VeritadoSince 1996

Daylight shows what a forger wants you to see.

So we don’t stop at daylight. Every item that reaches our lab is registered, photographed and examined without being harmed: under the microscope, in ultraviolet and infrared, in light that skims across the page, and leaf by leaf through the binding.

One page, four lights

This made-up title page hides three problems. In daylight it looks perfect. Change the light to find them, and move over the page to look through the microscope.

0 of 3 problems found

In daylight the page looks clean: a fluent signature with a flourish under it. Nothing here would stop a buyer.

  1. 1?Not found yet
  2. 2?Not found yet
  3. 3?Not found yet

What we examine

A standard, non-destructive examination, the same for every item, so every record can be compared with the next.

  1. Microscopy

    Line quality, hesitation, tremor, retouching, ink pooling and the direction of each pen stroke.

  2. Ultraviolet and infrared

    Inks that look identical in daylight but aren’t, alterations, and paper that glows when it shouldn’t.

  3. Raking light

    Light low across the page shows pressure, indentations and a disturbed surface.

  4. Reproductions

    Printing, rubber stamps, signing machines (autopens) and every other mechanical copy.

  5. Paper and binding

    Whether the signed page belongs to the book, or was inserted, replaced or altered.

Paper and bindingDoes the signed page belong to this book?

A genuine signed page can be cut from a cheap copy and glued into a valuable one. The signature is real; the signed book is not. So we compare the signed leaf with the leaves around it.

Three neighbouring leaves from a made-up book, laid flat, gutter on the left.
  • Paper toneMatches its neighbours
  • Chain linesMatches its neighbours
  • Sewing holesMatches its neighbours
  • Dust on the top edgeMatches its neighbours
  • Trimmed sizeMatches its neighbours

Leaves cut, sewn and stored together age together. A leaf signed in this copy matches its neighbours in every way.

The equipment

Imaging
High-resolution camera, macro optics, controlled lighting
Microscopy
Digital stereomicroscope
Spectral examination
Ultraviolet and infrared imaging
Physical examination
Raking-light setup and measuring tools

Standardised photographs from the imaging station are kept with the examination record, so the evidence behind every certificate can be seen again.

What the examination covers

We examine

  • The object itself, in hand
  • Whether its history is possible: edition, printing and dates
  • The handwriting, against genuine signatures of the same period
  • Every page we photograph, kept on file

Not part of the standard examination

  • Anything that harms the object
  • Chemical analysis and ink dating
  • Ownership history and provenance

How far an item goes through the lab depends on its certification level. A Black Label certificate, the level most of our certificates carry, includes every examination on this page.

Then the handwriting.

Once the object has passed the lab, the signature is compared with known-genuine signatures from the same years. That is where our method takes over.

How we authenticate