I offer a Quick Opinion service for signed items via the "Quick Opinion" service on the site, and recently i have been getting an increasing number of requests to check Christmas cards signed by Prince Charles and Diana, and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. In almost every case these items contain Autopen signed signatures but are being sold as genuine. In some cases the sellers (who are mainly selling as dealers) are careful in their descriptions, often stating they are signed in ink, but not making it clear they are signed in ink using a pen, but done by a machine and not by a real person! Always worth reading between the lines!
Sometimes the sellers are offering cards sent to them but are not aware of the Autopen machine, and because they are signed in ink, and they worked for the royal household, they are assuming they are authenticly signed, and will simply not accept that they are in fact signed by a machine.
As a rough guide, if they have no salutation ("To Henry" or similar), then they will be most likely Autopen. So beware, as an Autopen signed card has far less value than a genuine item, but they are so good only an expert can tell the difference. When searching you will find very few with any salutation, and almost all will be simply signed Elizabeth and Philip and maybe the year, nothing more.
If you look at the card below which has been signed by Autopen, you will see that the signatures, although created with a pen and are an almost perfect match for authentic examples, they lack any variation in speed or pressure throughout the signatures. And if you could see these with your own eyes though a magnifying glass, you would probably see some very tiny wobbles in parts of the signatures. But be warned, the Autopen machines used by the Royal Household are the best set up anywhere, and its very hard to fault them!
Because of the number of items the royals have t sign, It would simply not have been possible for the Queen to sign all the items that go out every day. Did you know for instance that there are over 15,000 people over the age of 100! In fact the Royal household employs 7 full time staff simply to handle the mail that goes out on a daily basis!
The Queen and Philips office made good use of the Autopen machine from around 1963 but had been using it on occasion from around 1957. Queen Elizabeth the Queen mother never appeared to use on at all though!
Garry King. Autografica.co.uk copyright 2023