We are an eBay affiliate and may be compensated for clicks on links that result in purchases.

Autograph's Johnny Cash Signature Study — Be Part of It!

Has there ever been a nicer, more humble, more fan friendly superstar than Johnny Cash?

Johnny was the Babe Ruth of Country Music—the top-ranking Country artist of all time and the most loved. And Johnny loved his fans as much as they love him. So while like the Babe, Cash signed untold numbers of autographs, the supply could never meet demand...and probably never will.

Fans who couldn't meet Cash in person often requested autographs through the mail. The common belief is that he personally autographed those requests. But between his demanding touring schedule and later, his failing health and vision, it seems impossible that he could have signed even half of the mail he received.

A growing number of collectors and dealers now believe that many if not most Johnny Cash through the mail autographs were secretarial. We want to see if we can identify any secretarial styles, and at the same time build a reference collection of no-question genuine Cash exemplars to help identifying forgeries.

Are There Johnny Cash Secretarials?
If So, How Do We Identify Them?
Help Find Out!

You can be an important part of the study in three ways:

Upload into this discussion images of Johnny Cash autographs that you personally received through the mail, and tell us when you received them. (The year is fine, but if you know the date, even better.)
Upload images of Johnny's autographs that YOU saw signed by Johnny yourself. Include the date or at least year, too. If you didn't see it signed yourself (like pre-signed ones sold or given away at shows), please don't upload it.
As more and more images are uploaded, see if you can identify characteristics that are commonly found on Johnny's through the mail autographs that are rarely if ever seen on ones signed in person.

With your help, we can identify Cash secretarials if they're out there. Over time this should increase the value of genuine Johnny Cash autographs, and help protect future fans and collectors against autographs that aren't authentic.

Once we finish this phase of the study, we'll go on to identifying genuine Johnny Cash autographs from forgeries.

Let's go!

Tags: Johnny, autographs, cash, genuine, mail, secretarial, the, through

12 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gordon O'Steen on November 15, 2011 at 5:31pm

I hear you.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 15, 2011 at 5:14pm

LOL...

I struggled for a while, but you eventually get to a point where something "clicks" and you can see the difference. Once I knuckled down with Mantle, it didn't take long. I'm getting there with Cash. You just need to see a lot of exemplars. It'll never happen with only seeing a few.

:-)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on November 15, 2011 at 5:17pm

We really need to do more side-by-side studies that make it easier to compare genuine/secretarial/forgeries/etc.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 15, 2011 at 5:19pm

Agree. Scrolling through pages of threads with everything mixed together is tough.

A good moderator would consolidate everything into one easy to see graphic with a real column, secretary column and fake column. ;-)

Now get on that, will ya? lol

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on November 15, 2011 at 5:21pm

Zippy,

Congratulations on your new role as moderator.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 15, 2011 at 5:25pm

LOL

You couldn't pay me enough!!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gordon O'Steen on November 15, 2011 at 5:31pm

Don't blame you zip.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on November 15, 2011 at 5:37pm

That's not an issue Zippy. It's not a paying gig.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by JJKANDLAK on November 15, 2011 at 5:13am

Brenda- Nice addition to the collection!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brenda McLeod on November 15, 2011 at 6:21am

Thanks JJ, and thanks to a wonderful poster here who pointed it out to me!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on November 15, 2011 at 8:20pm

I'm glad you got what you were looking for Brenda and everyone here seems to agree. Great job and nice family too. That autograph will be going to a good home.