Would love opinions on this JFK signed letter - John Reznikoff please?

Hi,

I'm brand new to this forum, but joined due to another member's suggestion, and it looks awesome, so I would appreciate some assistance with an item.

I had just acquired this signed JFK letter, dated from 1952. The signature matches well in some characteristics, but there are a couple of areas (such as the "Jo") which have me (and others) wondering if this is another variant of an authentic JFK, or a really close secretarial signature.

I would greatly appreciate any insights - esp. if John Reznikoff is available (per another member's suggestion, since I hear he is the expert in this area!).

Thanks in advance!
Scott

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 2, 2011 at 2:24pm

Hi Scott, welcome to Live! Look up John's and Andreas Wiemer's profiles thru MEMBERS and leave a comment with a link on their profiles. Andreas recently finished a superb study on early JFK authentic and secretary-signed autographs that you can download from the link below:

http://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/john-f-kennedy-early...

Your letter is from that time period.

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Permalink Reply by john reznikoff on December 2, 2011 at 3:10pm

As variant as it is I think it may have a shot. I am traveling and have nothing with me but would be happy to examine the original at my office and give you a free opinion ( one of the many benefits of being a member of the site) .Please send by a trackable method and include a prepaid return fed ex form.

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Permalink Reply by john reznikoff on December 2, 2011 at 3:59pm

PS . See examples 51 and 53 in Andreas' study which are very similar and are within weeks of this example.

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Permalink Reply by Scott S on December 2, 2011 at 5:47pm

Thanks John for the replies and the generous offer - I will reach out to you in regards to that.

And I agree that my example looks identical to Andreas' study #'s 51 and 53 (along with 54 as well) - very interesting that they all came from that exact summer of 1952 time period.

Appreciate the insight!

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Permalink Reply by Andreas Wiemer on December 5, 2011 at 7:21am

Hi Scott,

good example and in my opinion a secretary. I know another similar signature on a letter but with a postmarked envelope from "Boston", therefore I think JFK's secretary in Boston (maybe Grace Burke) signed this letter. And - the content is only routine.

Best wishes,

Andreas

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Permalink Reply by john reznikoff on December 5, 2011 at 7:55am

As I said, it does match the other ones in the study done by Andreas. Whe he and I were discussing the study published here, we both decided that it would be best to give it a "?????" status. I think till more examples from this period emerge (especially if anything comes out that is wildly different) the best opinion is a "decline opinion" . At best it is questionable. I will ask Paul Carr too.

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Permalink Reply by Scott S on December 5, 2011 at 8:10am

Thanks very much to both John and Andreas for their feedback - John was tremendous offline as well in providing me information in regards to this letter. I will now have to decide what to do with this - I still have a window to seek a refund, and as much as I would like to believe this is authentic and keep it, I may have to decide to go the refund route since I'm not totally confident in it.

Thanks again, gentlemen-

Scott