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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

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by JXE on December 7, 2012 at 10:59am

Bump. Can anyone help?

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on January 17, 2013 at 10:05am

The Roseanne Cash record sleeve is real. The black and white photo is not rel nd is a style that PSA always misses.

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Permalink Reply by JXE on January 17, 2013 at 11:15am

Thanks a lot Brandon. I actually bought the record sleeve a while back, but only after checking with Roger first. The photo did seem funny to me at the time, so I'm glad I avoided it. I feel back for the person who paid $250 for it, thinking it was real!

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Permalink Reply by Martin on December 7, 2012 at 1:07pm

So, as recently someone asks for opinion - I will do so, too! Hopefully all Cash experts will be back soon!

I´ve sortet that album out - I´ve marked it as "without history" - so might me fake. I got it from a Munich collector some years ago. What do you think? Can I destroy it?

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Permalink Reply by Laurie Green on January 16, 2013 at 4:21pm

From my deceased father's autograph collection. I have no idea when he acquired.

Attachments: No photo uploads here

CashJohnnyJune.jpg, 469 KB

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Permalink Reply by Brian on February 2, 2013 at 5:19pm

what do you guys think of this one?

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Permalink Reply by Vic Rom on February 11, 2013 at 8:21pm

http://www.rrauction.com/bidtracker_detail.cfm?IN=1087

What about that one? I know the source is trusted but it seems so different from many of the others I've seen...

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Batson on February 19, 2013 at 11:40am

I want to say I got this in 1997. He lived down the street from my brother in Hendersonville, TN. Long story short, June told my brother to have me send this LP to the house and JC would sign it. I did and this is what I got a few days/weeks later.

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Permalink Reply by clickkim on October 26, 2013 at 7:06pm

Can anyone help me authenticate this? I've tried comparing it to others on this thread but can't quite make it out. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Attachments: No photo uploads here

photo(1) copy.JPG, 1.6 MB
photo(1).JPG, 1.2 MB

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Permalink Reply by Juha Kakkuri on November 2, 2013 at 8:37am

I have these two from Johnny Cash. The photo is through the mail around 76-77 and The Highwaymen I obtained in person when they were here in Finland in 1992.