Framed picture and Signature of Gen James Longstreet. Is it real?

[Peyton Manning]

you never heard of longstreet? geesh man read some history

he was not a bad general, but he was no Stonewall

 

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[Reanm8er]

Plumbata, you might check for photographer's signature or water mark. The other thing I'd check is when silver nitrate over paper came into practical use and compare that with his probable age in the photo. It definitely looks like he'd gotten fat and comfortable but hadn't lost his hair yet. I'd say maybe late thirties early forties.

 

[Ammoman]

you never heard of longstreet? geesh man read some history

he was not a bad general, but he was no Stonewall

Geesh man, If i knew all their is to know about everything under the sun, my name would be Jeff Gordon. But, i am not Jeff Gordon so i come here to pick his brain.

 

[huntsman53]

Geesh man, If i knew all their is to know about everything under the sun, my name would be Jeff Gordon. But, i am not Jeff Gordon so i come here to pick his brain.

Don't worry about it Ammoman! Heck, I was close to 60 years old before I learned about the history of the Battle of Kings Mountain in which many Patriots from my State and surrounding States joined together and defeated a large contingent of Loyalists under the command of British Major Patrick Ferguson.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kings_Mountain

 

[Ammoman]

As long as the paper's still supple.

The paper looks to have been laid over a thin piece of card stock. Its not supple anymore.



That said, I think i am convinced enough to take a chance on having it verified. I will send it out this Monday and let you all know what happens.

If anyone wants to save me some money and convince me its not real please do so now.

 

[A2coins]

a professional would to look alot closer at it the fabric test and age it as well as inspect the ink I have some signed paintings for sale Ill send pics you send money lol Really Good choice to take it somewhere hope is the real deal

 

[Worm-Slicer]

I'll eat it if it's not real!lol Seriously, I have been looking more at it and certain things to me really do make it legit. It's not an exact copy, cause that would be a red flag to being a forgery. But here's some of what are obviously the same. The very small letters following the capitalization. Also, all are capitalized just the same. Studying the letters the ones that are clearly giveaways to me are the "o" in Yours. In Truly the "T" (It has the same upward hook and curve at the top)and a huge giveaway is the way he kinda puts "l" and "y" together with that long tail in the word Truly. Then basically all of the name James, and look at the super tiny "s" at the end, that's unique to only him. Then in Longstreet the L has the same double line at the bottom and actually all of that name is slightly different but each letter compared is remarkably similar (notice also the way the "y" and "s" go together, obviously from the same hand). The "t" in that is very distinct as is the "d", the "d" is almost a line without the hump in the "d." I will be shocked if this isn't genuine. Along with this, just how smoothly its wrote out, with no stopping, jerky patterns(like being copied), I feel it's for real.

 

[Worm-Slicer]

Actually I had to update this. After looking at it again, he could have started the "L" in "Longstreet" at the bottom, which is more likely cause the ink is darker like his pen was sitting longer,hence making it darker. Then he goes up and makes the loop, coming down on the backside, then going under where he started straight to the "O" to get that double line. That's in the legit signature too. Okay I'm done with my analysis. If it ends up being fake, I'm giving up signature authentication. lol

 

[A2coins]

and Ill send you a fork. just kiddin it is awesome to have advice from people like you who are professionals makes this site so great

 

[Worm-Slicer]

and Ill send you a fork. just kiddin it is awesome to have advice from people like you who are professionals makes this site so great

Hahaha, I appreciate the fork. Well I'm definitely no professional on signatures, but just wanted to share my comparisons. If I'm wrong, you can mail me that fork. lol

 

[UnderMiner]

Museum piece! Score!

 

[Ammoman]

If it ends up being fake, I'm giving up signature authentication. lol

Fake or not a lesson will be learned. If it does turn out to be fake i hope they point out what makes it fake. I once sent an error coin in to be authenticated and was extremely disappointed. It came back with no explanation as to how they came to their decision. It is ok that the coin was not deemed authentic but it is not ok to take someones money without an explanation.

For 150 bucks i would hope to at least get a single sentence saying the ink was not right or the paper was wrong or something along those lines.

 

[Doubter in MD]

ive dealt with many signatures..i feel its the real deal...those who say nobody here can id it?? how do they know?everybody is more than just bein on tnet...fantastic find...i worked in a rare book store in southern calif...the owner had the original draft to bram stokers dracula...it sold for $800,000.....

What I said was no one can authenticate it from a photograph.

We can all speculate as to the authenticity of the signature but anyone willing to vouch for the authenticity will need to examine it in person. And if anyone were willing to authenticate from a photo I would consider their findings highly suspect.

 

[Paleo_joe]

You can certainly spot many fakes with just photos

 

[Doubter in MD]

You can certainly spot many fakes with just photos

Yes, you can. I assume that's why Ammoman started the thread. If the majority here looked at this signature and thought it was a fake I'd guess he might just save himself the time and money to try to get it authenticated.

P.S. It looks promising to my untrained eye.

 

[PetesPockets55]

I wonder what the outcome was.

@Ammoman, did you send it in?
What was the verdict?

 

[OtakuDude]

Ok i did it. Nothing major to report. Looks like the picture is a reproduction and the signature was cut out of a thick piece of paper.

View attachment 1632131 View attachment 1632132 View attachment 1632135

That's rather typical for autograph collecting in the 1800's-early 1900's. Collectors back then were generally only interesting in the signature itself and didn't give a fig for the document from which they would clip it.

Everything about this looks legit to my eyes but there is another test you can do to check the age of the paper. Simply hold it up to some light and see if there's a watermark or parallel lines within the paper. If so, it definitely has some age to it rather than something out of China mean to fool the unwary.