With
many years experience dealing in ephemera and royal ephemera in
particular, I have had the pleasure of handling many beautiful
examples of rare royal stationery. However, if you do consider
collecting ephemera, I have the following words of advice.
If you ever
contemplate buying a royal letter, it is always advisable to buy a
complete letter as "cut outs" can very often be easily forged.
Obviously, with my years of experience it is very easy for me to
spot whether an item is genuine. You should take great care to
ensure you are not buying either a facsimile, (copy), hand stamped
document (a stamp engraved with the signature), or auto-penned
signatures (a signature reproduced by a printing process). I am
afraid that the only way you can tell for sure if a signature has
been auto penned is to compare it to an original signature.
Queen Victoria was
a very prolific letter writer, to the extent that for those she
corresponded with regularly, she would have envelopes printed.
Although they would have been printed on her official stationery and
hence would have her embossed cypher, they are extremely good
reproductions of her handwriting.
This process has
caught out many collectors and in particular there is the famous
letter of 1887, when Victoria wrote to thank members of her
household for the present that they gave her to celebrate her Golden
Jubilee. Even a major London auction house was caught out some
years ago when they listed one of these items as being written in
her hand.
From the reign of
George V, you will find many commissions and civil awards which have
been endorsed with a printed hand stamp. When King Edward Vlll
came to the throne in 1936, after the death of his father, many of
his signed documents were also hand stamped. He simply would not
have had enough time to sign personally the huge amount of
documentation that went out from his office.
The auto pen
process was first used by the Royal Family in the early 1960's,
whereby Queen Elizabeth's signature (Elizabeth R) would be
reproduced automatically. In particular, this applies to her
Christmas cards, signed Elizabeth R and Philip, and care must be
taken not to pay large sums for what are quite common items. When
Prince Charles married Princess Diana, they also used the auto pen
process for their Christmas cards, and there are unscrupulous
dealers who do not differentiate between the auto pen and original
signatures. Needless to say, there is a vast difference in the
value of these items.
In certain
circumstances, you will be parting with a substantial amount of
money for rare royal ephemera. If you take the time to research
the item before you agree to buy, you may save yourself both money
and heartache. And once you have ascertained that you are dealing
with reputable dealers, don't forget to ask them to provide a
written guarantee of authenticity. If you do purchase an authentic
item, you will almost undoubtedly have an asset which will increase
in value in the future.
Jim Hanson
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