Friday, April 11, 2008
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Journey into the mind of a wacky Collector.
About Me
- Erik
- Caruthersville, Missouri, United States
- 27 year old male from southeast Missouri I enjoy collecting Autographs and Highlander props
Autograph Addresses
Were can I find addresses to get an autograph? http://www.fanmail.biz/
Autograph Tips
How to send your fan mail and autograph requests
you live in United States send a properly stamped and self addressed envelope (minimum size 8.5" x 4") with your request letter and a photo. You can include a piece of cardboard to keep the photo from bending in shipping and also add "Do Not Bend" on the envelopes.Send your letter and wait. On average, there is going to be a 3+ month wait for a response. If you do not live in United States, add several* International Reply Coupons.The International Reply Coupons (IRC) will be used by the receiver to purchase american stamps. You can only get them at your post office. Place the IRCs into the envelope, not on it
How To Find Out If Your Autograph Is Genuine Or Not
Autopen A mechanical device that "signs" flat objects such as photos, cards, letters, etc. A writing instrument is inserted into the mechanical armature and the device "signs" a name using a preprogrammed pattern (matrix) that simulates the person's real signature. Almost any type of pen can be used by an Autopen. Shaky" signatures - A signature that appears unnaturally "shaky." This happens when the Autopen armature vibrates as it signs. Exact matches - Autopen signatures match each other exactly. This does not occur with real signatures. Sign your name a million times and no two signatures will be EXACTLY the same. If two signatures match exactly they are Autopen signatures
Preprints Preprints are usually fairly easy to detect. A preprint is simply a photographic copy of an original signed photograph. On a preprint, the signature often appears to be below the surface gloss of the photo and the signature is often very "flat." To test, hold the photo up at an angle to a light source -- a real signature is written on the surface of the photo and should have a different level of reflectivity than the rest of the surface. A preprint will blend right in with the surface because it's underneath the surface gloss.
Secretarial Signatures Secretarials are perhaps the most difficult to detect. A skilled secretary can emulate signatures very well. In some cases, a secretary may have been signing for so many years that even experts can't tell the difference between real and secretarial. Sometimes a secretarial signature may appear to be more "deliberate" and slowly written. Also look for loops -- sometimes secretarial loops are looser and more "feminine" than authentic. (This assumes it's a female secretary signing for her male boss, of course.) If there is an inscription, does it match signature? Sometimes secretaries let their guard down when writing inscriptions and you can tell the inscription handwriting doesn't look like it came from the same person who signed the item. .
Rubber Stamps Perhaps the crudest of all fake signature types, stamped signatures are simply signatures applied with a rubber stamp. They are usually easy to detect. Look for these signs to detect a stamped signature
