Hi:
At Steve Cyrkin's invitation, I'd like to call your attention to a signature study I've posted on my blog, Charlton Heston signature study by Steve Zarelli.
I believe I have identified the "tell" in Charlton Heston secretarial signatures, and if I am correct, the news is not good for most collectors. It appears that most Heston signed photos are secretarially signed.
Here is a synopsis:
The Theory
Photographs and other memorabilia sent to Mr. Heston's office were signed by a secretary. However, Mr. Heston did authentically sign books through-the-mail.
Real vs. Secretary
In authentic signatures, the R in "Charlton" is distinctly a lowercase "r" and less than half the height of the L. The first four letters are clearly "Char."
In secretarial signatures, the R looks much more like a lowercase "l" and is about the same height as the L. So, the first four letters appear to be "Chall."
I have attached two images to give you a small sampling.
For more details and images, please visit my blog at the link below.
I'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts on this. I fully anticipate some resistance to the theory, because denial is always the first step. In fact, I would love to be proved wrong, because that would mean I wasn't sitting on a bunch of secretary signed photos!
By way of introduction, I have been collecting since the early 90s and I am the UACC Ethics Director.
I look forward to the discussion.
Regards,
Steve Zarelli
Tags: Charlton, Forgery, Heston, Secretary, authenticating, autograph, secretarial
In a perverse way there is some comfort that forgers are forging secretarial rather than real signatures.
I know it is not much consolation but PSA-DNA, JSA and many others were fooled by this "style" of his autograph so don't feel bad. I agree with Steve I think this is a forgery and not Heston's personal secretary. She was really good at his signature and was much smoother than this appears to be.
Agree.
The Wreck photo is secretarial, I think an 80s version and in later years the double L became more prominent. I think the other is a forgery trying hand at the real signature.
Cheers for that guys and out they go.... your time is appreciated... it was shortly after the study as I returned a bunch of Planet of the Apes signed photos to a seller. They were great and gave an instant refund. These have been sitting in my personal collection for a long time but was planning to sell them but not now. D... :) Have a great Christmas across the pond... :)
In my opinion, this is good. Appears to be a fountain pen signature.
I have seen forgeries based on the real style, not the secretary.
This one is a little odd for the reasons you mentioned, but I believe it it likely authentic.
There are more Heston secretaries on ebay than ever... but at least it appears the TPAs have stopped certing them.
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