Booth signature--authentic?

[John Fazio]

Bill:

Neither am I an expert, but an intelligent guess is that it is not genuine. I compared it with Booth's unquestionably authentic signature on the card he left in Browning's box for Johnson. There are major differences. To begin with, the card is signed "J. Wilkes Booth", not "John Wilkes Booth". Secondly, the "k" in "Wilkes" is substantially different, as is the capital "B" in "Booth". The underscoring line in your sample does not appear on the card, though there is a subscription. There are other differences of a subtler kind.

John