Authentication Standards

The chemical composition of the ink must match the established spectral profile for the specific manufacturer, era, and color. For example, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle signed in blue Sharpie (introduced in 1964) immediately fails the ICC, regardless of the visual accuracy of the signature loop.

Human biomechanics dictate that pen pressure varies throughout the execution of a signature, especially on curves and terminal strokes. Machine-generated signatures (Autopens, plotters) maintain a mechanically uniform pressure depth. Our NIR (Near-Infrared) scans must detect a minimum of 14% pressure variance across the stroke path to pass.

The underlying material (paper, leather, wood) must not exhibit signs of localized chemical bleaching or mechanical erasure beneath the signature area. Forgers frequently remove lesser-known signatures from authentic vintage team balls to add high-value hall-of-famers. UV-C scanning detects these substrate alterations.

While we rely heavily on chemical and topographical data, the 2D path of the signature is still analyzed. We measure stroke velocity via microscopic ink pooling (ink gathers where the pen slows down). "Drawn" forgeries—where a forger slowly traces a projection—exhibit unnatural hesitation marks and uniform ink pooling.

Passing the physical tests is insufficient. The resulting data must be successfully hashed and written to the Ethereum mainnet. If the transaction fails, or if the resulting hash collides with an existing known forgery hash in our database, the item remains unverified.