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Permalink Reply by JMS1223 on March 21, 2024 at 7:01am

I noticed that with the Hillary Clinton books too. They all seemed to look a little different but parts were nearly identical. Never saw a 100% match but I was suspicious of those books. 

What I find interesting is Bill Clinton did a couple of authentic signed books with James Patterson (and interestingly the first book they did together had autopen Patterson but authentic Clinton). So I must ask, why do the First Ladies do autopen on their books but the Presidents (usually more desirable) appear to be authentic? 

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Permalink Reply by Theo Chen on September 17, 2026 at 3:02pm

What Hillary did was unacceptable but easy to sniff out. I went to her bookstore appearance and picked up a few signed books and noticed the different templates right away.

Unless I missed a post somewhere, no 2 Michelle Obama book signatures have matched exactly. The signed version of the book was released years before the Uuna Tek autopen was available. Maybe there was a similar autopen available back then?

But still — Michelle is one of the most famous women in the world, obviously a political target who has been attacked numerous times, and is (unlike Hillary back then) is at risk of social media controversy. Does anyone seriously think she would conspire with the publisher to produce forged signed books given the risk? When Barack, who you would think is just as busy, hand signed his?

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Permalink Reply by Garrett Meadows on March 28, 2024 at 3:30pm

Don't celebrities sign possibly hundreds of individual pages that are later inserted into the book? 

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Permalink Reply by JMS1223 on March 28, 2024 at 3:43pm

Yes, some do, but unfortunately others have those pages autopen (Dolly Parton and Bob Dylan come to mind) or ghost (secretarial) signed such as Drew Barrymore and Whoopi Goldberg. It’s still yet to be confirmed if Michelle Obama is indeed autopen (no exact matches found but suspicious because Beckett, PSA and JSA have failed all her Becoming Deluxe signatures). However Barack Obama’s have been known to be authentic in A Promised Land deluxe edition and Renegades deluxe edition. Beckett, PSA and JSA authenticated Barack’s but not Michelle’s. Weird. Need more information about this. 

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Permalink Reply by meggs on September 17, 2026 at 7:28pm

I don't come here often enough, I really appreciate the knowledge from the many astute folks here. Theo, after reading your post I checked out the Uuna Tek autopen. As someone who enjoys the hobby, I was always concerned a machine like this was inevitable, but I still hate to see it. Does anybody know when did the Uuna Tek first become available?

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Permalink Reply by Theo Chen on September 17, 2026 at 7:52pm

According to the Google search I just did, 2023.

If another company made a similar device earlier then *maybe* it could have been used by Michelle.

But assuming that’s even possible, whether you like her or not, does anyone really think she would risk a major Fox News, right wing and social media publicity firestorm to save a few days of signing books?

The fact that Hillary did it 25-30 years ago in a completely different era is irrelevant.

I have 4 of these and examined the signatures closely. I’ve also looked at many posted online. I have yet to see an identical match.

There’s nothing indicating they are machine signed. Are they secretarial? That’s even less likely.

An authenticator from one of the Big 3 who I won’t mention half jokingly told me the Michelle Obama rejections are a “conspiracy” among the companies.

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