Sir Sean Connery Short of Macbeth, Sir Sean Connery is probably the world s most famous Scotsman. A milkman, bodybuilder, actor and golf enthusiast; Sean Connery is name which, more than anything else, is synonymous with James Bond. Connery was the first actor to play Bond on the big screen in 1962 s Dr No. A runaway success, he went on to play the role five more times before passing the baton on to Roger Moore. He would later revisit the role one last time in the unofficial Never Say Never Again. Throughout the eighties and nineties Connery continued to star in films garnering the praise of audiences and critics alike. Though he is now retired, Connery is, and will always be seen as the best James Bond by legions of fans. Availability Connery is the rarest of all the Bond autographs. He has openly stated that he hates signing autographs and reports from people who have met him claim they have literally had to beg for him to sign anything. Connery rarely makes public appearances and when he does, he goes out of his way to avoid fans and autograph seekers. When he does sign, he spends a very limited amount of time doing so. Connery is not featured on any official signed cards or Bond merchandise. Connery signed a number bookplates for distribution with his book Being a Scot. These are still available through the asking price is steadily rising. Connery has signed for a number of charities including The Multiple Sclerosis Society. Considering the endearing popularity of James Bond, there is a limitless demand for Connery s autograph. Given his age and hesitance to sign, authentic Connery autographs are few and far between. Many people write to Mr Connery and many people receive back signed pictures. These are all secretarials, and fairly poor ones at that. Often you will find a Connery autograph offered for sale with a Compliments of Sean Connery letter included. These are sent back with the secretary signed autographs and should not be considered proof of authenticity. His Autograph Connery is regularly given flack for being grumpy and hesitant signer. He always makes Worst Signers lists and thanks to a serious of unflattering youtube videos (Get them outta my fashe!) he has a reputation for being angry and ungrateful to fans. This, I believe is slightly unfair. Connery has been an A-list celebrity since the early 1960 s. He has dealt with the fandom and hysteria that comes with playing the most famous fictional character in movie history. He has had to sign and be accommodating to fans for the better part of fifty-five years straight. Now, at eighty-five years old, one has to sympathise with his situation. At an age where most people are slowing down and enjoying the quiet life, Connery still can t walk down the street without being mobbed by a demanding and often
aggressive crowd of autograph hounds. Connery is well aware that the majority of these people are obtaining his autograph purely in order to sell it. It must be somewhat frightening to deal with the threatening intensity some of these people show towards him at his age. Again, one sympathises. Connery s vintage autograph was simple, neat and unimaginative. In the early 60 s he signed freely and would almost always dedicate his autographs. This is a good thing. Due to the simplicity of his autograph, it is often the handwriting that accompanies it that is best used to authenticate his signature. For this reason, and the general rarity of his signature, do not shy away from dedicated notes. In fact, if shopping for a vintage autograph, ensure they do feature a dedication. Connery generally preferred to sign in ball point pen even until the 80 s. As Connery and indeed Bond s popularity grew Connery signature began to lose shape. The Connery in particular began to resemble Cvvvvvvvy more than Connery. Modern examples of Connery s autograph are at best a mess. At worst, they tend to resemble chicken scratch. Connery s hatred of signing (and often the people demanding his autograph) is manifested in the shapeless and angry squiggles he now produces. Let s call it passive-aggression. I can t help but suggest out of sympathy that where possible you look to buy his charity signed items as they not only represent a better quality autograph but also a significantly less hassled Mr. Connery. If you are not after a signed photo, your best option is to pick up a signed copy of Being a Scot. Not only are his signatures on these bookplates the neatest and clearest examples he s signed since the 60 s, the book itself is a beautiful and fascinating work. It is truly remarkable to compare the way he signs in these books to the way he signs for autograph hounds. I guess the ever fiscally-minded Scot is far happier to sign his book because he knows the profit will ultimately come back to him. As an investment, Connery s autographs are gold. Every few years a new Bond film is released triggering a massive resurgence in interest in associated memorabilia. As authentic Connery material becomes rarer and rarer the already outrageous asking prices for his signature will only continue to rise. And therein lays the key. Authentic Connery autographs are few and far between. Upwards of 90% of Connery autographs offered for sale are fairly obvious fakes. Another 5% are insidious forgeries designed to fool even the most trained eye. Throw into the mix vintage preprints and the infamous Connery secretarials and you already have a very difficult task identifying genuine examples. This is made even harder by the fact that Connery autographs are extremely varied, messy and inconsistent. In producing a study of Connery s autograph I discovered that the easiest thing to do was to divide his autographs up into five distinctive categories. This way, you can effectively match autographs in question to authentic examples that are signed in a similar way. POST SCRIPT: There is one final note I want to make. Connery hates signing his autograph. He takes no pride nor time in doing so. If you come across an autograph which looks shaky, slow, or overly neat it is probably a forgery. I am currently doing the dirty and looking on ebay at Connery autograph. There is one which is being bid on rather competitively. It is a good copy, it looks much like one of the charity autographs on the following pages. One problem; the S in Sean has been signed slowly and the lines is not clean or straight. Basically, the S, like the rest of the signature has been signed slowly and with great care, as if copying from something. This is not Connery s style. Ignoring this one fault the rest of the forgery is brilliant. I was almost fooled. Someone has just spent a significant amount of cash on a convincing fake. Buyer beware.
Autograph Study Realistically, there are three scenarios in which Connery will sign an autograph. Use the following to help you match the situation with the type of autograph he would produce. Each of these types of autographs will be explored in depth in the following pages. If you find an example offered for sale that does not fit these rules, walk away. Situation Type of autograph he will produce Caution... In person while out and about Either a full or scratchy descending He will never add best wishes when signing standing up in public. He will never sign his full name neatly. Sitting down signing for charity A neat autograph with best wishes. These autographs should be neat and match almost exactly the charity signed examples provided below. Under these conditions Connery is a fairly consistent signer. If it does not have best wishes inscribed above it walk away. Being a Scot bookplate signature A full, straight autograph. It should be fairly neat with most of the letters readable. There are two different bookplates he signed upon. A red rimmed Being a Scot bookplate and a generic Orion Publishing bookplate. Please note that the exception to these rules would be a vintage autograph signed in the 60 s. Generally speaking these rules apply from the 70 s onward and most certainly from the 90 s to the modern day. Where to tread with caution No matter how authentic it may look, be extremely cautious of a photo that is signed neatly and does not feature a best wishes inscription. For example: Connery only signs neatly when seated and signing either a Being a Scot bookplate or a charity autograph. A charity autograph always features best wishes and a bookplate is easily identifiable. Therefore, a neat autograph like this one without best wishes does not fit the parameters of the way Connery signs. He has not signed this autograph as part of a charity signing. It is not a bookplate. Connery does not sign this neatly or even in remotely similar way when signing in person for autograph collectors. Ruling out all these things, the only obvious conclusion is that, regardless of how good it looks, it should be treated with care. When you are spending such big money on Connery autograph, you must approach all examples with doubt. I am not saying that this is a forgery- just that it doesn t fit the parameters we should expect and as such I would advise care.
The different types of Connery autographs Full Descending In modern years Connery has taken to signing on descending slant. He began signing this way in the mid 90 s and these earlier examples of the full descending autographs were signed quite boldly with a large and rounded shape to each letter. As messy as these are, you can still read the Connery and they are quite visually appealing. These autographs reek of confidence and tend to look authentic. When Connery is fronted with a large number of items to sign he would usually sign the first few like these before getting bored and frustrated. The more items he tends to sign, the more they deteriorate in quality. Notice that N in Sean is formed more like a u. The C in Connery retains the circle flourish on the both the top and bottom of the letter and these usually intersect the vertical stem of the letter. The y in Connery is generally straight with no real crook on the bottom. Please note that the example on the far right is a known pre-print. These often turn up for sale with inscriptions added above. This preprint appears to break the rules listed on the previous page but this should be ignored because it is neither a charity autograph nor an in person autograph. Being an autograph produced by Connery for copying, it is simply and abnormality. Autographcollection.co.uk autograph collection Messy Straight When Connery signs for autograph hounds horizontally straight rather than descending, they appear like this. As always, these are very messy and there are huge variations in his signature depending on his mood and conditions. 2008 signature library 2007
Scratchy Descending Nowadays when signing for autograph collectors, Connery s autograph usually resembles these. Like the full descending autographs they are signed at a slant but they tend to be far more rushed and less visually pleasing. Notice the letters are far sharper, thinner and less full or rounded. It is worth noting that often when signing, Connery would begin signing the full descending autographs before becoming messier and messier, ultimately producing these scratchy descending autographs. It does seem like all of Connery s recent autographs appear like this. Note that the downward angle on these signatures is very steep. The C in Connery is very thin and lacks the circular flourishes. The letters inbetween C and Y in Connery are illegible and appear very rushed (scribbled.) At times Connery will join his first and last names together to speed up the process. You really get a sense of frustration and disinterest from these signatures. 2009 2004- Robert saunders autographs 2008 signature library Vintage Vintage Connery autographs are essentially just his name in running writing. Notice the definition of the individual letters. Please note the example on the far left is a known pre-print. These often turn up for sale so be careful!
Charity Signed Photos Connery signs for a number of charities. These items are then auctioned or sold to a variety of autograph dealers who then go and sell them on. Unfortunately the whole process is a little hush hush and sometimes it s very difficult to work out which charities he originally signed for. In recent years Connery has definitely signed for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. These autographs, obviously signed sitting down are far neater than what Connery usually produces. He also writes best wishes on them as well which Connery rarely does these days. You ll notice that all of these autographs are quite visually pleasing and the addition of best wishes makes these the nicest of the available authentic Connery autographs. As with vintage Connery autographs, the extra writing is extremely helpful in authenticating these items. Multiple sclerosis signed Multiple sclerosis signed
Known Fakes, Secretarials and Pre-prints Secretarials. Often received back from through-the-mail autograph requests. Notice how shaky they appear. A prolific and terrible forger. It seems there a hundreds of these forgeries floating around. Authentic vintage autograph- just as a common preprint. More secretarials. A different secretary this time! Notice the overly large S and C. Authentic autograph. These are, however, a known preprint. The added inscription is written by a secretary. Another different secretarial. For who knows what reason, secretaries for a variety of celebrities put the dedication in quotation marks ( Drew. ) I don t know a single actual celebrity that does this except Connery himself who has done it from time to time (just not on this one!)