This is a common response to posts made alerting people on social media to counterfeit J. K. Rowling signatures. Ideally it would be a great thing to share with others how to identify an authentic signature so people can learn. However, the downside is that forgers can take advantage of this to acquire more detailed knowledge that they can use to improve their forgeries, and I don’t feel like we need to help them anymore if we can avoid it.

This has happened in the past where information was given out by another J. K. Rowling signature collector who believed the person they were talking to was an honest collector and it turned out they were producing forgeries and used the information they were provided to make them better.

The best option I decided was to provide this service to people who might not have the time to study Jo’s signature to the degree that we have here.

At this time we don’t offer discounts for bulk purchases. A great deal of expertise, care and time has gone into providing each opinion we provide and we feel that it is important that the price remains consistent for everyone.

Adam Houston has been collecting books for many years, however, first started to focus exclusively on Harry Potter books in 2015, with his first purchase being a pristine copy of the first edition, first printing, first state, of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Since then his collection has evolved to include some of the rarest items in the Harry Potter collecting sphere and many signed books and bookplates.

Over the years, due to the increased prevalence of counterfeit J. K. Rowling signatures he has studied J. K. Rowling’s signature extensively—down to the year, month, and sometimes the particular signing event and pen type which was used for the signing—and built what is most likely the worlds most extensive database of authentic J. K. Rowling signatures to use as comparisons.

In building this knowledge Adam is known in sectors of the rare book world as a specialist in collecting Harry Potter and J. K. Rowling’s signature. He has advised auction houses—in the U.K. and the U.S.—on J. K. Rowling’s signature and helped auction houses and booksellers remove counterfeit items from sale. Adam is often asked for his opinion on J. K. Rowling signatures and it can take time to properly give an accurate opinion and authenticate her signature, and felt that the best way to continue doing this is to provide this service to anyone who is interested in acquiring an authentic J. K. Rowling signature.

Below are a list of three people you can trust to purchase an authentic J. K. Rowling signature from. You can also feel safe purchasing from high end rare book dealers as long as they state that you can return the book if it turns out to be problematic. We would recommend using our Rapid Response Opinion service first before doing so.

Reputable Sources for signed J. K. Rowling books (in alphabetical order):

• Carly Laminack - AllThePrettyBooks on Instagram

• Damian Harper - aprilstarbooks on eBay

• Peter Kenneth - The Potter Collector on Instagram

Below is a list of some of the rare book dealers you should consider contacting regarding Harry Potter books (in alphabetical order). These dealers do generally have high quality Harry Potter items available, however, we would still recommend utilising our Rapid Response Opinion service prior to purchasing a signature:

• John Atkinson Rare Books

• Keel Row Books

• Lucius Books

• Peter Harrington Rare Books

• Potter Rare Books

• Type Punch Matrix

• Winters Rare Books

Yes. If you’re a bookseller selling signed Harry Potter books or work for an auction house who offers Harry Potter books for sale on a regular basis we’re happy to discuss the possibility of supplying letters of authenticity for your books or auctions.

We will only supply them to booksellers or auction houses who we believe make a serious effort to avoid selling or offering counterfeit items for sale. We’ve been in this market a long time and there are, unfortunately, many booksellers and auction houses who will offer anything for sale to make a quick buck without real regard for their customers. If you know this is you then you don’t need to contact us, it’s likely we’re already aware of you and wouldn’t be interested in working together.

After researching the best possible way to provide a valuable authentication service to our customers we have decided that the only way to do this effectively is to require a Rapid Opinion to be purchased first.

This benefits both the customer and us in multiple ways. Firstly, it provides the customer the opportunity to check, for a nominal fee, whether it will be worth submitting for full authentication. Also, for us, by requiring a signature to be submitted for a rapid opinion first, it removes the possibility that people may attempt to circumvent the rapid opinion service by requesting full authentication for counterfeit signatures and then being denied. We have to ensure that our service is fair to all customers across the board. We may review this process at anytime and make changes depending on what enables us to best serve our customers.

Also, this is the common practice among other high profile third-party authentication companies. Some can charge up to $20 for a quick opinion on J. K. Rowling’s signature. At £15.00, we feel that it’s a no brainer, if you’re seriously interested in purchasing a signed J. K. Rowling signature, our Rapid Response Opinion service is the best option on the market.

Yes. If there’s a specific book you’re looking for please email us using the address at the bottom of this page. We will add you to our list and contact you when we have been able to source your item.

You may have had the experience before where you have provided your ‘wants’ to a dealer and you never hear from them again, they may even list for sale online the item which you already told them you were interested in purchasing. Has this happened to you? If you’re a seasoned book buyer I’m sure it had. Don’t worry, you will be added to our list in strict ‘first come first serve’ order. If we have been able to acquire your item we will reach out to you starting with the first name on the list, if we don’t hear back from you within 7 days we will move on to the next name on the list for that item. If no specific requests have been made the item may be listed for sale on our website.

No. We’re unable to provide formal valuations for individual books or collections.

We respect the fact that people may have differing opinions to us on a particular signature. We are confident that our experience specifically in Jo’s signature sets us apart from booksellers. If we offer the opinion that a particular signature is counterfeit, it will be based on an extensive examination of the signature and will be a position we are extremely confident in and will be based on much much more than simply a visceral opinion from a quick glance at the signature. It will have been thoroughly examined.

One example: We once offered the opinion that a signature was counterfeit and the owner couldn’t see anything at all wrong with it. At face value it was an extremely close signature, however, even though there were small problems with the signature which would have caused it to fail any authentication, but we knew where the book had come from and knew that it had previously been offered for sale on another platform by a seller known to offer counterfeit items for sale.

Yes. We always tell people that Jo is not a robot! There are natural variations to each particular signature and require extensive knowledge of her hand to be able to detect it.

We do have a section in our database which we title ‘uncertain’. This section contains a small number of signatures which we would call ‘grey area signatures.’ These are typically examples of Jo’s signature which we would say could be real—in essence there’s nothing wrong with it—however, there are no (what we would call) fingerprints of Jo’s hand in the signature.

If we receive a signature like this as part of our quick opinion service we would advise that although there is little wrong with the signature, it is one we would recommend avoiding due to the ambiguous nature of it. It would not pass full authentication.

Unfortunately, no. Over the past couple of years the holograms have lost their guarantee that a signature is authentic. The holograms were originally produced to try and help collectors avoid purchasing counterfeit signatures, however, over the past couple of years these have been accurately replicated by forgers and put into books with counterfeit signatures.

Although a hologram will be required for certain signatures (for example with her midnight release signature of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). It no longer offers any confidence that a signature is authentic, you still need to authenticate the signature.

This can get complex. This has happened in a small number of cases where although the signature in a book in legitimate, the book itself is not. Unscrupulous characters have previously purchases an unsigned rare first edition book and a signed later printing book, and removed the signed page from the later printing book and inserted it into the first printing copy. They have then offered it for sale on the market as a true signed first printing copy of the book at a massively inflated price. Unfortunately, this practice isn’t unique to shadowy, no name accounts on eBay, but high standing members of reputable organisations such as the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America.

You will have the option with any signed books listed for sale on The Harry Potter Specialist website whether to have a letter of authenticity and collector card provided with them at the listed price on our authentication page.

Adam Houston has a couple of cringe worthy videos up there but we’re not on YouTube as of this time.