Every item is methodically examined and reviewed by our authenticators to ensure their expert impressions are in agreement. Each signature is compared to the world’s largest autograph exemplar library which helps confirm or deny its legitimacy. The authenticators then collaborate and employ a scoring system for the final determination of an item’s authenticity. Certified items are then given a registration number and a tamper-evident label. Items that fail our strict examination standards for certification are returned with a failure letter detailing the inconsistencies.
In cases where closer examination is required, JSA employs the Video Spectral Comparator (VSC) to reinforce the expert's findings. This state-of-the-art authentication tool is a powerful workstation that uses sophisticated color and infrared imaging, magnification, coaxial lighting, side lighting, and on-screen, side-by-side or overlaid autograph comparisons. In doing so, the VSC can detect erasures, reveal masked and obliterated signatures, differences in ink types, and several other signs common in autograph forgeries which cannot be detected by the naked eye.