Real vs fake · the plates

Call it real or fake

Every plate gives you the question and the object first. Guess real or guess fake, and the card then shows the verdict, what an examiner read to reach it, and how many other people called it correctly.

The 12 checks behind the readings Submit your own item

Walt Disney

4 plates

Plate 01Walt Disney

Is this Walt Disney autograph authentic or fake?

An album page inscribed in blue ink, "To George — With Best Wishes", signed Walt Disney with a flourish beneath the name.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Plate 02Walt Disney — “OK Walt”

Is this “OK Walt” approval signature from a Dumbo still real?

A looping "Ok" written above a large signature reading Walt, finished with a long trailing stroke, in black ink on pale card.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Plate 03Walt Disney — signed portrait

Is this signed Walt Disney publicity portrait authentic?

A black-and-white publicity portrait of Walt Disney, inscribed across the pale background in black felt tip, "Best Wishes Walt Disney".

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Plate 04Walt Disney — signed sketch

Is this signed Mickey Mouse sketch drawn by Walt Disney?

A red pencil drawing of Mickey Mouse shaking hands with a uniformed serviceman, captioned "Greetings to you Commander Lock", signed Walt Disney in blue underneath.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Taylor Swift

3 plates

Plate 05Taylor Swift

Is this Taylor Swift autograph real or fake?

A fast, looping signature in black ink written across a pale photograph of a misty forest.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Plate 06Taylor Swift — signed photo

Is this signed Taylor Swift concert photo real?

A colour concert photograph of Taylor Swift singing into a handheld microphone, signed in broad black marker straight across the centre of the image.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Plate 07Taylor Swift + three others

This photo carries four big signatures. Is any of it real?

A colour photograph of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame building, sleeved on a display stand, signed across the sky and the plaza by four different hands in black, silver, and blue.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Tom Cruise

5 plates

Plate 08Tom Cruise + Dustin Hoffman

Is this Rain Man photo signed by both of its stars real?

A colour Rain Man still of Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise standing at a casino table, signed by both across the blue felt in black marker.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Plate 09Tom Cruise + Nicole Kidman

A 1992 charity programme signed by Cruise and Kidman. Real or fake?

A framed “A Magic Weekend” programme cover dated August 15 and 16, 1992 at the Great Western Forum, signed in heavy black marker by Tom Cruise and, beneath him, Nicole Kidman.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Plate 10Tom Cruise — Cocktail photo

This Cocktail photo came with authentication stickers. Is it real?

A black-and-white Cocktail still of Tom Cruise behind a bar tossing a bottle, signed across the bar top in black marker, with two small authentication stickers in the lower right corner.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Plate 11Tom Cruise — Top Gun photo

Is this signed Top Gun publicity photo authentic?

A colour Top Gun publicity photograph of Tom Cruise in a flight suit holding a Maverick helmet, signed in blue ink across his flight suit.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Plate 12Tom Cruise — Risky Business photo

This Risky Business photo carries a JSA certificate. Does that settle it?

A small colour Risky Business still of Tom Cruise dancing in a shirt and socks, signed in the upper left in blue marker, with a JSA authentication sticker in the lower right corner.

Call it

One call per plate. The verdict, the reading, and how many people got it right follow your answer.

Coming soon

7 signers queued

Items for these names are being photographed and read. No verdict is stated here until the plate is filed with the reading that supports it.

Plate —Coming soon

Michael Jackson

The hand changed markedly between the 1970s and the 2000s, so an example has to be read against exemplars from the right years rather than against a famous shape.

Plate —Coming soon

Cristiano Ronaldo

A high-volume modern signer with a short, fast, heavily abbreviated signature — shape alone settles very little without proof of the signing.

Plate —Coming soon

Freddie Mercury

He died in 1991, so the supply is fixed while the demand is not. Fixed supply and rising prices is the condition forgery lives in.

Plate —Coming soon

Donald Trump

Office-holders bring the autopen and the staff-signed reply into play alongside ordinary forgery, and all three turn up on this name.

Plate —Coming soon

Dwayne Johnson

An in-person signer whose name also appears on mass-produced photographs sold in volume — here the object and the medium carry as much of the answer as the strokes.

Plate —Coming soon

Ariana Grande

A compressed, largely monogrammatic modern signature. Easy to imitate in outline, which is exactly why the provenance has to do the work.

Plate —Coming soon

The Beatles

Four signatures on one item, road staff and fan-club secretaries signing during the touring years, and the most forged group in the hobby.

After the guessing

Guessing is practice. An item you own deserves the checks

Work the twelve checks on your own signature in good light, and send photographs if two or three of them come out badly. Formal certification runs through Piece of the Past — no page on this site issues an opinion of authenticity.

Ask about an autograph Open the 12 checks →

Educational information on this site is intended to help collectors identify warning signs and make better-informed decisions. Determining authenticity can require examination by an experienced professional.