Charlton Heston Secretarial Signature Study

 Hi:

At Steve Cyrkin's invitation, I'd like to call your attention to a signature study I've posted on my blog, Charlton Heston signature study by Steve Zarelli.

I believe I have identified the "tell" in Charlton Heston secretarial signatures, and if I am correct, the news is not good for most collectors. It appears that most  Heston signed photos are secretarially signed.

 

Here is a synopsis:

The Theory
Photographs and other memorabilia sent to Mr. Heston's office were signed by a secretary. However, Mr. Heston did authentically sign books through-the-mail.  

Real vs. Secretary
In authentic signatures, the R in "Charlton" is distinctly a lowercase "r" and less than half the height of the L. The first four letters are clearly "Char."

In secretarial signatures, the R looks much more like a lowercase "l" and is about the same height as the L. So, the first four letters appear to be "Chall."

I have attached two images to give you a small sampling.  

For more details and images, please visit my blog at the link below.

I'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts on this. I fully anticipate some resistance to the theory, because denial is always the first step. In fact, I would love to be proved wrong, because that would mean I wasn't sitting on a bunch of secretary signed photos!

By way of introduction, I have been collecting since the early 90s and I am the UACC Ethics Director.

I look forward to the discussion.

The Collecting Obsession

Regards,

Steve Zarelli

 

Tags: Charlton, Forgery, Heston, Secretary, authenticating, autograph, secretarial

Views: 26123

Attachments: No photo uploads here

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by DB on March 27, 2011 at 2:49pm
Mike, what's important is the consistency of all of this.  What is so surprising is how the original study missed this more than obvious and thankfully the zipper picked up on it,,, Of course, I suspect the original study by Rolf will play a more interesting role in the future and those in existence that are in the grey area although I have difficulty in clearing seeing it.  IT's also a good bet to get the Hestons while they are still reasonable and before the forgery market figures it out. 
Permalink Reply by Mike Sibley on March 27, 2011 at 3:02pm
DB, I couldn't have put it better myself - you are spot on regarding picking up the genuine Heston's now. I have never looked at the forgery aspect in great detail, but I'm sure you guys must have seen this unpleasant side of the hobby with a number of different signatures over the years. I will certainly be keeping a close eye on things from now on. I have collected Mr. Heston's signature for quite some years now, so feel pretty confident that I will be able to spot a Heston forgery - time will tell....
Permalink Reply by Scott Cornish on April 1, 2011 at 7:13am
Great work Steve (and Rolf)! 
Permalink Reply by Rich on April 5, 2011 at 7:17am

Thank you very much for this study, and for the great input from Rolf and others who have contributed to this thread.  I bought a Charlton Heston/Kim Hunter signed Planet of the Apes photo in 2008 from Autograph World.  The Heston signature looks consistant with the secretarial examples.  Not sure what to make of the Hunter now!

 

While I appreciate AW's response, the problem is that I paid $100+ to frame the thing!  Ick.  I have never had any issue at all with Autograph World's authenticity, so I assume it was good to go.  Lesson learned.

Permalink Reply by Rich on April 5, 2011 at 10:28am

Here is the apparent stinker I got from Autograph World:

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on April 8, 2011 at 11:22am
Apparently, many dealers bolster their stock with TTM signatures. Not sure if they send requests themselves or simply buy it as part of collections they purchase. Maybe both...
Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on April 5, 2011 at 11:07am
It's a shame, but they certainly didn't mean to sell you a bad one and they're careful. Can you reuse the frame?
Permalink Reply by Rich on April 5, 2011 at 11:34am

That's what I'm contemplating - the same frame might work really well with an Indiana Jones photo I have from Collectormania.  I'm also thinking about just leaving it as is and displaying it in a dark corner of the basement, lol.  Maybe the Hunter's real :)

 

I checked my invoice - the photo was about $60.  I'm pretty sure the frame was at least twice that.  What was I thinking?

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on April 5, 2011 at 11:38am

That's the bad thing about living in SoCA...we don't have basements to forget things in.

I'm sure the Hunter's real. Get a refund, put the Indiana Jones in there and you're good to go!

Permalink Reply by Rich on April 5, 2011 at 12:09pm

I went ahead and sent an email to Bob Jones regarding return procedures.  Never thought I'd have to do it, but I guess it's hard for a dealer that big to be "perfect."

Thanks again for all the info.

Permalink Reply by E.B.G. on April 7, 2011 at 12:12am
They are human I suppose.
Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on April 8, 2011 at 11:40am
You can't always assume that with autograph collectors, EB.

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