A mysterious signature

[HareBrain]

I'm starting to like James O'Donnell as a candidate

Doesn't convince me, I'm afraid, for three reasons.

1, why the cross-bar coming from the "s" of James? There are no t's to cross.

2, no sign whatever of the capital "D" at the start of the surname, which would be unusual.

3, there looks to be an "o" after the double "l". For me, it's too clearly marked to be just a bit of a flourish/squiggle.

 

[Dave]

The signature doesn't look like James O'Donnell to me either. However, you will need to pay someone who compares signatures for a living to be sure, and you will first need examples of signatures of each of the people in question.

If you continue to make all the other speculation (amazing coincidences they may be) before you are sure about the signature, then you will find it very difficult not to naturally fall into the trap of cherry-picking the facts that fit what you want to see while ignoring those that do not.

 

[The Crawling Chaos]

While I cannot give you any other info regarding the actual person who signed your copy of the book, I can at least send you back to square one (sorry) and prove this isn't James O'Donnell's signature.

I was able to track down a signed copy of O'Donnell's book "The Bunker" via an online seller, and this is what his signature looks like:

 

[Matteo]

While I cannot give you any other info regarding the actual person who signed your copy of the book, I can at least send you back to square one (sorry) and prove this isn't James O'Donnell's signature.

I was able to track down a signed copy of O'Donnell's book "The Bunker" via an online seller, and this is what his signature looks like:

View attachment 47525

Noooooo...............................

Thanks CC - great detective work. I tried doing the same for a bit but failed.

Doesn't convince me, I'm afraid, for three reasons.

1, why the cross-bar coming from the "s" of James? There are no t's to cross.

2, no sign whatever of the capital "D" at the start of the surname, which would be unusual.

3, there looks to be an "o" after the double "l". For me, it's too clearly marked to be just a bit of a flourish/squiggle.

The signature doesn't look like James O'Donnell to me either. However, you will need to pay someone who compares signatures for a living to be sure, and you will first need examples of signatures of each of the people in question.

If you continue to make all the other speculation (amazing coincidences they may be) before you are sure about the signature, then you will find it very difficult not to naturally fall into the trap of cherry-picking the facts that fit what you want to see while ignoring those that do not.

I know, I wasn't so convinced myself about the squiggle or other bits but then signatures can be strange things - mine looks nothing like my name.

And Dave, I agree re. your other points but they seemed to be valid coincidences. I also considered that he was unlikely to sign someone else's book - especially if he had of his own coming out.

Ah well, back to square one.

 

[HareBrain]

I think you're probably right with James as the first name. And maybe the reason there's no obvious capital for the surname is that the crossbar coming from the end of James is actually for a capital T at the start of the surname, not the two tall letters at the end. In which case they would be a double-l, and you'd have a surname like Turallo.

 

[Matteo]

I went with "James" and "Hitler" and found him that way.

Interesting that his time in Europe meant he'd picked up the cross bar on the seven - but kept the M/D/Y date format of the US.

And his signature is rather clear - though looks like "Jim" instead of James - and he must use a flourish on the final "L".

 

[The Crawling Chaos]

And his signature is rather clear - though looks like "Jim" - and he must use a flourish on the final "L"..

I think the entire first name is a squiggle, unless it's one we haven't considered yet, but it doesn't look exactly like John, Jean, Juan, Jason or James/Jim. Assuming each letter is formed, I count five peaks (too many for "Jim") and four troughs. So when it comes to signatures, it's often more useful to guess than it is to read. There's a D in my name but when you look at my signature, that D is reduced to a single vertical line.

It's also possible that the capital letter of the surname moves back through the first name in an attempt to cross an "A" there (so "Jean/Juan"?)

The only thing I'm sure of is that the first name starts with J and the last name ends with "allo". There's no way that final letter is just a swash for the second L.

As for the other letters, well, it could be any combination of Us, Ms, Ns, Rs... Or squiggled Es, As, etc. If you look at the way he wrote "Paris", assuming it is Paris, it's clear that his Rs look like Ns.

I wouldn't pay attention to the extra bar on the 7. I regularly see it written this way in Ireland and the UK. I think the format used to write the date is much more significant, and it's definitely American/UK. No French person would write the date in this manner.

Here's a final thought: How about a woman? In that case, the surname could be misleading and blur that person's connection to the book's subject or its author (maiden name? Married name?), and deciphering the first name would become key. So could it be a Jenna? A June?

Good hunting!

 

[Matteo]

Ah, slight misunderstanding; I was referring to James O'Donnell's signature that you found.

And so I agree with your points.