Authenticating racing signatures requires more than a certificate

Let’s take a closer look at the world of authentication, how items are assessed and the difference between grading and authentication, which can often trip people up.

First, grading. If you have a collectible trading card, book or poster with a signature on it and you take it for a grading process, that process will only cover the condition and prominence of the item, not the signature. You may have a highly graded card bearing a signature, but that’s not proof the signature is genuine.

To authenticate a signature, you need an expert, but even then it will be certified on an opinion, so you need to make sure you’re dealing with the right expert.

I see items get certified by people who perhaps don’t have the correct skill set. They are going on the facts in front of them, which is fine to a point, but there is a wealth of information that can add to provenance, not just appearance.

The gold standard is always to have direct evidence of the item being signed, inset, as it’s irrefutable in most cases. If we had a 1960s race programme that claims to have Jim Clark’s signature, it needs to pass a few tests before we would authenticate it. First check would be to see if Clark was at that event, as you’d be surprised how many items fall at that hurdle. Who got the signature? Are there any other signatures present?

Then the signature itself. We would assess the size and shape, what it was signed with and look for classic styles or ‘tells’ from other verified signatures. Does it come from a collection? If so where are the others? How has it been passed down?

Only by taking these steps could we then be sure to put our reputation behind a piece and grant it an ‘Assessed’ COA. We’ve spent years growing our reputation. We don’t offer an ‘authentication’ service, but if we’re going to buy or sell an item, we need to be certain enough to put our COA with it. The golden rule: if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Andrew Francis is director at The Signature Store. thesignaturestore.co.uk