A Guide to Authenticating U.S.Presidential Autographs

When I first started collecting autographs in the 50s, I searched for books that would be of immediate help in authenticating signatures. I really didn't have the time or ambition to read through chapters of unrelated or disjointed material. I wanted a one, two, three step list that I could quickly look at to determine if a piece was worth the chance of investment. The only works that I could find on the market were long dissertations either to show how "intelligent" the author was, or to raise the prices and worth of his/her inventory; or photo books of very ornate objects that could only be afforded by the most affluent.

Over the years I've purchased literally dozens of reference books and have read one thousand fold more in journals, magazines, and autograph catalogs. No one work has yet met my needs when it comes to authenticating American presidential autographs at a momentary look. So, I decided to write a book just for my personal use. I wanted the reference to contain, what I term, quick-glance information; something that could be used on the spot when I was confronted with a potential purchase, yet replete with information for accurate determination. Here now is presented my guidebook for collecting the American presidents.