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Opinion on Authenticity of this Barack Obama signed card

Please give your opinion on this signed card from Barack Obama. Beckett quick opinion was NOT LIKELY TO PASS FULL AUTHENTICATION.

Curious what others think thanks

Randy

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 10, 2023 at 11:06am

I think it's real.

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Permalink Reply by randy rice on January 10, 2023 at 11:12am

Thank you for your input. I disagree with the Becket quick opinion

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Permalink Reply by JMS1223 on January 10, 2023 at 12:05pm

I think it’s fake. Looks like a forgery.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 10, 2023 at 12:37pm

If the loops of the B concern you because the top one is smaller than the bottom, that's not common but not that rare. Here's a signed letter with that characteristic:

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Permalink Reply by randy rice on January 10, 2023 at 1:14pm

I agree with what you say on the B. I believe their are more pros than cons on this.

I also believe it was written with the left hand by a person who turns there hand when they write.

Obama does.

Lastly I purchased prior to super Tuesday in 2008 when he was a Senator and not expected to beat Hillary.

Prices were also not very expensive it was only after Super Tuesday they went up.

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Permalink Reply by WHuffman on January 10, 2023 at 5:42pm

I agree with Beckett - this is not authentic.

There are many signs why this is not good.

I'm not sure the proper terms to describe the issues - slant, formation, etc., but there's several issues.

The beginning of the B is not correct. Barack has always started by a 'strong, thick line', going from right to left. This starts very weak and 'loosely' goes upward. It'd be rare to find an authenticated or in-person signature beginning like this. The letter that Steve used as an example is probably from the late 1990's to early 2000's when he was in the Senate. Yes, his B was a little different back than. If you look at his 1996 Dreams From My Father autographs, they were similar. Obama didn't sign his full name much after that. By his 2008 Audacity of Hope book signings, he was only using the initials BO and continued that to this day.

I'm not an expert, but I will say that I dealt very heavily in Obama autographs from 2008-2012.

I'm from Illinois and went to his first book signings. I than had access to most of his town halls, rallies, dinners, etc. I believe I went to 55 such events between Illinois, Iowa and a few others. I was chasing the autograph, buying, selling, studying it, etc. So, I feel pretty confident that it's not good. Didn't need to sell myself on this, but thought I'd at least try to support my opinion.

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Permalink Reply by randy rice on January 10, 2023 at 6:01pm

Thank you. Looking for honest feedback

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Permalink Reply by WHuffman on January 10, 2023 at 6:12pm

Randy,

The other thing I was going to point out was the ending - what many call a Z.

It's almost always horizontal, and rarely trails upwards as your example does. I've seen it do that, but it's pretty rare.

And, I rarely give an opinion on here, as I'm usually seeking help. Lol. There are only a handful of autographs that I've really spent a lot of time studying, and Obama was one of them. Thought I'd throw in my two cents.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 10, 2023 at 6:53pm

I thought I'd probably be in the minority on this one.

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Permalink Reply by WHuffman on January 10, 2023 at 7:15pm

Steve,

When I saw your opinion, I felt like David going up against Goliath. Lol

Definitely value your opinion on so many autographs.

I typed how I went to the Audacity of Hope signings in 2008, when I meant to say 2006. Thought I should correct that. I recall it was October 2006. Went to a bookstore on 57th Avenue in Chicago in the morning, moved onto Borders Books on Michigan Ave. I think he had another stop, but missed. The next day we went to Barnes Noble at Orchard Mall in Skokie. Later in the month I went to some college theater in Milwaukee. Not sure why we chased the town as I don't recall a limit... have to see if I have my brochures. Books are long gone, but I did look at some pics online just now from those signings... one of the stops, he used a thin pen where he continued from the B straight into the O. I'm including a pic. Notice the B in one of them is very close to Randy's making one think it has a chance. I still feel the start isn't right, the size of the O is wrong, plus other things are off.

Just going down memory lane here :-)