Under high-magnification white light, we study the signature exactly as the pen laid it down. Crucially, this also reveals the indentation left by the nib pressing into the surface — the physical groove of a hand-signed autograph that a printed, stamped or autopen signature simply cannot reproduce. We look for the natural rhythm of a genuine signature: confident line flow, consistent pen pressure, and the small variations of a hand moving at speed. Forgeries tend to give themselves away with hesitation, a slight tremor, pen lifts where the forger paused, or retouched strokes where they have gone back over a line.
We then look beyond what the eye can see. Long-wave ultraviolet (UVA) makes inks, papers and adhesives fluoresce, revealing restoration, erasures, optical brighteners in modern paper, and signatures added long after an item was produced. Short-wave ultraviolet (UVC) gives a second fluorescence response, useful for assessing the substrate itself and confirming it is consistent with the era it claims to be from.
Infrared and 980nm near-infrared examination complete the picture. Inks that look identical to the eye often behave completely differently under infrared, letting us tell whether a signature was added in a different ink, see through overwriting, and expose pencil guidelines hidden beneath a traced forgery.
No single light tells the whole story, and no machine replaces expertise and provenance — but together they give us a level of scrutiny that protects you as the collector. It is why every item we sell carries a Letter of Authenticity and our lifetime money-back guarantee.