SS Germania Document

[Woske]

Adrian,
I quite agree. Signatures are a veritable minefield for the novice collector and those who do not specialize in them. The trouble is, many militaria dealers do not have the specialist knowledge and many collectors rely upon their reputations as general militaria dealers when buying autographed material. There are very few specialist Nazi autograph people about.
Some fakes are so bad, they are obvious, but there are some very good forgeries around. I suppose the moral is, if you don't know, or don't know someone who does, don't buy.
W.

[Paul D]

Adrian,
I quite agree. Signatures are a veritable minefield for the novice collector and those who do not specialize in them. The trouble is, many militaria dealers do not have the specialist knowledge and many collectors rely upon their reputations as general militaria dealers when buying autographed material. There are very few specialist Nazi autograph people about.
Some fakes are so bad, they are obvious, but there are some very good forgeries around. I suppose the moral is, if you don't know, or don't know someone who does, don't buy.
W.

Very much agree , signatures is an area which has to be treated in the same manner as all other areas of Third Reich collecting , research / knowledge etc before buying and you right many of even the best known and knowledgable dealers know virtually nothing about signatures.

I've never seen a Demelhuber sig before but as an illustration of the problems even the two originals have areas of dissimilarity.

[Woske]

I've never seen a Demelhuber sig before but as an illustration of the problems even the two originals have areas of dissimilarity.

Probably because no two signatures written by the same hand are exactly the same. Try it yourself with your own. The big difference between the fake one on the ornate document and the two examples I posted is that the fake one appears to have been written slowly and with a nervous hand. The authentic ones don't. The formation of characters also give the appearance of an attempt to copy a real example.
W.

[Paul D]

Woske i sign many docs a day and have many different signatures , mine are almost never the same

The flow and the structure of a signature is a vital clue as to originality.

[Woske]

The flow and the structure of a signature is a vital clue as to originality.

Exactly my point.
W.

[Justin P]

Yes Signatures can be a Mare, I would be suspect of the Original Signature on the Document that Started this Thread. Studying originals on Varies Forums--And others Collections) You can Keep the Risk of Fakes Down. As mentioned Knowledge is the Key. Here are Two Sites that have a Good database of Originals. Signatures of Notable Wehrmacht Officers. - World War Militaria

Dokumentenforum.de | Startseite

[Paul D]

Excellent links Justin , take note all the document collectors

[Woske]

Unfortunately, one of those sites is frequented by a person who has fake material, but generally speaking the links provided by Justin can be used safely as an initial rough guide.
The knowledge base on the Wehrmacht Awards Forum and the Axis History Forum is also quite a good standard.
W.

[Justin P]

As a Active Collector of Signatures of the TR And a Contributor to one of the links Posted. I would be most interested to hear which site your are Referring to. Link to Axis History Signature thread. Axis History Forum • View topic - Third Reich signatures.

[Woske]

Justin,
As an active collector (and I assume experienced) I'm sure you do not need me to flag up examples to which I refer. The reason I mentioned it was to highlight the fact that, even surrounded by authentic examples, there are still those which are not what they seem. Experience in any collecting field is and always will be the greatest asset.
Friendly greetings,
W.