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Jimmy Stewart

I always have the hardest time with Jimmy Stewart autographs, I really can’t tell the difference between autopens and the real thing for him. I saw Steve Zarelli’s blog here on his autopen patterns, but I find it hard to see the shakiness and hard stops typical of autopens that he states in those examples. Also those examples were all signed ‘Jimmy’ and mine is ‘James’. So I guess a big question I have is does he have autopen patterns of ‘James’ out there as well? As Steve stated he was good at actually signing into the early ‘’90s, and this example is from a letter dated 1984, so perhaps this has a better chance of being real? Also just wondering do the breaks in the ink like in the ‘J’ and ‘S’ indicate a more natural occurrence or more indicative of an autopen machine? What do you guys think? Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on November 10, 2023 at 1:01pm

This scan appears highly over-contrasted. Crossover is not visible.

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Permalink Reply by Greg on November 10, 2023 at 1:15pm

Sorry, I don’t quite understand what you mean? I thought it was a pretty detailed close up? What exactly is crossover? Thanks for the speedy reply!

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on November 10, 2023 at 1:21pm

Crossover is where you can see ink lying over ink as where one stroke goes over another such as the cross on a "t". Stamps for example do not exhibit crossover. This visual should explain overexposure:

Click for full uncropped image.

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Permalink Reply by Greg on November 10, 2023 at 1:39pm

Thanks so much for the explanation Eric! So your thoughts is that this may be a stamp if crossover is not seen in person on this example? That might also be a cause for the skips in the J and S? Was he known for using a stamp?

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on November 10, 2023 at 1:45pm

Most welcome but that is NOT what I meant. I only mentioned stamps to explain crossover. It doesn't show in your images because they are totally bleached out. Look closely at the Gleason below for crossover.