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Permalink Reply by Pete Bendu on August 5, 2017 at 11:02pm

The terms you are using don't really go together. Like Ian and Eric said, "live ink" is referring to actual hand signed ink on the item, not a print which will feature a signature as part of the photo, kind of like a photograph of a signed photo (also known as preprints.) Rubber stamps, steel stamps and ink jets will all fall into that "not live ink" category.

Autopens will indeed leave what appears to be live ink on the item, but seeing more than one of the exact same signature repeating over and over again, will give that away, as will numerous other tells about the signature, but that is another post entirely.

Hesitation marks are just that, the forger is hesitating at spots throughout the signature that would normally be one fluid motion for the celebrity signing his or her own name.

If you were to sign your own full name with a sharpie, my guess is the Richard would be in one fluid motion with a possible break before you start the Dwyer section, someone who isn't Richard Dwyer, might slowly draw the name to look like your signature but a stop or stops somewhere in the middle of Richard will leave a pool of ink at the stop point....Ric(ink blob)har(ink blob)d.

Those "ink blobs" would be hesitation marks.      

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Permalink Reply by Richard Dwyer on August 6, 2017 at 8:36am

Thanks for all the help.  You guys are great!

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Permalink Reply by Woody2Shoes on August 6, 2017 at 11:52am

Those ink blobs can also go a long way to identifying a particular forger or the legitimate signor themselves! We all create burrs in our written lines, typically at nodes. Where pen direction changes occur. While in general, blobs are typically a warning sign of a forgery, not all of them may be the byproduct of hesitation, any more than the legitimate signor may have hesitation as an earmark of his particular signature, which can be exacerbated by the state of the writing implement, if it tends to over-deliver the ink.

In short, blobs in an of themselves, are usually a good indicator of hesitation due to forgery, but not always.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Bendu on August 6, 2017 at 12:01pm

It certainly has to do with the writing instrument.  This whole theory slips up if you are looking at old fountain pen ink or the celeb's handwriting as opposed to the signature.

Today's sharpie and authentic signatures showing these ink blobs is not the norm. Seeing ink blobs in a handwritten sentiment or inscription is far more likely, something other than the signature proper....as most signers tend to sign their name in a fluid motion, yet they can certainly slow down when writing someone else's name such as "To Woody" or "May God's blessings be with you always, in all sincerity..."    

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Permalink Reply by Woody2Shoes on August 6, 2017 at 12:08pm

Sharpies eliminate that detail, but, a particular handwriting angle, that is, the angle at which a signor typically holds the sharpie, can reveal misnomers, just as readily as blobs. Because of the wider tip (than fountain or ball point pens), on a whole, it's easier to note the tip's angle changes in the line, by where it widens and narrows, and note similarities to the signors traits.

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Permalink Reply by Woody2Shoes on August 6, 2017 at 12:12pm

Blobs are usually a standard feature of both fake and real Ruth signatures, for example. Ruth was a methodical signor. He signed slowly and deliberately, thus dependent on the pen's tip and reservoir, blobs can be expected. But at parts of the written line usually atypical to Ruth himself, which I'd rather not reveal due to possibly assisting the forgers that reveal themselves through common errors to eliminate that tell.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Keeling on August 9, 2017 at 5:33am

I have a friend who is a tattoo artist who can literally do any autograph in the world spot on. I'll bet you this clown could sign pictures send them to PSA DNA and they would pass. I had my wife write her name in longhand for him to put on my arm inside of a banner. I thought he was going to make a stencil and put it on my arm and trace it, but my man just free-handed it with a tattoo gun and it is spot-on---dead on balls accurate you would never know she didn't do it... Don't trust anything when it comes out of autographs unless you see him sign it. A talented artist who can copy a picture and draw it perfectly can do an autograph as well

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