Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by JK on February 27, 2024 at 4:45pm

I'm actually not loving it but we'll see what others say.

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Permalink Reply by JMS1223 on February 27, 2024 at 5:25pm

Same.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on February 27, 2024 at 8:57pm

Moved this discussion to Is This Autograph Real.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on February 28, 2024 at 6:00am

More and more, I like the overly sloppy Stewarts less and less. I'm not sure either way, but I avoid these in my collection. If you go through undoubtedly authentic Stewarts, it's very difficult to find wild, sloppy signatures with wavy baselines.  Yet they do appear in great quantities in unverified examples. 

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Permalink Reply by Steve Viola on February 28, 2024 at 6:43am

Yes I know what you mean.  Im on the fence with this book of his poems also.  But Ive seen a lot of shaky ones

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Permalink Reply by JMS1223 on February 28, 2024 at 8:06am

Yeah, I don’t like that signature on his book either. Doesn’t look quite right to me. 

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Permalink Reply by Steve Viola on February 28, 2024 at 10:48am

I know the bookplated ones were autopen.  All the others Ive seen on the blank page seem shaky like this.    I would think there are some real ones out there somewhere.  Forging Stewart books seems a bit odd to me.

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Permalink Reply by JK on February 28, 2024 at 8:18am

I'm just thankful that I was collecting autographs and interested in Jimmy Stewart during the time when he signed TTM.  

I got a few 8x10s, a Harvey sketch, his poetry book, and a couple other items signed directly from him.  I even got a baseball signed after watching The Stratton Story.  I might have a secretarial or two on his small B&W photos but otherwise I'm confident in the rest.  I also picked up a couple of his checks along the way.

The forgers are getting pretty good, but there is usually something that is off.  They usually contain some elements of an authentic signature, but usually in the wrong combinations.

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on February 28, 2024 at 8:30am

This might sound like a naive question.  Why is he so seemingly highly forged? 

It seems out of proportion to other Hollywood stars of that era (eg. I haven't seen much forged Henry Fonda).  He's also not generally as premium priced as someone like Cary Grant who might be more lucrative.

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Permalink Reply by JK on February 28, 2024 at 8:36am

That's an excellent question, and I had sort of been wondering the same thing.

It's just speculation on my part, but with moderate demand and large supply, a few forgeries are easy to slip into the market. 

Even though other forgeries might be more lucrative, less common autographs would get more scrutiny.

Also, with JS's signature style it may seem like it's easy to forge.  But to those who pay closer attention the red flags start to appear.

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Permalink Reply by JMS1223 on February 28, 2024 at 9:30am

I was also wondering why James Stewart is more forged than more valuable Hollywood stars. After reading your response that makes perfect sense. Less scrutiny and lower value makes him an easy target for forgers. Harvey sketches are more of a premium item from him so these even more so because he was known to actually draw and sign these ttm. 

I would love to see some authentic ttm Harvey sketches posted here for future reference. 

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on February 28, 2024 at 9:35am

I think perhaps the sketch adds something of an unconscious assurance, like  Carney or Welles or other sketch. I find the McCartney doodles on forgeries to be obvious, so I too would like to see more of these sketches.

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