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

Autograph's Johnny Cash Signature Study — Be Part of It!

Has there ever been a nicer, more humble, more fan friendly superstar than Johnny Cash?

Johnny was the Babe Ruth of Country Music—the top-ranking Country artist of all time and the most loved. And Johnny loved his fans as much as they love him. So while like the Babe, Cash signed untold numbers of autographs, the supply could never meet demand...and probably never will.

Fans who couldn't meet Cash in person often requested autographs through the mail. The common belief is that he personally autographed those requests. But between his demanding touring schedule and later, his failing health and vision, it seems impossible that he could have signed even half of the mail he received.

A growing number of collectors and dealers now believe that many if not most Johnny Cash through the mail autographs were secretarial. We want to see if we can identify any secretarial styles, and at the same time build a reference collection of no-question genuine Cash exemplars to help identifying forgeries.

Are There Johnny Cash Secretarials?
If So, How Do We Identify Them?
Help Find Out!

You can be an important part of the study in three ways:

Upload into this discussion images of Johnny Cash autographs that you personally received through the mail, and tell us when you received them. (The year is fine, but if you know the date, even better.)
Upload images of Johnny's autographs that YOU saw signed by Johnny yourself. Include the date or at least year, too. If you didn't see it signed yourself (like pre-signed ones sold or given away at shows), please don't upload it.
As more and more images are uploaded, see if you can identify characteristics that are commonly found on Johnny's through the mail autographs that are rarely if ever seen on ones signed in person.

With your help, we can identify Cash secretarials if they're out there. Over time this should increase the value of genuine Johnny Cash autographs, and help protect future fans and collectors against autographs that aren't authentic.

Once we finish this phase of the study, we'll go on to identifying genuine Johnny Cash autographs from forgeries.

Let's go!

Tags: Johnny, autographs, cash, genuine, mail, secretarial, the, through

12 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brenda McLeod on November 15, 2011 at 6:35am

I appreciate that opinion...thanks! I've already purchased a cool photo of a young Johnny in a pondering pose and am ready to frame as soon as I have the goods in my hands!

And with that done...now onto Freddie Mercury. It's neverending, isn't it? :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 15, 2011 at 7:07am

Yup. :-)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on November 15, 2011 at 6:53am

Looks good to me :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brenda McLeod on December 26, 2011 at 6:30pm

My husband loves it. Thanks for everything you guys, and Happy New Year!

Brenda

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 26, 2011 at 9:18pm

Brenda,

I'm so glad our members could help you. (Thanks, everyone!) You're collecting the smart way. Please tell others about the site so they can buy more safely, too.

Happy New Year! (And great new profile pic.)

Steve

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gordon O'Steen on November 13, 2011 at 7:43am

Hey Brenda.

I hope others who know Johnny Cash sigs will offer their opinions because it is a cool looking piece. I am rooting for you.

Gordon

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brenda McLeod on November 13, 2011 at 9:22am

Thanks Gordon. This was being sold by a man whose father got it in person at a concert at Emo's in Texas in March 1994. (The seller told me that his dad left a note inside the book stating this provenance). The father has since passed away, but I Googled Emo's, and yes indeed, there was a pretty astounding show on March 17th at Emo's. So I'm feeling pretty good about it!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gordon O'Steen on November 13, 2011 at 11:07am

Cool!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on November 15, 2011 at 5:22am

yeap, PSA got it wrong :(

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brenda McLeod on November 15, 2011 at 6:33am

Chris...I've looked at hundreds of Cash signatures over the past few weeks, and as an art teacher, you'd think that I'd have a knack for this. Yes, this signature looks like a secretarial, but it also looks like some of the ones I've seen that are authentic. How in the world people can tell the subtle differences is beyond me--I hope that yours is real, as it can be very frustrating to learn otherwise. Did you ask your eBay seller if they had any background info on the piece?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gordon O'Steen on November 15, 2011 at 5:07pm

I agree with you Brenda. Trying to tell the difference between a genuine Cash sig vs. a secretarial makes my head hurt. But if you are a glutton for punishment, take a look at some of the Mickey Mantle threads on this site. I just don't even make an attempt with those anymore and I don't collect sports autographs.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brenda McLeod on November 15, 2011 at 5:13pm

I KNOW!! I have a real Mickey Mantle, and I still can't tell the difference. And the way that some people refer to the ones that would slip by me in a heartbeat--"How fake can you get??" is just amazing!