank" on the North side, and the "Gotham Police Department" on the East side. Upon completion of the shoot, Warner bros. held an autograph signing for the Cast, crew, family members, and people of the neighborhood. Photos signed were officially licensed by WB Studios and were unavailable to the general public at the time of signing.

And by the time of his death, I believe this photo and the face photo were the only 2 out there?

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Permalink Reply by JXE on August 27, 2012 at 3:30am

Where did you get that autograph and information from? It looks highly unusual, so this is very interesting.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Chisholm on August 27, 2012 at 11:54am

I graduated in 2007 from the film program at Columbia College Chicago and a few of my buddies who were still finishing up school had a teacher who knew a guy at the casting office that WB was using for the Dark Knight to cast local crew members and he was able to get them gigs as PAs. More like glorified interns because they were students and got paid in meals and experience. They were assigned to the grip department and craft services. I remember they told me everything was tightly under wraps and the signs around town said a movie "RFK" was shooting. I guess they didn't want Batman fans hounding the sets. 

ANYWAY, I remember I was in Los Angeles at the time, but I saw Facebook posts and then got text messages from friends saying they were sneaking over to the set because one of the grips heard they would be signing autographs after they wrapped the shoot. I replied "Get me one!..."...but never heard back that night. They ended up telling me that there were a good amount of people there, all mainly local cast/crew and family members who came down. Lots of wives and kids. He said the studio supplied the pictures, and that there were only a few to choose from. Needless to say, I didn't get one. "Sorry Bro, we only got one each.." ...

Here we are 5 years later, and one of my said buddies overnights me this 8x10 as a fantasy football debt / birthday gift. His note with it saying "Remember this...?.." ...Apparently he has one more locked away. So much for only getting one...

Now here's the nail in the coffin...I went home for New years 2008...my friend showed me the picture he scored...He was very proud that he got the picture before people saw it in the magazine...admittedly I don't recall exactly what the sig looked like 5 years ago when i saw it... But would you fake something 22 days before the guy died? ....very interesting...

Is this all an elaborate and coincidental hoax? Maybe...but its also kind of awesome. As far as the signature itself, it looks rushed and kind of incomplete. The "H" looks like it has good fluidity...but, who knows. After a day of shooting, how great can your sig be? And his signature is so different it would be a shot in the dark to get it authenticated by a 3rd party... My guess is it would fail a PSA or JSA authentication. Too much of a gray area on the sig and what photos were or were not released before his death. Etc..etc.. I know this photo wasn't leaked to the public until September 2007 on the Empire website, and then published on the cover in late October/Nov...Chances are good though the photo shoot was months earlier and the studio had them under wraps.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Chisholm on August 27, 2012 at 1:03pm

UPDATE: .....been doing some googling...I've seen other Ledgers for sale from the Chicago signing...look identical to mine...However, the prices they went at seem too low.....There is also one on Ebay, looks similar, that is claimed to be authenticated by Spirit Autographs...Whoever they are...

I know my story is true...there WAS a signing...but maybe my buddy is trying to hoodwink me...

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Permalink Reply by JXE on August 27, 2012 at 1:21pm

It's an interesting, detailed story, but I dunno, it just doesn't look like the others. You're happy with it, so that's all that matters. I just wouldn't buy one like that. Plus, that "Spirit Autographs" says it was collected while he filmed Brokeback Mountain, yet it's a photo from Brokeback Mountain.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Chisholm on August 27, 2012 at 4:44pm

GREAT POINT.....after further research on the style my autograph is in, the only authentications I've seen are from this "Spirit Autographs"..."Heirloom Autographs"...and "Australian Autographs LLC"... When you google these companies of course, you conveniently find NOTHING....shame shame.. I think my buddy kept the real one!

Do I dare send it in to JSA for a look, or is it so off It isn't worth the appraisal fee?

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Permalink Reply by Michael T on August 27, 2012 at 6:43pm

If you send it to JSA I an almost 100% assure you it will come back 'not authentic'.

That is not an authentic example of Heath Ledgers signature.

I watch eBay for bad Heath graphs and there have been a few up there lately including ones similar to your style.

Spirit Autographs and Heirloom autographs sell forgeries. I have been tracking their garbage for many years.

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Permalink Reply by Michael T on August 28, 2012 at 1:33pm

Nice story but I noticed the item you posted above was sold on eBay 0n 8/25/2012 by the user 'thetruebatman1'. Here is the image from earlier in this post again. They are both identical.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heath-Ledger-Hand-Signed-Autograph-Joker-Ja...

How do you explain that? Especially after looking at the items that user has offered which are likely not authentic.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Chisholm on August 28, 2012 at 2:00pm

You are absolutely right. Its a complete fake. I saw this in the ebay completed listings after you mentioned this "thetruebatman1" guy. Called my friend out on it yesterday. He laughed and admitted he bought it from a guy on Ioffer.com. I checked out ioffer and there's a bunch of these for sale....I think its the same dude. Needless to say, he's sending me a check for the fantasy-football debt he owes me as he wont part with the real sig he has. Scumbag...
Talk about embarrassing. Sorry for wasting everyone's time!

I stand by my story though. The autograph signing DID occur in 07' after shooting wrapped. And the "face" shot and the unreleased empire joker shot (above) were there. I think the fakes claiming the Chicago Post office autographs know the signing occurred too, and are using it to sell their forgeries.

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Permalink Reply by JXE on August 28, 2012 at 2:38pm

Heath supposedly left much earlier than when shooting wrapped, so I highly doubt he would have attended such a thing. Also, from what I understand, signing sessions don't usually happen at shooting wraps. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Chisholm on August 28, 2012 at 3:38pm

As I understood it, the signing was only for local cast/crew members hired out of Chicago. It was never publicly announced.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Chisholm on September 4, 2012 at 5:14pm

I contacted the guy who my friend acquired this autograph from. Told him about all our opinions...He sticks to his guns saying it was signed, in person, in front of him, in Chicago...So, for s**** n' giggles I mailed the photo in to the Academy of Manuscript and Autograph out of Texas. I just received a detailed letter of Opinion in the mail today, with the return of my photo. In order to establish authenticity they say an examination with known genuine signatures showed agreement in all handwriting characteristics w/out differences. Says the investigation covered letter formations, spacing, slant, line quality, measurement of slant and spacing, patterns, proportions, connections, and the initial and terminal stroke formations. All of the above characteristics coincided with the original signatures they used for comparison in the investigation. They believe this to be GENUINE.

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