Autograph collecting

In autograph-auction catalogues the following abbreviations are used to help describe the type of letter or document that is being offered for sale.

• AD: Autograph Document (hand-written by the person to be collected, but not signed)
• ADS: Autograph Document Signed (written and signed by same individual)
• AL: Autograph Letter (hand-written by the person to be collected, but not signed)
• ALS: Autograph Letter Signed (hand-written and signed by same individual)
• AMs: Autograph Manuscript (hand-written; such as the draft of a play, research paper or music sheet)
• AMsS: Autograph Manuscript Signed (hand-written and signed by same individual)
• AMusQs: Autograph Musical Quotation Signed (hand-written and signed by same individual)
• AN: Autograph Note (no salutation or closing, usually shorter than a letter)
• ANS: Autograph Note Signed (hand-written and signed by same individual)
• APCS: Autograph Postcard Signed (hand-written and signed by same individual)
• AQS: Autograph Quote Signed (hand-written and signed by same individual; poem verse, sentence, or bar-of-music)
• DS: Document signed (printed, or while hand-written by another, is signed by individual sought to be collected)
• LS: Letter Signed (hand-written by someone else, but signed by the individual sought to be collected, frequently handwritten by secretaries before the advent of the typewriter)
• PS: Photograph Signed or Postcard Signed
• SP: Signed Photograph
• TLS: Typed Letter Signed
• TNS: Typed Note Signed
• folio: A printer's sheet of paper folded once to make two leaves, double quarto size or larger.
• octavo(8vo): A manuscript page about six-by-nine inches. (Originally determined by folding a printer's sheet of paper to form eight leaves.)
• quarto(4to): A manuscript page of about nine and one-half by twelve inches. (Originally determined by folding a printer's sheet of paper twice to form four leaves.)

Celebrities sometimes authorized secretaries to sign their correspondence. In the early months of World War II, U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall felt obligated to sign every condolence letter sent to the families of slain soldiers. But as the death rate increased, he was forced to assign an assistant to forge his signature to the letters. The surrogate signatures were hard to distinguish from the originals. General Douglas MacArthur rarely signed a WWII condolence letter personally and all of his letters to families were signed by one of two assistants who tried hard to duplicate his signature but the forged signatures were distinguished by an unusually high letter "l" and a skinny "D". During the early stage of the Korean War, MacArthur personally signed condolence letters. As the fatalities increased, the General began to use letters with pre-printed signatures.

In the 1952 U.S. presidential election, General Dwight D. Eisenhower often had secretaries forge his name to campaign letters and "personally inscribed" autographed photographs.

Player signatures on baseballs and footballs that are actually signed by coaches and ballboys are called clubhouse signatures.[9]

Portrait of U.S. President Richard Nixon with autopen signature

Since the early 1950s almost all American presidents have had an autopen or robot machine for the automatic signing of a signature as an autograph machine for their letters, photographs, books, official documents, and even memorabilia items such as baseballs and golf balls. Some former presidents even have continued to utilize the autopen after they have left office. The Signa-Signer can even write out in ink an authentically looking handwritten message that has been typed into the machine. One book detailing the use of this machine by President John F. Kennedy (1961–1963) is The Robot That Helped to Make a President by Charles Hamilton.

Since the 1960s, the practice of using an autopen has spread to U.S. Cabinet members, U.S. Senators, some state governors, and many other personalities who have a high volume of correspondence with the public.

Astronaut Alan Shepard acknowledged that NASA used the autopen machine to sign the astronauts' voluminous correspondence. Many large corporations also use these machines for signing business letters. Although autopen signatures should constantly match one another, they will eventually change as the signature drum becomes worn, and thereby alters the signature. Due to these professional imitations, buyers are often wary of buying presidential or astronaut signatures from unknown sellers.

Some personalities have used a rubber or steel hand-stamp to "sign" their documents. American President Andrew Johnson (c. 1866) did so during his tenure as a senator prior to assuming the presidency, since his right hand was injured in a train accident. This is why his autograph as president differs from previous autographs. President Warren Harding frequently used a rubber stamp while he was a senator. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt used them, along with President Woodrow Wilson (c. 1916). England's King Henry VIII and Pennsylvania colony founder William Penn used a deceiving hand stamp.

Joseph Stalin had several rubber signature stamps which were used on awards and Communist Party cards. Nikita Khrushchev and Lavrenti Beria, the KGB chief, used similar stamps.

Quality forgeries have been made for many of Europe's past rulers. The French nobles had their secrétaires sign their documents. Many forgeries of Napoleon's (c. 1800) war orders exist; he was so busy with battle concerns that he barely had enough time to sign promotion orders for generals, so his scribes applied his name to lesser documents.

Many famous astronauts,[10] Arctic explorers,[11] musicians,[12] poets, and literary authors[13] have had forgeries of their epistles and signatures produced. False signatures of Charles Lindbergh were clandestinely signed onto real 1930-era airmail envelopes bought at stamp shops and then re-sold to unwary buyers; the same has occurred with Amelia Earhart and the Wright brothers. Mickey Mouse creator Walt Disney had several of his cartoonists duplicate his artistic signature on replies to children seeking his autograph. Disney's actual autograph was distinctly different from the way it appears in his cartoons.

Texan paper currency was signed in ink by Sam Houston, though not handwritten by Houston himself.

The October 1986 Smithsonian magazine explored The Persistence of Memory, a 1931 painting by the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí. It quoted one of his secretaries as claiming that she signed the artist's signature to postcard depictions of his paintings. Another article in the April 2005 Smithsonian noted: "In 1965 he began selling signed sheets of otherwise blank lithograph paper for $10 a sheet. He may have signed well over 50,000 in the remaining quarter century of his life, an action that resulted in a flood of Dalí lithograph forgeries."

Some deceivers cut pages from books that American President Richard Nixon signed on the blank flyleaf, typed his letter of resignation from the presidency on that signed page, and then sold the doctored item as if Nixon had personally signed a scarce copy of the historical document. This practice has expanded to include quotations from George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, John F. Kennedy, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

With the recent enormous growth of autograph sellers on eBay, and the appearance of a multitude of new galleries and retailers offering expensive autographs, casual autograph collectors and one-time buyers have in many instances sought certificates of authenticity issued by the seller at the time of sale. As with any guarantee, these certificates are only as dependable as the seller issuing them, and if the seller is a fraud, then the certificate, and the possibility that the signed item could be considered worthless. Any certificate or similar issued by a seller should always include the seller's full contact details and any details of Association memberships, and these should always be double checked on the Associations website.

Vaudeville entertainer Sophie Tucker's autograph in a copy of her 1945 autobiography

In many instances, sellers will use a professional authenticator to determine the authenticity of the material they wish to bring to market. The autograph industry is currently contentiously split between two types of authenticators: those who rely upon their professional expertise and experience personally having collected or sold large inventories of autographs over a period of many years, such as the consultants at AutographCOA.com (ACOA), and "forensic examiners" who rely on academic credentials. Disputes have led to court actions, most notably gallery owner American Royal Arts vs. Beatles autograph dealer Frank Caiazzo, often used by autograph sources such as RR Auction.

Potential autograph buyers uncertain of the legitimacy of the seller or authenticator may research both parties, and may check any dealer who claims membership of any association. PADA, the UACC, RACC, and AFTAL include a list of dealers on their websites. This research should not be limited to a seller's or an authenticator's website which could be prejudiced. Some dealers have been known to invent their own association, e.g. "The Universal Manuscript Society", to enhance their reputations.

Mastro Auctions, a major sports autograph auction house which used a professional authenticator, was sued by a dealer in 2006 (Bill Daniels v. Mastro Auctions, Boone County, Indiana, case #06D01-0502 -PL- 0060). Daniels said that he had bought more than 2,000 signed photographs of athletes from Mastro and claimed that the catalog incorrectly described them as all being in color and 8" x 10" in size. Daniels also claimed that some of the autographs on the photographs may have been fakes. He produced two dealers who he said were autograph experts, but Superior Court Judge Matthew C. Kincaid excluded their testimony saying that neither Steve Koschal nor Richard Simon "possess sufficient skill, knowledge or experience in the fields in which they were asked to render opinions." The law for each state is different regarding qualifications to testify. Simon and Koschal have both testified in states where their testimony is accepted in court.[14]

Forgers buy real American Revolutionary War-era documents and surreptitiously pen a famous patriot's name between other real signatures in a manuscript in hope of deceiving an unsuspecting buyer. Others will use tea or tobacco stains to brown or age their modern missives.

Many autographed items of famous American sports players being sold over the Internet are fakes. Baseball legend Babe Ruth, for instance, has had his signature forged on old baseballs, then rubbed in dirt to make them appear to be from the 1930s.[15]

The British royal family is strictly forbidden from signing autographs because of the risk of the autographs being forged by others for use for their commercial gain. British royal family autographs, however, do exist, both from past royals and current ones, such as two 2010 examples when both (the then Prince) Charles and Prince Harry signed autographs to one person each.[16]