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Hello friends!  Does anyone have any examples of ink signatures that show signs of oxidation?  I have many autographs in my collection that were signed between 1920 through the 1940s.  I have never seen one that showed any type of oxidation, at least not the way I think it would look like. A couple of these I have owned at least 30 years.  I am not sure what ink should look like after a few decades.  Here is a Chaplin signed in 1928 that I obtained in 1990.

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only in storage.

its basically a regular ink pen on a program like page and it turns like a yellow color.

I think I have a steve ray oxided from 89 in my computer file on a plastic pick guard .ill post when I find it .

u should be able to see the oxidation of the black ink on the white pick guard

Oh...I see it.  I wonder if it matters the type of pen that is used. For example the old fountain pens compared to ball Point pens compared to felt tip pens Etc.

I belive its black in related and the type of stock 

sharpie once made or still might make a sharpie called the autograph pen felt that didn't yellow about 10 years ago

Yes I remember seeing that years ago. I guess maybe storage and display methods can help too. I have a matted Charlie Chaplin signature behind UV filtering pixie glass. It's been hanging in there over 20 years on the wall. Still looks good

That is one type - what I think of as a "burn"(oxidized). I am used to seeing it on paper, it looks like very much what John Showed (yellow halo etc). From looking at your image I am not sure what you are asking about. On vintage silver gelatin photographs like yours, the old sepia, blue and black fountain pen inks, especially in the dark areas of the photograph, can take on the colorful iridescence of the surface beneath when that surface "tarnishes" or "blooms" (oxidizes) over the years. In some contexts this "burnt" halo, esp on paper, is avoided from what I have seen (I am sure that SRV scratchplate is quite a different thing!) - if other examples are available. Sometimes it just comes with the territory, as on some ink/plastic combinations as here, or as on your vintage photograph where the substrate might be producing or enhancing the effect. Sometimes the ink will fluoresce a different array of colors in the glare of a light than the rest of the photograph. It is a good sign of age taken with other things in a context. It's presence does not equal age. There are other types of oxidation as well.

Thank you Eric. I had actually included this piece as in example of almost no oxidation. I was just curious how items that are signed 50 years ago or more still look pretty fresh and not sure what oxidized ink looks like. thanks for that detailed explanation.

The term "oxidation" as you are using it is a misnomer and should only refer to pre-1920's iron based inks.  These inks, a combination of tannic acids from galls and iron sulfate, oxidize -- that is, turn brown (or with blue ink, fade to turquoise) -- over time.  

I'm not too familiar with modern marker ink, but some of the earlier markers were oil based, and oil tends to yellow over time.  

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