Skewing - A Technique for Signature Identification

How do you read a signature that is heavily slanted with the letters seemingly run together? Genealogists have that problem when trying to identify signatures but numismatists (coin and money collectors) also have the same problem when trying to identify signatures on banknotes and checks.

The answer?

Open a digital image of the signature in a photoediting program and then skew it (slant it) until the signature appears to be more vertical. A great example can be found in The E-Sylum, an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society, at http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n43a06.html. ~ From Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter