566 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Analytical Methods
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
Contents
Analytical Methods
Document Dating
Forgery/Counterfeits
Handwriting
Ink Analysis
Analytical Methods
V Aginsky, Riley, Welsh and Associates, Forensic
Document Examinations, Inc., East Lansing, MI, USA
Copyright # 2000 Academic Press
doi:10.1006/rwfs.2000.0477
Introduction
Tasks often requested for the analysis of documents
involve distinguishing inks on the same or different
documents and also identifying the source or date of a
particular ink or paper. Usually these types of deter-
minations are conducted with the help of analytical
methods. There are many such methods available and
the document examiner should know their capabil-
ities and limitations.
Optical Examinations
Practically each examination of a questioned (Q)
document starts with simple optical methods which
allow observations in ultraviolet (UV), visible (natural
daylight, filtered or unfiltered artificial light) or near
infrared (IR) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
These methods analyze color and luminescence of ink
on paper, security fibers in paper, etc. They may also
help in viewing obliterated writings, exposing altera-
tions, erasures and substitutions, and discriminating
between writing inks that appear to be of the same
color.
The morphology of ink lines on paper is examined
with the help of optical microscopy that uses visible
light for illumination, and glass lenses for magnifying
and focusing. This may allow classification of inks
being examined, discrimination between inks being
compared, or may, in rare occasions, individualize
the writing instrument through its performance char-
acteristics. In combination with spot color tests, this
technique is also used for paper fiber analysis that
allows the type of fibrous raw materials used for
making the paper of Q documents to be determined.
Scanning electron microscopy is used when a highly
magnified image (down to the nanometer range) of a
micro-fragment of ink on paper or of paper itself is
desired, for example, in cases when the sequence of
crossing strokes is under examination.
Chemical Reactions
Spot chemical (color or crystal) tests are known to
have been used for more than a hundred years for
detecting both inorganic and organic ingredients of
inks and paper. The spot or solubility tests are carried
out both in situ (on the document itself) or on a
removed sample. These tests are used to differentiate
ink formulas, to presumptively identify the constitu-
ents of an ink formula, or to select a solvent suitable
for the following extraction of the ink.
Spot color and solubility tests have been used for
determining the sequence of crossing strokes of dif-
ferent inks and for evaluating the relative age of inks
of the same formula and on the same paper.
Spectroscopic Techniques
Spectroscopic methods measure the absorption, emis-
sion, or scattering of electromagnetic radiation by
atoms or molecules of compounds. The resulting
spectra of the absorption, emission, or scattering of
light are functions of wavelength and depend on the
energy level structure of atoms or molecules. These
spectra are useful for characterizing and identifying
(e.g. with infrared spectra) compounds.
X-ray fluorescence is commonly used for solids in
which secondary X-ray emission is generated by
excitation of a sample with X-rays. The technique
has found extensive applications in determining the

elemental profile of the ink and paper of suspect cur-
rency. This profile is then compared with the profile
of genuine currency to uncover inconsistencies.
Energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis combined
with scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) is
an important analytical method due to its ability to
examine surface morphology with high resolution
and depth of field, and to produce qualitative and
quantitative elemental analyses of selected microareas
by detection of characteristic X-rays. Many writing
and printing inks contain detectable elements that can
be used for characterization and comparison by SEM-
EDX. In addition some writing inks have detectable
trace rare organometallic compounds added which
indicate the year of its production. Finally, the tech-
nique is a useful tool for the classification and differ-
entiation of photocopier toners. In particular, it is
useful in recognizing monocomponent process toners
as they contain magnetic carrier materials (magnetite,
ferrite) which are easily detected by SEM-EDX.
SEM-EDX has also been applied to the character-
ization of trace elemental profiles of pencils. The
SEM-EDX analysis of both plain and coated photo-
copy paper has been used to provide a comparison,
detect batch differences or to ensure that the contents
of the minor inorganic components detected in the
ink or toner samples cut out of the document, are not
the result of their contact with the paper.
Other analytical methods that also have been used
for determining the elemental composition of ink and
paper are inductively coupled plasma mass spectro-
metry (ICP-MS) and neutron activation analysis
(NAA).
Ultraviolet and visible absorption spectroscopy is
used mostly for the analysis of organic materials. It
measures the wavelength and intensity of absorption
of near-ultraviolet and visible light by a sample.
UV±visible reflectance microspectrophotometry
has been applied to measuring reflectance (absor-
bance) electronic spectra of ink on paper. The method
allows discrimination between similarly colored inks
at a considerably higher degree of certainty than it
could be done using optical microscopy or evaluation
by the unaided eye. Microspectrofluorimetry has
been used for measuring the emission spectra of ink
on paper and of some additives to paper (fluorescent
fibers, optical brighteners).
Infrared spectroscopy measures the wavelength
and intensity of the absorption of mid-infrared light
by a sample. As the wavelengths of IR absorption
bands are characteristic of specific types of chemical
bonds, IR spectroscopy can be used to identify com-
pounds. It should be stressed, however, that, if the
components of interest are analyzed without isolating
from the matrices, their chemical identification is
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Analytical Methods 567
practically impossible; as a rule, only characterization
of the major functional groups of the compound can
be accomplished. In order to produce conclusive
identification, either peak-to-peak correlation using
the spectrum of a known sample or a comprehensive
software library of IR spectra would be required.
Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy
has been used for the characterization of organic
components in many materials commonly examined
during document analysis (ink, paper, photocopier
toners, correcting fluids, etc.).
Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spec-
troscopy (DRIFTS) has been found to be a reliable,
reproducible and selective technique for the classifi-
cation and identification of photocopier toners. Com-
pared with conventional dispersive IR spectroscopy,
the DRIFTS technique provides spectra with a signif-
icantly improved signal-to-noise ratio, and therefore,
it more effectively extracts data from toners that are
normally highly absorbing in the infrared due to the
large proportion of carbon black content.
Recently, FT-IR microspectrophotometry (a micro-
scope attachment allows the infrared beam to be
focused on an extremely small area) has been exten-
sively used for the characterization and differentia-
tion of writing inks and photocopier toners.
IR spectroscopy can also be used for document
analysis in combination with other techniques.
Thus, ink resin can undergo pyrolysis (see below),
followed by IR analysis of the volatile gases gener-
ated. In most cases, spectra of the pyrolysis products
resemble those of the parent substances. Even when
they do not, the spectra are fairly reproducible; thus
the reference spectrum of a known substance pre-
pared in the same manner can be used for comparison
with the material (ink, toner, paper) analyzed.
Raman spectroscopy (an emission technique in
which a laser is directed onto the sample and a very
small fraction of the scattered radiation displaced
from the laser wavenumber by the vibrational wave-
numbers of the sample, is measured) is used for the
analysis of inks and photocopying toners in a manner
similar to IR spectroscopy.
Chromatographic Techniques
Chromatography is a method used to separate, char-
acterize and identify (e.g. with mass spectrometry) the
components of a mixture. Since its introduction in
1903 chromatography has become a separation
method that is now a widely accepted and recognized
technique.
In document analysis, chromatographic techniques
are extensively used for the characterization, compar-
ison, source determination and dating of ink.
568 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Analytical Methods
Paper chromatography
In paper chromatography the mixture to be separated
is allowed to soak along the paper by capillary action;
the cellulose in the paper acts as the adsorbent. The
technique, as well as paper electrophoresis, has been
used for differentiating ink samples.
Thin-layer chromatography (TLC)
This is a form of liquid chromatography that is used
for separating nonvolatile organic and inorganic
compounds. Among other analytical techniques
applied to document analysis, TLC has been most
extensively used both for discriminating inks and for
identifying ink formulas (by comparison with a `com-
plete' set of standards, see below).
A typical procedure for the TLC analysis of ink is as
follows. A sample of ink dissolved in an appropriate
solvent, is deposited as a spot (or a band) on the
starting line of a TLC plate that consists of a station-
ary phase immobilized on a glass, aluminum or plastic
plate. The constituents of the sample can be identified
by simultaneously running standards with the un-
known. The bottom edge of the plate is placed in a
reservoir with a solvent (mobile liquid phase); the
solvent moves up the plate by capillary action.
When the solvent front reaches a certain height (e.g.
the other edge of the stationary phase), the plate is
removed from the solvent reservoir. Inks are mixtures
of many components, which move up the plate at
different rates due to differences in their partitioning
behavior between the mobile liquid phase and the
stationary phase. Most separated components of inks
are easily detected on the resulting chromatogram due
to their own color. The other separated spots (color-
less vehicle components) can be visualized with UV
light or by treating the plate with an appropriate
chromogenic or fluorogenic reagent.
Besides the characterization and differentiation of
writing ink and the chemical identification of dyes
removed from currency involved in a robbery and
exposed to an exploding dye-pack, both conventional
TLC and high performance thin-layer chromatogra-
phy (HPTLC) have been applied to discriminating
between stamp pad and typewriter ribbon inks, print-
ing inks (including those used in counterfeit cur-
rency), photocopier toners containing dyes mixed
with the carbon black pigment, jet printer inks and
papers (tinting materials, optical brighteners, sizers
and other components of paper can be separated and
used to discriminate between paper samples). The
method has been used both in its normal phase
(hydrophilic stationary phase, e.g. silica gel) and
reversed phase (hydrophobic stationary phase, e.g.
RP-18 modified silica gel) versions, including gradi-
ent elution of ink samples by automated multiple
development. Postchromatographic derivatization
has been used for the visualization of separated
chromatographic zones of colorless organic compo-
nents of inks and paper. Scanning TLC densitometry
has shown a high discriminating power with regard to
inks that are indistinguishable to the eye having subtle
differences in relative proportions of their dye com-
ponents.
For over the past twenty years, different approaches
using TLC have been used for determining the age of
ink on documents. According to a so-called `static'
approach that deals with the analytical profiles of inks
that do not change with age, the examiner determines
the age or source of inks by using a collection of
reference standards or by detecting tags, e.g. optical
brighteners or other unique components specially
added by the manufacturer. If the manufacturer of
the ink analyzed is identified and its formula is shown
to be unique (through a tag or unique formula known
only by the manufacturer), the manufacturer's files
are consulted to determine the initial production date
of the ink. This allows one to establish whether a Q
ink was available or not at the time the document was
allegedly prepared. One obvious limitation here is
that only a few inks actually contain unique dating
tags.
Another ink dating approach measures the `dyna-
mic' characteristics of an aging ink, i.e. those that
change with age. Several ink-dating techniques based
on TLC, evaluate the age (date) of a Q entry relative
to reference samples which are known dated entries
written by ink of the same formula as the Q entry.
These techniques primarily use TLC to identify a Q
ink formula. However, it should be emphasized that,
in fact, unless one is certain that the formula is proven
to be unique (see above), the identification of the Q
ink formulation with 100% certainty is hardly possi-
ble. The reason for this is that, on the one hand, inks
of the same type and of similar color are very similar
in their dye components (separated and detected by
TLC) and, on the other hand, no matter how com-
prehensive the collection of reference samples is, it
will never be complete. Hence, it follows that unless
the formula is unique, there is always a possibility that
a true match is not in the standard ink library.
This circumstance is of extreme importance and it
should always be kept in mind when the examiner
uses any ink dating technique that is based on the ink
formula identification approach.
High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
HPLC is a form of liquid chromatography in which
the stationary phase is packed in a separation column.

Components of a sample to be analyzed are separated
by injecting a plug of the sample onto the column.
These components pass through the column at differ-
ent rates due to differences in their partitioning
behavior between the mobile liquid phase and the
stationary phase. The presence of analytes in the
column effluent is detected by measuring a change
in refractive index, UV±visible absorption at a set
wavelength, fluorescence after excitation with a
suitable wavelength, or electrochemical response.
The separated analytes can also be identified with
the help of a mass spectrometric detector.
HPLC has successfully been applied to the char-
acterization and differentiation of ballpoint inks. It
enables a high discrimination between inks having
similar dye composition by separating and comparing
their colorless components such as the ink vehicle
components which are reliably detected in the UV
region of the electromagnetic spectrum. If inks that
are to be compared are on different papers, samples
taken from the papers should be analyzed by the same
procedure used for the ink-on-paper to ensure that
sizers, optical brighteners, tinting materials and other
chemicals that may present in the paper would not
interfere with the analysis. The modern HPLC pro-
vides the examiner with a highly sensitive multi-
wavelength detection system (diode array detector)
which will provide not only chromatographic profiles
of the inks being compared but also the in-situ
recorded UV and visible spectra of each eluting
peak in the chromatogram. Obviously, such a com-
bination of chromatographic and spectral data
improves the ability of HPLC to discriminate between
closely related inks. The ability of HPLC to discrimi-
nate between similar ink samples is also enhanced by
increasing the resolving power with gradient elution.
HPLC has also been used for the analysis of non-
ballpoint pen inks, as well as printing inks (including
those used in counterfeit currency), photocopier
toners and paper.
Capillary electrophoresis (CE)
Performing electrophoresis in small-diameter capil-
laries allows the use of high electric fields resulting in
very efficient separations. Due to electroosmotic
flow, all sample components migrate in pH buffer
towards the negative electrode. A small volume of
sample (a few nanoliters) is injected at the positive
end of the capillary and the separated components are
detected near the negative end of the capillary. CE
detection is similar to detection in HPLC, and
includes absorbance, fluorescence, electrochemical
and mass spectrometry.
Two versions of CE known to have been used for
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Analytical Methods 569
ink and paper analysis are capillary zone electrophor-
esis (CZE) and micellar electrokinetic capillary elec-
trochromatography (MECC). In CZE separation is
solely based on charge, but MECC enables separation
of both charged and neutral or even hydrophobic
molecules; it becomes possible by adding organic
solvents and surfactants to the pH buffers.
CE has recently been applied to the analysis of
ballpoint, roller ball, fineliner and marker pen inks,
and has shown a very high resolving power that
allows the efficient separation of both major and
minor components of ink dyes (including their sub-
stitution derivatives and isomers) and, therefore, the
discrimination between inks with similar dyes from
different sources or different batches. The amount of
ink-on-paper needed for the analysis is comparable to
HPLC and TLC. To detect peaks on the ink electro-
phoregram caused by the paper's constituents (optical
brighteners, etc.), blank paper samples of similar size
as those taken from the inked paper should also be
analyzed.
Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS)
Gas chromatography (GC) is the most widely used
analytical technique in forensic laboratories. The
technique primarily involves the use of three compo-
nents: an injector, a separation column (in a thermo-
stated oven) and a detector. After vaporization in the
heated injector, the sample is then transferred to the
column through the use of a carrier gas. The indivi-
dual sample components mix with the gas, travel
through the column and are selectively retained by
the stationary liquid phase contained within the col-
umn. Finally, a detector is utilized to produce a signal
to a recording device. The resulting gas chromato-
gram is a series of peaks, each of which is character-
istic of a particular substance.
It has been shown that the most selective GC
determination of components of the complex mix-
tures can be achieved by the coupling of a micro-
mass-spectrometer (mass selective detector) and
capillary GC. Mass selective detector uses the differ-
ence in mass-to-charge ratio of ionized molecules to
separate them from each other. Molecules have dis-
tinctive fragmentation patterns that provide struc-
tural information usually sufficient for identifying
substances separated by GC.
Thus, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry
(GC/MS) produces a mass spectral fingerprint for
each sample component eluting from the column
and, therefore, can allow discrimination between
compounds having a very similar chromatographic
behavior (close retention indices).
GC/MS has been used for the ink characterization,
570 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Document Dating
batch origin determination and ink comparison. In
the scan acquisition mode, the method allows identi-
fication of an ink's volatile solid ingredients among
which can be nonreacted low molecular mono- or
oligomers, reagents and also proprietary additives
that are often contained in the resins, polymers or
other components of ink vehicles (carriers). It has
been shown that, even in old ink-on-paper, high
boiling vehicle solvents can be detected and identified
using the selected ion monitoring (SIM) acquisition
mode; the detector is set to monitor ions specific to
the solvents commonly used in the manufacture of
inks.
Recently, the unique ability of GC/MS to efficiently
separate ink volatile components and to quantify
them at down to picogram level has been successfully
used for developing ink dating techniques applicable
to ballpoint, porous tip and roller pen inks, stamp pad
inks, inks for jet printers, and other inks containing
high-boiling vehicles.
Pyrolysis gas chromatography
GC is capable of separating volatile organic sub-
stances. Therefore, it is not directly applicable to
the analysis of such nonvolatile substances as resins
in inks or sizing materials in paper. However, pyro-
lysis of similar nonvolatile substances leads to their
breakdown (thermal decomposition) into smaller
compounds which are volatile enough to be analyzed
by GC. A pyrolysis device is directly connected to the
inlet of the gas chromatograph and the compounds
produced by pyrolysis are separated and detected by
the chromatographic system. The resulting pyrogram
is a highly specific pattern of peaks which is a
`fingerprint' of the substance analyzed.
Pyrolysis GC with mass spectrometric detection
(PyGC/MS) has been used for the characterization
of nonvolatile organic components in inks and photo-
copier toners. The technique has provided high dis-
crimination between closely related inks and toners.
See also: Analytical Techniques: Separation Tech-
niques; Microscopy; Spectroscopy: Basic Principles;
Presumptive Chemical Tests; Mass Spectrometry.
Document Analysis: Forgery/Counterfeits; Ink Analysis;
Document Dating.
Further Reading
Aginsky VN (1996) Dating and characterizing writing,
stamp pad and jet printer inks by gas chromatography/
mass spectrometry. International Journal of Forensic
Document Examiners 2:103±115.
Brunelle RL and Reed RW (1984) Forensic Examination of
Ink and Paper. Springfield: Charles C Thomas.
Cantu AA (1995) A sketch of analytical methods for
document dating. Part I. The static approach: determin-
ing age independent analytical profiles. International
Journal of Forensic Document Examiners 1:40±51.
Kirchner JG (1978) Thin Layer Chromatography, 2nd edn.
New York: Wiley Interscience.
Lyter AH (1983) Analysis of writing inks by high
performance liquid chromatography. In: Lurie IS and
Wittwer JD (eds) High Performance Liquid Chromato-
graphy in Forensic Chemistry. New York: Marcel
Deker.
Maehly A and Stromburg L (1981) Chemical Criminalis-
tics. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Merrill RA, Bartick EG and Mazzella WD (1996) Studies
of techniques for analysis of photocopy toners by IR.
Journal of Forensic Sciences 41:81±88.
ASTM (1992) Standard guide for test methods for forensic
writing ink comparison. 1992 Annual Book of ASTM
Standards, Section 13, ASTM Designation: E 1422-91
Philadelphia: ASTM.
Tebbett IR (1991) Chromatographic analysis of inks for
forensic science applications. Forensic Science Review
3:72±82.
Tebbett I (1992) Gas Chromatography. New York,
London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore: Ellis
Horwood.
Xu X, de Koeijer JA, de Moel JJM and Logtenberg H
(1997) Ink analysis for forensic science application by
micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography with
photodiode array detection. International Journal of
Forensic Document Examiners 3:240±260.
Zeichner A, Levin N, Klein A and Novoselsky Y (1988)
Transmission and reflectance microspectrophotometry
of inks. Journal of Forensic Sciences 33:1171±1184.
Document Dating
D C Purdy, Forensic Document Examination Services
Inc., Ottawa, Canada
Copyright # 2000 Academic Press
doi:10.1006/rwfs.2000.0483
Overview
The misrepresentation of dates on documents is not a
recent challenge faced by forensic document exam-
iners. In his book, Questioned Documents, Albert S.
Osborn provided several examples of documents
which were altered or backdated to make it appear
as though they were written much earlier. Many
frauds still involve document dating problems and
forensic document examiners should diligently search
for any clues that suggest a document was prepared
some time other than indicated.

Various methods can be employed to backdate or
fabricate documents. Such incidents can involve the
relatively simple process of overwriting the date on a
receipt to far more complex undertakings such as
falsifying an entire document. Regardless of the
method used, dating suspect documents is a very
challenging problem for the document examiner
and should be approached cautiously.
The most straightforward method for solving a
dating problem considers the types of office equip-
ment and technologies used to produce the questioned
document. The date on a document can be proven
false if the instruments and materials used to produce
it were unavailable when it was supposedly prepared.
A second method takes into account certain features
in the contested document that vary over time. Defec-
tive letters produced by a worn typewriter or photo-
copier `trash marks' originating from dirt on the
platen glass are two examples of this type of evidence
that has dating significance. A third method involves
the analysis of materials that make up a suspect
document. For example, some speciality papers or
writing inks contain materials added to these station-
ery products to improve their quality. If it can be
established that these materials were introduced to the
market on a specific date, any document in which they
are found to be present must have been prepared at a
later time. A fourth method involves knowledge of the
aging of several components such as ink or paper.
The following sections describe different areas that
can be examined to determine when a document was
drawn up or whether its date is false. The results of
these tests do not always provide conclusive evidence
of fraud. They can, however, draw attention to
irregularities that must be reconciled before a suspect
document can be relied on as a genuine.
Paper Products
Watermarks
Conventional paper watermarks are produced during
the manufacturing process by a `dandy roll' cylinder
located at the beginning of the papermaking machine
where paper is formed into a web. The dandy roll
cylinder consists of a woven wire gauze onto which
raised designs are soldered or otherwise attached. A
watermark is created when the relief areas of the
dandy roll press into and displace paper fibers.
Paper mills usually maintain accurate records con-
cerning their watermarks. Once the paper manu-
facturer of a questioned document is known, the
company can be contacted to determine the earliest
date that a watermark design was used. Any document
dated earlier than this time must have been backdated.
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Document Dating 571
The design of watermarks can also change over
time as relief areas of a dandy roll suffer damage
through normal wear and tear. Detached or broken
wires produce slight but visible changes in the design
which is transferred to the paper. Paper mills usually
keep records when dandy roll damage occurred and
when repairs were made. This information can be
very helpful in narrowing the period during which a
watermarked paper was manufactured.
A few paper companies have intentionally changed
the design of their watermarks from time to time.
Such watermarks are said to contain a `date tag',
which will often indicate the year that a sheet of
paper was produced. For example, Southworth
Paper Company placed a short bar below the letters
in their watermark to indicate the last digit of the year
in which the paper was manufactured (Fig. 1). If a
document bears a watermark that was not in exis-
tence when it was allegedly dated, the genuineness of
its date must surely be challenged.
When using watermarks to date paper, it is strongly
recommended that the paper manufacturer be con-
tacted to verify the time period when the noted
features were present.
Paper composition
Over the years, different fillers, surface coatings or
chemical additives have been added during the paper
making process to improve the quality of the product.
Other changes in the manufacturing processes have
occurred for economic or environmental reasons.
These innovations and modifications can establish
the earliest date or period a particular sheet of
paper was manufactured.
Many North American paper manufacturers
stopped producing acidic paper in favor of alkaline
or neutral process papers during the late 1980s and
early 1990s. A simple pH test can indicate if a
questioned document was produced before its pur-
ported date. This finding can be corroborated if
Figure 1 The short vertical bar beneath the letter `E' in this
watermark confirms the sheet of paper was manufactured
during 1966.
572 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Document Dating

certain chemicals that were introduced after the date

on the document are present in the paper. For exam-
ple, when mills converted their operations to an
alkaline process, many also began using calcium
carbonate (CaCO3) as a substitute for titanium diox-
ide (TiO2) in order to improve the brightness and
opacity of papers. Caution should be exercised when
interpreting such evidence and the paper manufac-
turer should be consulted to confirm when the
observed processes and materials were introduced.
Speciality papers can also contain information of
dating significance. For example, NCR (No Carbon
Required) paper first appeared in the United States
during 1954. The formula for manufacturing this
Figure 2 A notation `20EC5' on the inside flap of an envelope
product was changed several times during the 1960s represents the stock number (20), the intials of the company
and 1970s. In 1972, NCR developed a coding scheme that placed the order (EC) and the last digit in the year of
to identify the source and date of its papers. Trace manufacture (5).
amounts of various high atomic weight elements have
been added by other manufacturers as a means of
tagging their products. The dates of documents pro- year it was manufactured. The envelope manufac-
duced on speciality papers that contain tags can be turer should always be contacted to confirm the
verified by taking such information into account. accuracy of dating information.
The design and appearance of some envelopes are
unique to their manufacturers and these features may
Envelopes
well indicate when they were produced. These
Envelopes are often discarded once their contents are include, but are not limited to, the following:
removed. This is unfortunate since an envelope may
. small irregularities along the edges of the paper
contain important information about when it was
related to a damaged die stamp;
mailed and possibly when its contents were prepared.
. types of adhesives applied to the side-seams and
The following envelope areas can have dating signifi-
flap areas of the envelope;
cance: postage stamps, postage cancellation marks,
. striation patterns in adhesive layers associated with
envelope shape and printed information.
the method of application.
Postage stamps affixed to envelopes can be exam-
ined to determine if they were available when the Other areas sometimes overlooked are addresses
envelope's contents were prepared. A new postage which appear on an envelope. A particular mailing
stamp is released for sale as a `first day cover' on a or return address may not have existed when the
particular date. Postal officials or a knowledgeable document was supposed to have been sent. Postal or
stamp collector should be able to provide the precise zip codes change from time to time and these should
date a stamp was issued. Once this date is known, the always be checked to insure they existed during the
envelope and its contents must have been mailed period in question.
some time after this period.
Stamps on many envelopes bear cancellation marks
Inks and Writing Instruments
that are applied by the post office. Even if a cancella-
tion mark is not legible, the format of the mark, the One of the most challenging dating problems facing
way it was struck and the chemical composition of the document examiner is estimating when a particu-
ink can serve to establish the period when it was lar document was signed or written. If a document
applied. was supposed to have been written many years ago, it
Occasionally, logos or product codes are applied to may be possible to prove it was backdated if the type
envelopes while they are being manufactured which of pen and writing materials used were not available at
can have dating significance. The impression shown that time. Important milestone events concerning the
in Fig. 2 was found on the inside flap of an envelope development of modern writing materials are shown
manufactured by Tenison Envelope Company. This in Table 1 along with their dates of introduction.
mark represents the stock number (20), the initials of Clues as to when a document was signed can also
the company that placed the order (EC) and the be found by analyzing the questioned writing ink. A
number (5) corresponding to the last digit in the small sample of ink removed from a document can be

Table 1 Significant dates of introduction in the history of writing
instruments
Year Historical development
624 Earliest reference to the quill pen
1662 Pencils made in Nuremberg, Germany
1700 Early reference to steel pens
1780 Steel pens made in England by Samuel Harrison
1857 First appearance of `copying pencils'
1945 Ballpoint pen first marketed in New York city
1951 Felt-tip markers introduced
1955 Liquid lead pencil introduced
1963 Fiber-tip pen first produced
1968 Roller ball pen first produced
1979 Eraser Mate erasable pen introduced by Paper Mate
separated into its solid components by thin layer
chromatography (TLC). The result of this analysis is
a chromatogram that isolates the different dyes pre-
sent in the ink formulation on a coated glass or plastic
plate. Success of this method relies on the different
physical and chemical properties of the ink and the
existence of a sufficiently complete set of ink refer-
ence standards.
TLC can also detect the presence of tags which have
been added to some writing inks by their manufac-
turers. During the 1970s, several US ink producers
participated in an ink tagging program organized by
the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Laboratory
in the United States. This scheme urged ink manufac-
turers to add trace amounts of different materials
with distinct properties to their inks. These materials
would be changed annually and thereby indicate the
year an ink was manufactured. By 1978, approxi-
mately 40% of writing inks produced in the United
States contained such dating tags. Although this
initiative greatly increased the ability of forensic
scientists to date domestic writing inks, the continued
growth of imported products threatened the success
of the program. Although most ink manufacturers
withdrew from the tagging program by the early
1980s, documents purportedly written before this
period may contain chemical taggants that suggest
they were manufactured at a much later date.
Ink chemists have observed that many writing inks
begin to change or age the instant they are applied to
paper. Most people have noticed writing inks fade or
become lighter with the passage of time. In addition
to this obvious physical transition, investigations
have shown that the chemical composition of an ink
also changes over several months or years. These
effects are especially true with respect to the color,
solubility and solvent volatility of the writing inks.
In 1995, Brunelle suggested a technique wherein
two samples of a single ink entry are removed for
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Document Dating 573
testing. After artificially aging one sample by expos-
ing it to heat, both samples are analyzed and the test
results compared. It was discovered that ink para-
meters level off after several years of natural aging.
This artificial aging technique is based on the hypoth-
esis that induced aging will take an ink to where it
would be if it had aged naturally. If differences
between the two tested samples are slight, the result
suggests the ink entry was on the paper for some time.
Greater differences in solvent extraction are indica-
tive of more recent ink entries.
Other testing methods rely on sophisticated analy-
tical techniques such as gas chromatography/mass
spectrometry (GC/MS) to measure the concentration
of volatile components in an ink sample. This tech-
nique also requires two samples be taken from the
suspect ink entry. After exposing one to heat, both
samples are tested and the extent to which their
solvent components differ provides an estimate of
when the ink entry was written. This method is better
suited for entries made within 12 months of testing.
The described methods are beyond all but a few
specialists who possess the equipment, knowledge
and experience needed to analyze and date writing
inks. Some controversy still surrounds certain ink
testing methods and further validation studies could
resolve these debates.
Commercially Printed Documents
Many documents subjected to forensic examinations
take the form of documents with letterheads, con-
tracts, envelopes, notary records, receipts and other
types of printed stationery. Apart from typewriting,
handwriting and other information they may contain,
commercial printing on documents can be used to
establish whether they were produced during or after
a certain period.
Minuscule printing defects such as irregular letter
outlines, uneven inking or small breaks in line work
can associate a questioned document with a particular
stationery order produced by a commercial printer.
Once the company that produced a printed document
is identified, more precise information about when the
order was delivered and the earliest time the stock was
put into circulation can be determined. Access to
samples from the order retained by the print shop
can also be of value when attempting to date commer-
cially printed documents.
A coded mark within the body of a print job can
also provide important information about a print job.
For example, the bottom of a medical form shown in
Fig. 3 bears the notation `AC1215R0'. The printer
used this number to trace the advertisement to the
client. Information about the order indicated when
574 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Document Dating
Figure 3 The alphanumeric code `AC1215R0' within this advertisement on a patient's medical form was used to establish the date
the stationery was printed.
the stationery was distributed. In this case, the adver-
tising campaign was not authorized until three years
after the patient records were supposed to have been
written on the printed form. This provided irrefutable
proof that the medical records had been prepared
long after the patient was examined by the physician.
Typewriting
The typewriting technology used to produce a ques-
tioned document is one of the first factors that should
be considered when its date is at issue. During the last
century, many advances have occurred in the devel-
opment of the modern typewriter. Some important
events and when they occurred are listed in Table 2.
The date a typewritten document was prepared can
be determined in other ways. One method considers
the typestyle which appears on a questioned docu-
ment. The shape and size of typed letters can indicate
the make(s) and model(s) of typewriter(s) which might
have been used to produce the typewriting. The results
of searching a large collection of typewriter specimens
can indicate that the questioned typestyle was intro-
duced to the market on a particular date. Should the
typestyle's date of introduction be later than the date
on the suspect document, the questioned document
must certainly be regarded with suspicion.
A second method of dating typescript takes into
account any typeface defects present in the questioned
typewritten text. Typewriters contain many moving
parts which gradually become worn or defective with
use. These defective components produce misaligned
or damaged letters that become quite apparent when
examined with a microscope. Subsequent adjustments
or repairs by a service technician can create further
changes to the appearance of typewriting produced by
a machine. The dates when typewriter damage
occurred or disappeared are very significant for dating
purposes.
Table 2 Significant dates of introduction in the development of
the typewriter
Year Technological development
1909 First use of bi-colored ribbon (Underwood)
1927 First use of carbon ribbon (Hammond-Varityper)
1944 IBM Executive proportional spaced typewriter
1956 Remington Statesman the first proportional typewriter
by Remington
1960 First Underwood proportional spaced typewriter
1960 Underwood electric standard typewriter with duplex
carbon and fabric ribbons
1961 IBM Selectric I dual pitch single element typewriter
1963 First use of IBM Selectric polyethylene film ribbon
1971 IBM Selectric II dual escapement, half backspace
machine
1971 Tech III ribbon cartridge for IBM Selectric
1972 First daisywheel produced by Diablo Systems
1973 IBM Correcting Selectric II with special lift-off ribbon
1975 Thermal transfer ribbon developed by IBM
1977 First use of polyurethane ribbons (Olivetti)
1978 First dot matrix printer for personal computer (Epson
TX 80)
1982 IBM Electronic 65 and 85 typewriters with triple pitch
and right justification
1982 Brother EP-20 seven-pin thermal typewriter
1984 Diablo releases EPM 1 ± first thermal ribbon transfer
printer
1984 IBM Quietwriter with nonimpact thermal print head
1984 Quietwriter ribbon by IBM
If a typewriter is not cleaned regularly, oil, ribbon
particles, dirt and paper fibers can accumulate within
the crevices of certain letters. When dirty typefaces
strike the paper through the ribbon, the letters appear
filled-in rather than clear letters and numbers. These
imperfections will remain until the dirt is removed by
cleaning the typefaces. Access to uncontested docu-
ments produced on the same typewriter over a period
of time will reveal when changes to the appearance of
the typescript occurred. Fig. 4 shows how the appear-
ance of typeface dirt and damage can expose a
fraudulent document.

Figure 4 The questioned document could not have been typed on June 12th, 1996. Damage to the digit `9' and the filled-in body
of the `6' occurred sometime after August 6, 1996.
Typewriter single-strike and correcting ribbons can
also indicate the date when documents were produced
on a particular typewriter. A used single-strike ribbon
will contain impressions of all the characters struck by
the machine in chronological order since the ribbon
was last changed. If the typewriter ribbon used to
produce a questioned document is available for in-
spection, it can be examined to insure the date of a
questioned typewritten document is contempora-
neous with the dates of typed documents which pre-
cede and follow it. If it is not, dated correspondence
appearing immediately before and after the location
of the question passage can serve to determine the
approximate period when the contested document
was typed.
Correction fluids applied to conceal typing errors
can also help date a typewritten document. Wite-Out
Company first introduced this product to the market
in 1965. In 1984, Liquid Paper introduced colored
correcting fluid to mask corrections on different
colored paper stock. The presence of these materials
on a typewritten document before their respective
introductory dates will strongly suggest a document
has been backdated.
Correcting fluids are complex substances com-
posed of different resins, plasticizers, pigments, sol-
vents and binders. The manufacturer of a correcting
fluid can be identified by extracting a sample from the
document; analyzing it by infrared spectroscopy and
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Document Dating 575
comparing the result to a database of correcting fluid
spectra. Once known, the manufacturer can be con-
tacted to determine when a particular correcting fluid
formulation was first produced. Of course, a correct-
ing fluid could not have been applied to a questioned
document before its date of introduction.
Photocopiers
Photocopied documents that suddenly surface during
a litigation are often regarded with suspicion. In some
cases, these documents are genuine but in other
instances, they are produced at the last moment with
an astonishing story that they were just discovered
recently by some strange coincidence. The subject of
interest in these cases is not when the original docu-
ment was produced but rather the date or period it
was photocopied. Three facets of photocopied docu-
ments that have dating significance include: the copier
technology used, the presence of copier defects, and
the properties of the toner and/or paper.
Copier technologies
Just as milestone events in the development of the
typewriter are useful for dating purposes, the date of a
copied document can be checked against the release
date of a particular office technology to insure it was
available when the document was allegedly produced.
576 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Document Dating

Different copier technologies include: (1) dual spec-

trum; (2) stabilization; (3) diffusion transfer; (4) indir-
ect electrostatic; (5) diazo; (6) dye transfer; (7) direct
electrostatic; (8) thermographic; and (9) laser. A
questioned copied document should be checked to
insure its date follows the introductory date of the
technology used to produce it, keeping in mind that
introductory dates may vary from region to region.

Examination of defects

The most straightforward means of dating photocop-

ied documents relies on defects, `trash marks' or small
flecks of toner that appear in `white' areas of a copied
document. These marks can originate from dirt,
foreign material or defects on the glass, platen cover
or photosensitive drum of the photocopier (Fig. 5).
Scratches to the glass or drum, tend to be more
permanent and will generate marks on copies pro-
duced by a machine until such time as the defective
component is removed and replaced. The temporary
nature of other defects, such as those originating from
dirt or foreign material on the glass, lid or internal
components, are temporary in that they can be re- Figure 5 The combination of photocopier `trash' marks on the
moved by cleaning the copier surfaces. Genuine questioned document (top) emerged during the period August
photocopied documents made by the same copier 3, 1995 to September 8, 1995 and could not have occurred on
July 15th, 1995 when copies of the questioned document were
that produced the questioned document provide an
allegedly prepared.
excellent means of confirming its date. Logs and
service records maintained by repair technicians are
also helpful in that they often contain photocopies
alone or both heat and pressure to fuse toner to the
produced before and after copier repairs were made.
surface of the paper. The date a given fusing process
first appeared is the earliest that a photocopy bearing
Toner analysis
this technology could have been produced.
Most photocopier toners consist of: a pigment In 1992, it was reported that indentations are
(usually carbon black); a binder which fixes the imparted to the surface of toner by damage to the
pigment to the paper (usually an organic resin such surface of a copier's fusing rollers. Fusing roller
as polystyrene); and additives used to improve the defects occur through normal wear and tear. They
properties of the toner. When any of these compo- vary with time and consequently the indentations they
nents are changed, the event can provide a useful produce in the surface of toner can be used to estimate
means of dating photocopied documents. Analysis of when a given photocopied document was produced.
photocopier toners by infrared spectroscopy and
scanning electron microscope equipment with energy
Handwriting and Signatures
dispersive spectrometry can yield information about
the chemical and physical properties of toner. A The writing of many individuals does not change
comprehensive library of toners can be used to estab- significantly for most of their adult life. However,
lish initial production dates. In some cases, the man- despite the constant and repetitive nature of devel-
ufacturer will confirm that a particular ingredient oped handwriting, practically everyone has noticed
was first used several years after the date the photo- that their signatures and handwriting do change ±
copy was supposed to be prepared. This would con- especially over long periods of time. The develop-
stitute conclusive evidence that the alleged date of the ment, progression, and eventual disappearance of
photocopy was false. handwriting features can be very helpful in solving
The process used to fuse toner to the paper can vary dating problems. Access to a quantity of specimen
from one photocopier to another. Older photocopiers material produced during a period of time can show
use cold pressure fusing wherein toner is pressed into that writers change the shape of certain letters or the
the paper surface. Newer generations use either heat form of their signatures (Fig. 6). The quantity of

Figure 6 Six signatures produced by a writer during a ten year
period show some features that have a temporal significance.
specimens required for this purpose will depend on
many factors including: (1) how rapidly the writing
changes; (2) what factor(s) influenced the changes;
and (3) the number of specimen writings prepared
near the period in question. Once the specimens are
arranged in chronological order, it is often possible
to date a disputed writing within a particular time
period.
Rapid changes in a person's writing can result from
the sudden onset of a serious illness, the administra-
tion of therapeutic drugs or the consequence of a
debilitating accident. Although such sudden transi-
tions can create problems for the document examiner,
they also provide a means of determining when a
questioned signature or handwriting might have been
produced.
Contents of a Document
Proof that a document was backdated or postdated
can occasionally be found within its contents. These
details are often overlooked by the perpetrator as his
attention is focused on producing a document that
contains the right information. Names, addresses,
postal codes, phone numbers, trade names, and job
titles mentioned in a document might provide evi-
dence that it was produced at a different time.
Events are occasionally mentioned in correspon-
dence that did not occur until months or years after
the date appearing on the document. Verb tenses in
relation to events mentioned can also indicate a
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Document Dating 577
document was prepared after its purported date.
When preparing a postdated or backdated document,
the writer may not remember what verb tense to use.
Such inconsistencies, especially when repeated, pro-
vide a good indication that something is amiss.
When preparing business correspondence, the
typist's initials are often placed at the bottom of the
document. In fraudulent documents, the initials of a
typist who is currently employed by a company may
be used instead of the person who held the position on
the date that appears on the document.
Computer-printed Documents
Dating computer printed documents is approached in
much the same manner as dating typewritten docu-
ments. The debut of computer printer technologies
are all associated with a date of introduction. Conse-
quently, any document produced by a daisy-wheel,
dot-matrix, inkjet or laser printer cannot bear a date
that precedes the respective periods when these
printers first appeared on the market.
Daisy-wheel printers
The daisy-wheel printer, using a similar impact tech-
nology to the typewriter, bridged the gap between
typewriters and later generations of computer prin-
ters. Although very popular during the 1970s, few
daisy-wheel printers are still in use today. The print
elements of these machines contain a full set of char-
acters positioned on the end of long spokes attached to
a central hub. As the elements spin on a central shaft,
the characters are struck at the appropriate time from
behind with a plunger. The action of the character
striking the paper through an inked ribbon produces a
letter on a document.
Like their typewritten counterparts, documents
produced by daisy-wheel printers can be dated by
considering irregularities in the alignment of letters
or damage to their outlines through wear and tear.
The source of other temporal defects can be traced to
faulty moving components of the printer. These
changes provide a means for dating the work of a
particular printer. It should be kept in mind, however,
that daisy-wheels can be easily removed, discarded
and replaced by a new element. All defects associated
with the old daisy-wheel will disappear and only those
that relate to the printer will remain.
Dot-matrix printers
Dot-matrix printers gained popularity during the
early 1980s. Early models had nine metal pins
arranged along a vertical axis that struck the paper
through an inked ribbon while the printhead moved

Other factors worthy of consideration can be found
under the `Contents of a Document' heading of this
chapter.
Cachet Impressions
The development of rubber stamps followed the dis-
covery of vulcanizing rubber by Charles Goodyear.
The first commercial production of rubber stamps
occurred in 1864. Since that time, the processes used
to manufacture stamps have undergone several
improvements as the demand for better quality rub-
ber stamps increased. The first pre-inked stamp,
Perma Stamp was produced in 1958. These stamps
are still a popular item in stationery stores. Although
today's stamps are still referred to as `rubber stamps',
most stamps are now produced from a plastic-based
photopolymer material.
Both rubber and plastic deteriorate over time. The
relief edges of a stamp can crack or break off, an ink/
dirt mixture can clog deep crevices and the relief areas
of a stamp can become worn through constant use.
These events introduce flaws that are reproduced in
the impressions produced by a worn stamp. The
approximate period when a stamp impression was
made can be determined by comparing its defects
with standards from the same stamp arranged in
chronological order.
Another method by which stamp impressions can
be dated involves changes to the size of some stamps
with time. It has been found that stamps can shrink as
much as 1.5 mm during a four-year period. Although
this phenomenon is relatively rare, it does provide yet
another means of dating stamp impressions.
Glues, Tapes and Paper Fasteners
Adhesives used to manufacture envelopes, stationery
pads and tapes occasionally undergo changes or
modifications to improve their properties. Such
changes can be used to establish the earliest date
that a document manufactured with a given adhesive
was produced. The stationery manufacturer or adhe-
sive company should always be contacted to verify
the date when a particular adhesive was first used.
Lift-off tape was introduced by IBM to facilitate
the correction of typewriting errors. This innovation,
first introduced to the market by IBM on the 1st of
April 1973, removed unwanted typed characters by
overstriking letters through the lift-off tape. This
action would lift the letter from the document and
allow the typist to correct errors with little distur-
bance to the paper surface.
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Document Dating 579
Indented Writing
Indented handwritten impressions made in the sur-
face of a document can reveal important information
about whether written entries on a piece of paper
were made before or after the indented writing
occurred. Such sequence determinations are con-
firmed by subjecting the document to an ElectroStatic
Detection Apparatus (ESDA) examination.
It is often possible to establish the exact date when
indented handwritten impressions on a document
were produced. An ESDA examination that estab-
lishes the visible writing on a questioned document
was made after dated indented impressions can pro-
vide an unusual but effective method for confirming
the document was backdated.
Handwritten entries in a journal, ledger, note pad
or receipt book usually produce indented impressions
on underlying sheets of paper. If it is necessary to date
one of the sheets which was removed, its original
location can be confirmed by matching writing on the
document with corresponding impressions on the
other bound papers. If the dates on adjacent pages
are reliable, this simple method enables the document
examiner to place the questioned document within a
particular time frame.
Guillotine Marks
The exposed edges of receipt books, reams of paper
and stationery pads may contain marks produced by
cutters or guillotine blades used to trim these pro-
ducts to size. These stria, often referred to as `guillo-
tine marks', do not run perpendicular to the surface of
the paper but run at an angel across the trimmed
surfaces. Their locations along the four edges of a
document can indicate where a sheet was positioned
in the original stack of paper.
Access to several documents from the same stack of
paper is needed to establish a cutting pattern against
which the contested document will be compared.
Once the location of guillotine marks on the four
edges of the questioned sheet match the position of
sheets from the same lot, any dating information on
adjacent sheets can be used to determine when the
questioned document was written. If the questioned
document is not contemporaneous with information
on adjacent sheets of stationery, some plausible
explanation should be sought.
Summary
Many methods can be employed to determine if a
questioned document's date has been falsified. People
who fraudulently alter or misrepresent the date of a
580 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Forgery/Counterfeits
document are usually careful to ensure its general
appearance will meet close scrutiny. Consequently, it
is better to approach document dating problems from
a broader perspective rather than focusing attention
on those areas which immediately arouse suspicion.
Any decision to limit the scope of forensic investiga-
tions in the interest of saving time or money should be
weighed carefully. Solutions to document dating pro-
blems are often dependent on an inspection of all
areas of a document for details confirming whether it
was prepared on a given date. Such an approach will
insure that a thorough investigation is carried out and
crucial evidence will not be overlooked.
See also: Document Analysis: Handwriting; Analytical
Methods; Forgery/Counterfeits; Ink Analysis.
Further Reading
Blackledge RD and Gernandt MN (1993) The pH pen ± a
means of comparing paper products. Journal of
Forensic Sciences 38:134±142.
Brunelle RL (1995) A sequential multiple approach to
determining the relative age of writing inks. Interna-
tional Journal of Forensic Document Examiners 1:94±
98.
Brunelle RL (1992) Ink dating ± the state of the art. Journal
of Forensic Sciences 37:113±124.
Brunelle RL and Cantu AA (1987) A critical evaluation of
current ink dating technique. Journal of Forensic
Sciences 32:1522±1536.
Brunelle RL and Reed RW (1984) Forensic Examination of
Ink and Paper. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas.
Cantu AA and Prough RS (1987) On the relative aging of
ink ± the solvent extraction technique. Journal of
Forensic Sciences 32:1151±1174.
Cantu AA (1996) A sketch of analytical method for
document dating Part II. The dynamic approach:
determining age dependent analytical profiles. Interna-
tional Journal of Questioned Document Examiners.
2:192±208. (Errata in 2:570±571)
Gerhart J (1992) Identification of photocopiers from fusing
roller defects. Journal of Forensic Sciences 37:130±139.
Godown L (1969) Forgeries over genuine signatures.
Journal of Forensic Sciences 14:463±468.
Kelly JH (1983) Classification and identification of modern
office copiers. Houston: American Board of Forensic
Document Examiners Inc.
Nickell J (1990) Pen, Ink, & Evidence. Lexington: The
University Press of Kentucky.
Osborn AS (1929) Questioned Documents, 2nd edn.
Albany: Boyd Printing Co.
Purtell DJ (1980) Dating a signature. Forensic Science
International 15:243±248.
Starrs J (1991) The case of the doctor who doctored the
documents. Scientific Sleuthing Review 15:1.
Totty RN (1990) The examination of photocopy docu-
ments. Forensic Science International 46:121±126.
Forgery/Counterfeits
P W Pfefferli, Kantonspolizei, Zurich, Switzerland
Copyright # 2000 Academic Press
doi:10.1006/rwfs.2000.0478
Introduction
Forensic document examination is a complex matter
requiring various areas of expertise to identify docu-
ment forgeries of all kinds. Although in the modern
office the electronically mailed document is of grow-
ing importance, the traditional (paper) document still
has its place, and thousands of different kinds are used
for documentation purposes. The threat of illegal
document forgery exists and will always exist.
The examination of questioned documents is an
ongoing challenge to forensic sciences, to cope with
the modern technology of document manufacturing
and the increasingly sophisticated document for-
geries. The many facets of modern documents demand
many areas of expertise from forensic specialists in
order to identify and authenticate a questioned docu-
ment. The identification of handwriting is a discipline
of its own, requiring for appropriate trained experts to
compare and identify handwritings. The aim of the
examination of technical typewriting and printing
produced by office machines is to determine typestyle
and origin. In addition to the written or printed
content, it is necessary to examine other document
components. Ink and paper examination, by nondes-
tructive and analytical methods and techniques, help
to determine its authenticity with respect to origin.
These areas are equally relevant in general questioned
document examination, but when documents of high
value and protected by the law are fabricated for
criminal purposes, the forensic document analysis
may be of even higher importance and special exper-
tise is required. Counterfeiting and forgery of value
and security documents occurs on a large scale.
The Threat
Counterfeited documents are documents that are re-
produced as originals. The entire document is a fake,
e.g. counterfeited banknotes, bonds, checks, vou-
chers, driving licenses, lottery and admission tickets,
stamps, certificates etc. If the reproduction is made by
using materials and procedures which do not corre-
spond to the original, the counterfeit is called an
imitation.
Forged documents are altered originals produced
by adding, removing or substituting relevant infor-
mation or features, for example a modified check

amount, an imitated signature on a contract, altered
passport or gift certificate, altered payment card or
credit card.
The counterfeiting of banknotes, bonds, checks or
driving licenses and the illegal reproduction of pass-
ports and travel documents and check and credit card
fraud are high profile crimes, committed mostly not
by an individual, but by criminal organizations
involved in terrorism, illegal cross-border traffic,
drug trafficking, financial transactions or other activ-
ities of organized crime. By definition, such highly
valuable so-called security documents, such as bank-
notes and passports, should be specially protected
against misuse. The higher the value of a document
(absolute or relative) and the greater the damage
caused by fraudulent actions, the higher the risk of
fraud. Therefore, there will be greater protection of
the document against fraud. However, a great number
of these documents are still too easy to counterfeit,
because they do not meet the minimum standard of
manufacturing. If a banknote of reasonable quality
can be reproduced by the use of modern desk top
publishing or simply with a full color copier, then
document securities are missing. If a security docu-
ment, such as a passport, can easily be altered by
substitution of the passport owner's photograph or by
chemical eradication of the passport entries, the docu-
ment securities of the passport do not meet the neces-
sary standard to prevent counterfeiting and forgery.
The threat of document counterfeiting and forgery
has become twofold, due to the quantity and the
quality of counterfeited and forged documents.
The increase of fake documents of all kinds, the
flood of low-profile security document fraud, mainly
for immigration and cross-border purposes as well as
the frighteningly good quality of some seized cur-
rency counterfeits, give rise to concern, which is much
greater than just a forensic dimension.
Document fraud by counterfeiting and forgery is no
longer a form of crime exclusively encountered in
white collar crimes or secret intelligence activities.
Document counterfeit and forgery is nowadays
found in all forms of crime. Statistics regarding the
most often counterfeited currency worldwide ± the US
dollar ± or the number of seized fake travel documents
at border controls and immigration services, show
frighteningly high figures for these trans-national
phenomena. The relevant question of the document
examiner `genuine or false?' is certainly not trivial.
What is considered genuine and what is considered
fake? Even valuable documents are too often of such
poor quality that it is not particularly difficult to
imitate them.
The improved technology of modern office
machines has meant that almost perfect reproductions
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Forgery/Counterfeits 581
of an original can be produced. This is unfortunately
true not only for low profile documents used in daily
business, but also for security documents. The full
color copier has become the most often used tool for
illegally reproducing value documents. Used as a
printer device linked with a computer, it offers a
wide range of technical features to match the copy
to the original. Colors can be balanced, numberings
changed or signatures scanned. Even some of the
traditional security features, for example the security
thread of banknotes, can easily be imitated.
Banknotes are documents which are normally not
altered, but counterfeited, however, the situation is
different in the case of check fraud. Bank checks and
personal checks are value documents which are, or
should be, protected against misuse as banknotes are.
However, the level of securities is mostly considerably
lower, making it even easier for criminals to forge.
Besides reproducing the entire check from scratch, the
threat of check fraud comes from altered written
checks and forged stolen blank checks. The main
obstacle to altering an already written check is the
erasing and substituting of entries without revealing
the changes. In the case of forged blank checks the
important challenge for the forger is to imitate the
check owner's signature.
Another category of faked documents, similar in
complexity to check fraud, are counterfeited and
forged identity documents. The attraction to the crim-
inal forger is ± unlike banknotes and checks ± not the
pecuniary value, but the ability to create a new
identity. Since modern identity documents, such as
passports or ID cards and driving licenses, are com-
plex documents with respect to manufacturing and
technical set-up, it is easier and quicker to alter
genuine documents than to counterfeit an entire docu-
ment. Statistics from immigration services forgery
desk examination make it clear that among the hun-
dreds of different ID documents used worldwide,
there are still too many in which the substitution of
the identity of the document holder is not a difficult
task for a skilled forger. As for check fraud, one of the
forger's difficulties is the alteration of typewritten
and/or handwritten entries. Moreover, the document
holder's photograph must be substituted, quite often
this is not a difficult task, since the weakest link of
most easily altered ID documents is the document's
protection against substitution of the photograph.
Many of these documents have ring staples and dry
or wet stamp cachets to secure the photograph, which
do not give any protection against substitution. Even
thin-laminate sealed photographs are no problem for
the professional forger who has little difficulty in
splitting the photograph substrate in half to get access
to the picture without breaking the laminate.
582 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Forgery/Counterfeits
A final category of document complexity are the
machine-readable documents, such as payment cards
and credit cards, and also plastic card legitimization
documents, for example modern identity cards, driv-
ing licenses and the various types of smart cards. The
threat of misuse of plastic money and plastic cards is
inescapable and this form of fraud is increasing
dramatically. Small-scale forgeries involve the alter-
ing of stolen cards. In addition to altering the entries
on the plastic substrate, the manipulation of the
stored information on the magnetic strip, the electro-
nic chip, is an additional difficulty. However, this
obstacle can be overcome if necessary. The threat of
today's card fraud is, however, the amount of orga-
nized crime involved in forgery and the counterfeit of
plastic cards. The criminal organizations produce
blank cards with machine-readable devices, which
are then delivered to the customer for encoding and,
if necessary, to be completed by printing, embossing
or additional optical security devices (for example
hologram).
It is true that despite the high quality of some
professionally produced forgeries and counterfeits of
security documents, the forensic specialists have little
difficulty detecting the fraud when checking a ques-
tioned document thoroughly. The recipient of these
counterfeited documents, however, is likely to be an
unskilled and not technically equipped customer.
Document security
It goes without saying, that there are different classes
of documents, according to the probability of fraud,
the damage caused by it and the absolute as well as
the relative value of the document. The class which is
best protected against counterfeiting and forgery is
high-value documents, such as banknotes, passports,
checks and credit cards. Whereas other value docu-
ments, such as stamps, vouchers, certificates, admis-
sion tickets, stamps, lottery tickets, visa documents,
permits and many others may be considered as a class
of lower security value and therefore also of lower
document security protection. The understanding of
the counterfeiting and forgery potential of different
types of document demands an enhanced know-how
of the state of the art of technical document securities
and the respective possibilities and limits. Generally
speaking, there are three approaches to improve the
technical security of a document against counterfeit-
ing and forgery.
First there is the use of exclusive materials and
controlled substances: the higher the value of a docu-
ment, the more exclusive the materials for manufac-
turing should be. Controlled substances should be
produced by a restricted number of manufacturers
and not normally used for the production of common
documents; for example paper from specialized paper
mills, paper containing special fibers, papers without
optical brightener, multilayer polymers for synthetic
documents, printing inks of particular spectral com-
position, printing inks specially resistant to chemical
eradication or alternatively, especially sensitive to
chemical attacks etc.
Secondly security printing techniques should be
used. Besides offset as the most common technique
used in printing, special printing techniques such as
letterpress, intaglio (relief printing) and silk-screen
are highly effective and not easy to imitate.
Thirdly, additional security attributes should be
used. There are various security devices to improve
the protection of a document against counterfeiting
and forgery. These are used either in combination
with the document materials during manufacturing or
added on the printed document. These modern secur-
ity devices include (among others):
. Paper securities: watermarks; fluorescent fibers
and planchettes;
. Printing securities: guilloche pattern (printed back-
ground pattern of interlacing fine lines); simulta-
neous printing (perfect fitting of recto/verso
printing); fluorescent and magnetic inks; optically
variable inks (ink taking on different colors
depending on the angle of viewing); rainbow print-
ing (continuous change of colors); microprinting
(extra small printing to be seen only after magnifi-
cation); latent images (visualization depending on
angle of viewing); scrambled indicia (scrambled
latent image, only visible through a special lens);
. Securities of personalized entries: text printed by
use of matrix printers or laser printer; digitized
laser printing of text, photos or signatures;
. securities to prevent substitution of pages, photos:
staples; embossing stamps (dry stamps), stamp
cachets; optically variable devices OVD (holo-
grams, kinegrams, latent images); protective films
(thin laminates) with ink printing, retro-reflective-
pattern, diffraction grating image; perforations;
. machine readable securities: OCR printing; mag-
netic strips.
Methods of Examination
The methodology of document counterfeit and for-
gery analysis is first a question of where the authen-
ticity checking takes place. Depending on the form
of fraud and the type of document involved, a first
examination will not necessarily be done in the
document laboratory, but at the first line of

inspection; for example bank institutions, immigra-
tion services, border controls, social security services
etc. Therefore, the personnel should be capable of
identifying a false document (in the time available
and technical support) before sending it to the foren-
sic document laboratory for thorough checking. For
suspect documents, that are not identified by a first
line of checking, the entire examination process will
be handled by forensic experts to confirm or refute
the suspicion.
There are three levels of detection of counterfeited
or forged documents, depending on the authenticity
features to be checked.
Level 1 includes features, which can be visually
examined without special equipment, such as water-
marks, security threads, relief structures, latent
images, stamps (dry stamps or stamp cachets), OVD
(e.g. kinegrams), mechanical erasure, perforations of
staples, residues of adhesives, obliterated writing and
other visible traces of manipulation.
Level 2 refers to features to be checked with tech-
nical facilities such as: visible light to look at printing
quality, traces of substitution or relief effects; UV light
to detect UV-fluorescent securities (paper bleaching,
fibers, printing) and UV-visible forgery traces (chemi-
cal eradication); infrared radiation to examine writing
inks; reading devices to detect magnetic printing;
special viewing systems for retroreflective securities;
reading systems for machine readable devices.
Level 3 examinations have to be carried out in the
document laboratory, with sophisticated equipment
that can not be used for field examination.
. Electrostatic examination of latent impressions of
handwriting and detection of indentations (inden-
tations of erased writings, traced signatures on
checks or passports);
. Juxtaposition as well as superposition comparison
with the microscope or by digital image processing,
to visualize faint printing defects;
. High magnification microscopy examination to
detect trace evidence of mechanical erasure or
substitution (residues of writing and printing ink,
adhesives; traces of cutting, evidence for manipula-
tion of staples, binding, stitching, etc.);
. Infrared absorption and infrared luminescence
examination to decipher nondestructively faint or
obliterated writing and printing (traced signatures,
modified stamp cachets);
. Microspectrophotometric (colorimetric) analysis
of the spectral composition of colors;
. Chemical detection of chemical erasures;
. Chemical spot reactions to check the organic and
inorganic composition of document materials
(paper, ink);
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Forgery/Counterfeits 583
. Spectroscopic examination of organic compounds
(polymers of synthetic documents, e.g. credit cards;
identification of photocopy toners).
The methodology follows the general system of
forensic examination and standard procedures for
document-related examination, based mainly on the
detection of irregularities or by comparing the ques-
tioned item with an authentic specimen. An absolute
opinion on the authenticity of a questioned document
may, however, not always be given, even after high
technology examination, simply because the differ-
ences between the original and the suspected imitation
are not conclusive. For example, the authentic docu-
ment may be of poor (print) quality, or the highly
dangerous forms of fraud and forgery are not known.
Comprehensive reference manuals and databases
for highly protected security documents, particularly
banknotes, passports and visas, try to keep updated
collections of images from authentic documents,
including close-up views and specifications of rele-
vant security features. In addition document experts
of immigration and forensic science services are net-
working information on detected counterfeits and
forgeries. This is a valuable help for fast authenticity
checking, mainly at the front line of inspection. For
many other documents however, this type of refer-
ence material does not exist. This is also the case with
documents that had been produced in such a variety
of `official' types, that it is no longer clear what
should be considered authentic!
Another factor that is making the unambiguous
identification of suspected questioned documents
more and more difficult, is the improvement in office
technology; these are also available for use in forgery
and other criminal activities. Digital scanners and
printers have reached a technology level able to
produce documents, even security documents, of a
quality standard, which makes it more and more
difficult to differentiate between genuine and fake.
This is particularly true for laser color copy technol-
ogy with its almost unlimited software possibilities.
However, combating color copy fraud is possible and
technologies to prevent it are available. Either by
programming the scanning software, to recognize
automatically unauthorized reproduction, e.g. of
banknotes and checks, or by printing on the copy a
latent machine-readable code, which can lead via the
manufacturer to the customer's copy machine.
The detection of document counterfeits and forgery
is a challenge not only to forensic sciences!
See also: Forgery and Fraud: Counterfeit Currency;
Payment Cards. Document Analysis: Handwriting; Ink
Analysis.
584 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Handwriting
Further Reading
ASTM Standard E 1422-98 Standard Guide for Test
Methods for Forensic Writing Ink Comparison. West
Conshohocken: The American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM).
Ellen D (1997) The Scientific Examination of Documents.
London: Taylor & Francis.
Interpol (ed.) Counterfeits & Forgeries. Amsterdam:
Editions Keesing Publishers.
Passport Handbook. Amsterdam: Editions Keesing Pub-
lishers.
Rapp B (1990) Counterfeit I.D. Made Easy. Port Town-
send, Washington: Loompanics Unlimited.
Rapp B (1991) Credit Card Fraud. Port Townsend,
Washington: Loompanics Unlimited.
Rapp B (1991) Check Fraud Investigation. Port Townsend,
Washington: Loompanics Unlimited.
Van den Assem B, Brongers D, Rath J et al. (1994) Security
Documents ± Practical Guide for the Security Printing
Sector. The Hague: Sdu Publisher.
Van Renesse R (ed) (1998) Optical Document Security.
Boston, London: Artech House.
Handwriting
M Vos, S Strach and P Westwood, Forensic Document
Services, PO Box 543, Queanbeyan, NSW,
Australia
Copyright # 2000 Academic Press
doi:10.1006/rwfs.2000.0475
Introduction
Handwriting can be described as the formation of
letters, characters or symbols, using a writing imple-
ment, according to a recognizable pattern which is
designed to communicate with another person. The
issue of who wrote a particular piece of handwriting
can be central to many legal proceedings. Accepted
ways to prove handwriting include admission by the
writer or the testimony of a person who witnessed the
writing. If the writer is uncooperative or not available,
and there are no apparent witnesses, or the writing is
otherwise in dispute, then there is a need to resort to
other means of identification. There are two other
means acceptable by the courts. The first is to call a
person acquainted with the writer's handwriting; the
second, and more reliable, is to employ the services of
a forensic document examiner to undertake a com-
parative examination of the writing in question with
known specimen handwriting of the suspected writer
of the questioned material. A document examiner may
be asked to examine such diverse documents as anon-
ymous letters, writings and/or signatures on cheques,
credit cards and vouchers, wills, mortgages, other
legal documents, medical records and diaries. It
should be noted that, although documents generally
consist of writing on paper, the forensic document
examiner can be called upon to examine writings on
other less conventional documents such as black-
boards, whiteboards, pieces of pasta, body parts,
fence posts and graffiti on buildings, walls, windows
etc.
Writing is taught from a model system. The act of
continuously repeating a written character fixes the
form of that character in the mind of the writer,
normally during childhood, until the production of
this form becomes `automatic'. From the moment
people start learning to write, they introduce devia-
tions from the model writing system taught. The
extent of these deviations increases as the writing
style becomes more personalized, resulting in a style
which is the product of many factors including the
model system, artistic ability, muscular control, nat-
ure of employment, frequency of writing and expo-
sure to the writings of others. This results in an
individual writing style, the development of which
occurs throughout the childhood and adolescent
years, and often beyond (Fig. 1).
A similar evolution can be seen in the development
of a person's signature with the individual practicing
a certain style which changes over time under the
influence of the factors described above, until an
often quite individualized pictorial representation of
the person's name is formed.
Document examiners refer to writing characteris-
tics attributable to a model system as being `class' or
`style' characteristics. Different styles of writing are
taught in different countries and sometimes regions,
which accounts for some of the variability in hand-
writing styles. The styles taught also change over
time. For example, in Australia today it is unusual
to be taught the elaborate cursive style of writing
which was once commonly taught. A number of
terms are used by document examiners for characters
found infrequently in the general population includ-
ing `unusual', `personal' or possibly `individual' char-
acteristics. The term `individual' characteristic is
somewhat misleading if applied to one letter form,
since one letter form even if very unusual is not
sufficient to individualize, or identify, the writer. In
order to distinguish the writing of any one person, the
handwriting expert builds a background knowledge
over time, from examination of the writings of many
different people, of what can be considered common

Figure 1 Ten people's writing of the place name `Queanbeyan', illustrating the differences and occasional similarities which arise
in the writings of different people.
or unusual features of handwriting and how hand-
writing can change under different circumstances. If
sufficient handwriting is present, it is the combination
of rare and common features which serves to identify
a particular writer.
Although we use the terms forensic document
examiner and handwriting expert interchangeably
for the purposes of this article, it should be noted
that the term `handwriting expert' is sometimes used
by those who seek to determine a person's psycholo-
gical characteristics from their handwriting (graphol-
ogists). Caution should be taken when engaging the
services of a `handwriting expert' to ensure that the
person engaged is fully trained and qualified in the
field of forensic document examination. Although the
bulk of the work of most forensic document exam-
iners focuses on the scientific comparative examina-
tion of handwriting and signatures, there are
document examiners who almost exclusively examine
aspects of documents other than handwriting.
Handwriting Comparison
When a particular piece of handwriting is called into
question, the handwriting expert will examine the
writing in question visually, with the aid of hand held
magnifiers and with a microscope. Features such as
the details of construction of individual letters and
letter combinations, comparative height and size
relationships of particular letters and letter combina-
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Handwriting 585
tions, alignment of letters and words, slope, speed of
writing, angularity, pressure, shading, diacritics and
layout are considered.
Constructional details such as line direction and
sequences of separate strokes can often be determined
from microscopic examination. Evidence of the
sequence of separate strokes can sometimes be
obtained by the direction of any small terminating
and commencing strokes between separate parts of a
character, called spurs or ticks, or faint connections
between these parts, showing the direction of pen
travel just before a pen lift, or just after the pen has
contacted the paper following a pen lift. Usually,
examination of several examples of each letter are
required to make such a determination. Ball-point
pen striations can also be used to determine line
directions as such striations run from the inside to
the outside of a curved stroke (Fig. 2). The striation
pattern present at the conclusion of a stroke, may be
retained on the ball of the pen and transferred to the
beginning of the next stroke. This `memory effect' can
be used to determine the sequence of strokes. Other
characteristics of the ball-point pen stroke that allow
determination of direction of stroke include `gooping'
(an extra heavy deposit of ink) following a curve and
dried or reduced ink starts at the beginning of lines.
For this reason, it is strongly recommended that at
least some of any requested set of specimen hand-
writing is written with a ball-point pen. Higher power
microscopic (630 or more) examination can also
586 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Handwriting
Figure 2 Ball-point pen writings showing (A) striations and
(B) reduced ink start. Arrows indicate direction of pen
movement.
sometimes be used to determine line direction of ball-
point pen writing, and almost always for pencil writ-
ing. This can be determined from the build up of ink
or graphite predominantly on the `upstream' side of
the paper fibers which faced the approaching writing
tip.
The known writing of the person suspected of
writing the questioned document is examined in a
manner similar to that employed with respect to the
questioned document. Specimen handwriting needs
to be comparable in style with the questioned hand-
writing. For example, questioned upper case block
printing should be compared with specimen upper
case block printing. It is also preferable to examine
specimen writing on forms of a similar printed layout.
Once suitable specimen handwriting is obtained, an
initial comparison is made between the known writ-
ing samples to ascertain if they can reasonably be
taken to have been written by the one person; it can
happen that documents which are said to bear the
known writing of one person may include (at times
unwittingly) the writing of other persons. This is a
particular consideration when using diaries, address
books or other documents where many persons may
have had access to and written on the document.
From the examination of specimen writing, the expert
assesses how the writing of this particular individual
varies within itself.
Once the requirements for suitable specimen hand-
writing are met, the questioned and specimen hand-
writings are compared with each other, and an
assessment made of similarities and differences
between the two writings. A character in the ques-
tioned writing is considered to be similar if it, or its
range of variation, falls within the range of variation
for this character in the specimen handwriting. If the
character or its range of variation in the questioned
writing falls outside the range of variation seen in the
specimen handwriting (for example there are differ-
ences in form (shape) or in direction, number or
sequence of strokes), then this is considered to be a
difference. Some differences are regarded as more
significant than others; for example, the repeated
appearance of a different sequence or direction of
strokes for a naturally written block capital letter
(Fig. 3) or numeral may be regarded as a more funda-
mental difference than a shape difference of a lower-
case cursive letter. If significant differences are found,
this usually results in a conclusion that the two writ-
ings are unlikely to have been written by the same
person or, alternatively, there is nothing to link the
questioned and specimen writings as being by one
person. Although definite negative conclusions are
sometimes justified, they should be used sparingly
and in special circumstances. This is because of the
possibility which should be considered, although
remote, of a person having two distinct handwriting
styles. With similarities also, some are more signifi-
cant than others. The significance is greater if it
involves a handwriting feature found more rarely in
the appropriate general population. This is usually
assessed subjectively, based on the experience of the
examiner in observing handwriting features in very
many writers. The keeping of handwriting reference
collections, and using such references to determine the
rarity or otherwise of a particular feature, is becoming
more prevalent and can provide some statistical back-
ing for the results of handwriting comparisons.
Finally the examiner, before arriving at a finding,
assesses the results of the comparison process in terms
of similarities and/or differences in all comparable
features of the handwriting and their significance. If
no significant differences are found, the examiner
assesses the likelihood that all of the similarities
could have occurred by chance in the writings of
two people, or alternatively could have originated in
one person simulating the handwriting of another
without leaving any evidence (see below) of the simu-
lation process. These are usually assessed as subjective
probabilities, based on the premise (from the prob-
ability multiplication law for independent events) that
the probability of very many similar handwriting
features, not necessarily individually rare, occurring
in combination in the writings of two people is
considered extremely small or negligible. Where the
probability of a chance match in the writings of two
people and the probability that another person has
successfully simulated the writing style of the writer of
the specimens are both considered negligibly small,
the document examiner reaches an unqualified con-
clusion that the writer of the specimens wrote the
588 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Handwriting
hood of a chance `match' occurring between an idio-
syncratic signature and the handwriting of another
person writing this signature style without knowledge
of the genuine signature is significantly reduced.
For most, but not all signature cases, which involve
the comparison of a set of specimen signatures with
generally pictorially similar questioned signature(s),
the main issue is whether the questioned signature was
written by the writer of the specimens, or whether the
signature was written as a simulation of the style of
the genuine signature. It is not possible to determine
by handwriting/signature comparison methods who
wrote a completely simulated signature (or handwrit-
ing). In such a simulation the normal handwriting
features are distorted by the simulation process. In less
complete simulations there may be evidence of the
writer's natural handwriting characteristics. For most
handwriting comparison cases, the main issue for
generally similar writings is whether the writer of
the specimens wrote the questioned writing, or
whether a chance match has occurred in the writing
of two people. It should be stressed that this does not
mean that handwriting and signature comparisons are
fundamentally different, simply that there is often a
different emphasis.
General Considerations for Handwriting
and Signature Comparisons
For all handwriting and signature comparison cases,
three main hypotheses to explain the observations
must be considered.
1. The writer of the specimens wrote the questioned
material.
2. A person other than the writer of the specimens
wrote the questioned material, any similarities to
the questioned writing having arisen by chance
coincidence.
3. A person other than the writer of the specimens
wrote the questioned material, any similarities to
the questioned material having arisen because of a
simulation process.
Complications which may further arise are considera-
tions of distortion, disguise or self-simulation of the
writing in the case of hypothesis (1), combinations of
possible effects of (2) and (3), multiple writers etc.
The document examiner needs to consider all feasible
possibilities which might explain the observations
and be aware of the danger of not considering all of
these possibilities.
Disguise of Handwriting and Signatures
There are many types of documents on which dis-
guised handwriting appears, from an innocently sent
Valentine's Day card to a note demanding money
from a bank teller.
Obvious features of a person's handwriting, such as
slope and/or size, are often changed as a form of
disguise. Some people will deliberately introduce let-
ter forms that are markedly different from their usual
letter forms and some will use the unaccustomed hand
in their writing. In the case of the latter, the writing
produced can display the effects of poor pen control
and appear untidy, but the subconsciously produced
letter constructions and proportions may remain
approximately the same, with the possible exception
of direction of some strokes. The major difficulty with
most disguised writing is maintaining the disguise
over a length of text. Where a basic disguise may
succeed over a few words, the disguise is often for-
gotten over a number of sentences with the writer
reverting to a natural handwriting style.
A totally different style of writing may also be used
as a disguise. For example, if a person normally uses
printed script, cursive writing may be tried as a
disguise. In this instance however, there will often
be examples of the alternative style available for
comparison. There are, nevertheless, some forms of
carefully disguised writing for which determination
of the writer from handwriting comparison methods
may be difficult or impossible.
Disguised signatures are written by those persons
intending to later deny the signature they have writ-
ten. Generally the signature produced is so close to the
specimen signatures, except for one or two differ-
ences, that the document examiner will identify the
signature as being genuine despite the attempted dis-
guise (Figs 5 and 6). Self-simulation of a signature or
handwriting as a form of disguise can be significantly
more difficult or impossible to detect. The writer of a
completely simulated signature or piece of writing
may be impossible to determine.
Simulation of Handwriting and Signatures
Simulation of handwriting presents a different set of
problems for the potential offender. The person in-
tending to copy the writing of another person needs to
obtain some specimen writing of the other person.
The copyist then has a number of options. The hand-
writing can be `drawn' or some form of tracing can be
used to produce the simulated writing. When drawing
the writing, the copyist must stop frequently to check
the construction of letters and words used by the
person whose writing is being simulated, considerably
reducing the speed of the writing process. Where no
examples of a particular letter are available, the copy-
ist must use some other form. As a result, the writing
thus produced is generally slowly written; the words
 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Handwriting 589

A
C

Figure 5 (A) Genuine signature `C. Lewis' and (B) slowly written freehand simulation of (A); (C) detail of the letter `e' from the
simulated signature exhibiting poor line quality; (D) detail of the letter `w' from the simulated signature showing uncharacteristic
pen lift.

Figure 6 (A) Genuine signature `C. Lewis' and (B) quickly written freehand simulation of (A). Signature (B) shows errors in letter
proportion and size relationships and an uncharacteristic pen lift in the final part of the signature (C).

may display many pauses in writing where none
would usually occur, and the letter forms may display
many more variations than the genuine writing since
the desire to copy the correct letter conflicts with the
copyist's natural way of writing a particular letter.
There may be evidence of the copyist's natural hand-
writing style in the simulation and other differences
from the genuine writing, especially where an attempt
is made to write fluently.
Tracing is the second major method of simulating
handwriting, with the appropriate letters and words
drawn from a pool of writing available to the forger.
This method, although it can be effective in suppres-
sing the handwriting style of the copyist, almost
inevitably still has the problem of lack of fluency in
the writing. Even if at first glance the writing pro-
duced appears to be pictorially similar to the genuine
writing, it will almost certainly be slowly completed
with many stops and pauses in the ink line. Tracing
methods can also leave evidence on the questioned
document, depending on the method used. For exam-
ple, traced guide lines in the form of pencil transfers,
carbon copy writing and indented impressions can
also usually be detected by the techniques available to
the forensic document examiner. Should the specimen
document from which the simulation has been made
become available, this may also bear such evidence in
terms of matching of particular letter or word forms,
or indentations of the questioned writing.
Signatures contain many fewer letter forms than
handwriting but present the same problems to the
person attempting the simulation. A further difficulty
arises with elaborate signatures as it can be difficult to
determine directions and sequence of strokes. As with
590 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Handwriting
handwriting, it is extremely difficult to maintain both
fluency and the correct forms of the signature com-
ponents. Where the copyist attempts a highly fluent
simulation, evidence of the simulation process is
usually present in the form of substantial departures
from normal letter constructions. In the case of many
traced or freehand simulated signatures, as only one
or two signatures are often used as models, the
signatures may be far more similar to each other
than would be expected of a group of genuine signa-
tures. This is especially true for tracings.
Factors Influencing Handwriting
Many factors can affect a person's handwriting, and
no one person writes so consistently that each letter
form is exactly the same. However, the relative
method of construction, letter proportions etc.
remain consistent within a small range of variation,
even if the writing is completed on an uneven surface,
at speed or under some other stress. More significant
variations in writing style are caused by such factors
as age, injuries, illness (mental or physical) with
handwriting showing a reduced speed, tremor in the
form of erratic impulse movements and there may
also be misplaced or poorly joined strokes. Attempted
imitation of this type of writing sometimes shows a
high frequency tremor which may not be consistent
with the tremor of the genuine writer, inconsistent
letter constructions or careful retouching of strokes
which exceeds the skill of the genuine writer. At times
the use of medication can improve a person's hand-
writing for a limited period of time, and this is
considered by the document examiner.
The only scientific method of determining whether
a piece of handwriting or a signature has been written
by a particular person whose handwriting may have
been affected by such factors as described above, is to
obtain as much comparable writing as possible, writ-
ten when the factors applied. This normally means
obtaining handwriting or signature specimens written
as close as possible to the date of the questioned
material.
Determination of the genuineness or otherwise of
handwriting and/or signatures of the infirm can be
among the most difficult examinations which the
forensic document examiner undertakes, especially
when adequate specimen signatures or handwriting
reflecting the infirmity are lacking. Nevertheless, use-
ful, if not always certain, determinations can be made
by the standard methods of careful examination and
comparison with the available specimens, looking in
particular for similarities or differences in the more
subtle features of the handwriting and/or signature.
Examination from Reproduction
Documents
Reproductions of handwritten documents, in the form
of photocopies, fax copies and computer-imaged
reproductions are often submitted to the document
examiner either as questioned or specimen writings.
Of necessity, examination from a reproduction pro-
vides reduced information. For example, microscopic
examination is of little value, except in determining
the nature of the copy, since the fine details of writings
are lost in the resolution provided by the copy. Never-
theless, useful handwriting comparisons can be made
from examination of reproduced documents, particu-
larly good clear modern photocopies, although the
examination is restricted mainly to the grosser pictor-
ial features of the writing. Suitably qualified conclu-
sions are usually expressed, along with warnings that
it cannot necessarily be assumed that a true reproduc-
tion of an original document has been examined as
photocopy or computer manipulation may sometimes
be accomplished without leaving evidence of the
manipulation in the resulting reproduction.
Other Examinations
Document examination encompasses much more
than comparison of handwriting and signatures.
Document examiners also consider the inks and print-
ing seen on the paper, the paper itself, folding, stamps
and seals and writing impressions. All of these,
together with the handwriting and signatures, go
towards proving the provenance of any particular
questioned document.
See also: Document Analysis: Analytical Methods;
Forgery/Counterfeits; Ink Analysis; Document Dating.
Further Reading
Conway JVP (1959) Evidential Documents. Springfield, IL:
Charles C Thomas.
Ellen D (1997) The Scientific Examination of Documents,
2nd edn. London: Taylor & Francis.
Harrison WR (1966) Suspect Documents. 2nd impression
with supplement. London: Sweet & Maxwell.
Hilton O (1982) Scientific Examination of Questioned
Documents, revised edn. New York: Elsevier Science.
Haber RA and Headrick AM (1959) Handwriting Identi-
fication: Facts and Fundamentals. Boca Rota, FL: CRC
Press LLC.
Osborn AS (1922) The Problem of Proof. Albany, NY:
Matthew Bender.
Osborn AS (1929) Questioned Documents, 2nd edn.
Albany, NY: Boyd Printing.
Osborn AS and Osborn AD (1946) Questioned Document
Problems, 2nd edn. Albany, NY: Boyd Printing.

Ink Analysis
R L Brunelle, Brunelle Forensic Laboratories,
Fredericksburg, VA, USA
Copyright # 2000 Academic Press
doi:10.1006/rwfs.2000.0479
Introduction
Chemical and physical analysis of inks on questioned
documents provides valuable information regarding
their authenticity. Comparison of these chemical and
physical properties of two or more inks can deter-
mine: (1) if the inks were made by the same manu-
facturer; (2) in some cases, whether the inks are
products of the same production batch; and (3) the
first production date of the specific ink formulation
involved. When dating tags are detected, it is possible
to determine the actual year or years when the ink
was manufactured. Dating tags are unique chemicals
that have been added to ball-point inks by some ink
companies as a way to determine the year the ink was
made.
Relative age comparison tests performed on inks of
the same formula and written on the same type of
paper with the same storage conditions (performed by
measuring changing solubility properties of inks) can
estimate how long inks have been written on paper.
This is done by: (1) comparing the rates and extents of
extraction of questioned and known dated inks in
organic solvents by thin-layer chromatography (TLC)
densitometry; (2) comparing changes in dye concen-
trations by TLC and TLC densitometry; and (3)
comparing the volatile ink components by gas chro-
matography±mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In cases
where known dated writings are not available for
comparison with questioned inks, accelerated aging
(heating the ink to induce aging of the ink) can
sometimes be used to estimate the age of ink using
any or all of the above described techniques. Iron-
based inks can be dated by measuring the migration
of iron along the fibers of the paper by Scanning auger
microscopy.
This article describes state of the art procedures for
the chemical and physical comparison, identification
and dating of inks on questioned documents.
Composition of Major Types of Writing Inks
Knowledge of the composition of inks is necessary to
understand the reasons for the various methods used
to analyze inks. Also, knowledge of the first produc-
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Ink Analysis 591
tion date for each type of ink or certain ingredients in
the inks is useful for dating inks.
Carbon (India) ink
In its simplist form carbon inks consist of amorphous
carbon shaped into a solid cake with glue. It is made
into a liquid for writing by grinding the cake and
suspending the particles in a water±glue medium. A
pigmented dye may be used to improve the color.
Liquid carbon inks are also commercially available. In
the liquid carbon inks shellac and borax are used in
place of animal glue and a wetting agent is added to
aid in the mixing of the shellac and carbon. Carbon
inks are insoluble in water, very stable and are not
decomposed by air, light, heat, moisture or microbio-
logical organisms. This class of ink has been available
for more than 2000 years.
Fountain pen inks
There are two types of fountain pen inks: (1) iron-
gallotannate type and (2) aqueous solutions of syn-
thetic dyes. Modern inks of type (2) contain synthetic
blue dyes to provide an immediate blue color to the
ink which gradually turns black after oxidation on
paper. This explains the origin of the name blue±
black fountain pen ink. This class of ink is also very
stable. This ink is insoluble in water and cannot be
effectively erased by abrasion. The most popular
fountain pen ink (developed in the 1950s) consists
of an aqueous solution of synthetic dyes. These inks
are bright and attractive in color, but they are not
nearly as stable as the carbon or blue±black inks.
Some of the synthetic dyes used fade and are soluble
in water. The most modern inks of this type contain
pigmented dyes, such as copper phthalocyanine
(introduced in about 1953) which makes these inks
much more permanent.
Ballpoint inks
The ballpoint pen was developed in Europe about
1939 and was initially distributed in Argentina about
1943. In 1946, several million Reynolds ballpoint
pens reached the market in the United States.
Ballpoint inks consist of synthetic dyes (sometimes
carbon or graphite is also added for permanence) in
various glycol solvents or benzyl alcohol. The dyes in
ballpoint inks can consist of up to 50% of the total
formulation. Several other ingredients are usually
added to the ink to impart specific characteristics.
These ingredients consist of fatty acids, resins, sur-
face active agents, corrosion control ingredients and
592 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Ink Analysis
viscosity adjustors. The fatty acids (oleic is the most
common) act as lubricants to the ball of the pen and
they also help the starting characteristics of the ball
point.
Ballpoint inks made before about 1950 used oil-
based solvents such as mineral oil, linseed oil, reci-
noleic acid, methyl and ethyl esters of recinoleic acid,
glycerin monoricinoleate, coconut fatty acids, sorbi-
tal derivatives, and plasticizers such as tricresylpho-
sphate. Modern ballpoint inks (post-1950) are
referred to as glycol-based inks, because of the com-
mon use of ethylene glycol or glycol derivatives as a
solvent for the dyes. Benzyl alcohol is also commonly
used as the vehicle (solvent) by some ink manufac-
turers. Chelated dyes (introduced commercially
around 1953) are stable to light. Red, green, yellow
and other colored chelated dyes are now used for
various colored ballpoint inks.
Pressurized ballpoint inks were developed about
1968. These pens contain a pressurized feed system
instead of gravity flow. The physical characteristics of
these inks are quite different from the standard glycol
based ballpoint inks. The composition is basically the
same, but this ink does not become fluid until dis-
turbed by the rotation of the ball point in the socket.
Cartridges containing this ink are under the pressure
of nitrogen or some other inert gas. The positive
pressure on the ink allows the pen to write in all
positions and in a vacuum. These pens are used by
astronauts during space travel.
Rolling ball marker inks
Rolling ball marker inks were introduced in Japan in
about 1968 and shortly thereafter in the United
States. These inks are water based and usually contain
organic liquids such as glycols and formamide to
retard the drying of the ball point. The dyes in these
inks are water soluble or acidic dye salts. The light
fastness of these dyes range from good for the metal-
ized acid dyes to poor for some of the basic dye salts.
Water fastness is usually poor, except that some of
these dyes have an affinity for cellulose fibers in paper
which produces a degree of water fastness. Water-
resistant rolling ball marker inks are also available.
These inks are totally insoluble in water and can only
be dissolved in strong organic solvents, such as pyr-
idine or dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO).
Fiber or porous tip pen inks
This class of inks was developed in Japan about 1962
and in the United States about 1965. Fiber tip inks are
usually water or xylene based and contain dyes and
additives similar to those in rolling ball marker inks
and fountain pen inks. The water-based inks are
obviously water soluble, whereas the xylene-based
inks are water resistant and can only be dissolved
with strong organic solvents. Formamide or glycol
solvents are essential ingredients in fiber tip inks to
keep the fiber tip from drying out. Fiber tip inks that
contain metalized dyes are light fast.
Gel-pen inks
The most recent development in the writing instru-
ment industry is the introduction of the gel-pen by the
Japanese. Four brands of gel-pen inks have been
introduced: (1) the Uniball Signo by Mitsubishi; (2)
the Zebra J-5; (3) the Pentel Hybrid; and (4) the
Sakura Gelly Roll pen. These pens have been mar-
keted by the Japanese since the mid-1980s and a
limited supply of the pens was sold in the United
States about 1993. Two US manufacturers are now
producing these pens.
Gel inks contain completely insoluble colored pig-
ments rather than organic dyes. Writing with this ink
is very similar to the appearance of the writing with a
ballpoint pen. This ink, which is water based, is a gel
and not a liquid. It is insoluble both in water and
strong organic solvents. This physical property makes
it impossible to analyze (by traditional methods) for
the purpose of comparing two or more inks of this
type.
Ink Comparisons and Identifications
Inks are usually examined for three reasons:
1. To compare two or more ink entries to determine
similarities or differences in inks which can pro-
vide information concerning whether entries have
been added or altered.
2. To determine if two or more entries were written
with the same formula and batch of ink, thus
providing a lead as to whether certain entries
could have been written with the same pen.
3. To date ink entries to determine whether docu-
ments have been back-dated. This section deals
with the first two reasons for analyzing inks.
Nondestructive methods of comparison should be
carried out first, because chemical analysis causes
minor damage to the document by removing ink
samples for analysis. Typically, the nondestructive
methods include: (1) a visual and microscopic exam-
ination of the writing to assess its color and the type
of pen used; (2) infrared reflectance and luminescence

examinations to determine whether the inks reflect or
absorb infrared light and whether the inks luminesce;
and (3) viewing the inks under long- and shortwave
ultraviolet light to determine if the inks are fluores-
cent under these wavelengths of light. Often these
techniques are sufficient to determine if two or more
inks are different. However, if these techniques fail to
detect any differences in the inks, then further che-
mical analysis is necessary to determine if the inks
being compared really have the same formula.
The most widely used technique for comparing and
identifying inks is TLC. This technique separates the
dyes in the ink and the invisible organic components
in the ink. This allows a direct comparison of the
composition of inks being examined on the same TLC
plate. To determine the relative concentrations of
dyes present in the ink, the dyes separated on the
TLC plate are scanned in a TLC scanning densit-
ometer. The method is fast, reliable and inexpensive.
High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
has also been used for comparing inks with some
success. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
(GC-MS) is a very useful technique but the equipment
is expensive.
Method of chemical analysis
Equipment, materials and solvents
. Merck HPTLC plates (silica gel without fluores-
cent indicator). The plates should be activated at
1008C for 15 min before use.
. TLC scanning densitometer
. Reagent grade pyridine, ethyl acetate, 1-butanol,
ethanol, benzyl alcohol, DMSO, and water
. 1 dram (1.8 g) glass vials with screw caps
. 10 ml and 4 ml disposable micropipettes
. TLC glass developing chamber to accommodate
standard 4 in 6 8 in (10 cm 6 20 cm) TLC plates
with cover
. 20 guage syringe needle and plunger (the point of
the needle must be filed so that the point is flat)
. 10 ml and 20 ml automatic pipettes
. temperature controlled oven
Procedure
. Using the syringe needle and plunger, punch out
about 10 plugs of ink from the written line.
. Place the plugs in the glass vial and add 1±2 drops
of the appropriate solvent to the vial to dissolve the
ink (usually pyridine for ballpoint ink and ethanol
and water (1:1) for nonballpoint inks. Water resis-
tant nonballpoint inks may require using pyridine
or DMSO). Allow 15 min for the ink to dissolve.
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Ink Analysis 593
. Note and record the color of the ink in solution and
then spot the ink on to the TLC plate using the
10 ml micropipette. Keep the spots small by spot-
ting intermittently and allowing the spots to dry
between each spotting.
. Repeat the above for all ink samples to be com-
pared. Up to about 20 samples can be spotted on the
same TLC plate. Be sure to analyze a sample of the
paper with no ink as a control.
. Place the TLC plate with the spotted inks in a
temperature-controlled oven for approximately
10 min at 808C. Allow the plate to cool to room
temperature then place the plate in the developing
chamber using a solvent system of ethyl ace-
tate:ethanol:water (70:35:30 by vol.). The solvent
system should be allowed to equilibrate in the
developing chamber for at least 15 min.
. Allow the TLC to develop for 15 min, then remove
it from the chamber and dry in the oven for
approximately 15 min at 808C.
. View the developed TLC visually and under ultra-
violet light to determine which inks match in
terms of the dyes and fluorescent components
present.
. Scan the plate in the scanning TLC densitometer to
measure the relative concentrations of the dyes
present in the inks. The dyes are scanned at
585 nm for blue and black inks if a spectrometer
type densitometer is used. Video densitometers see
all spots in shades of black and therefore no wave-
length setting is needed for this instrument. (If the
above solvent system did not adequately separate
the dyes in the ink for accurate densitometer read-
ings, repeat the tests using 1-butanol:ethanol:water
(50:10:15, by vol.).
. Compare the relative concentrations of the dyes
present in the various inks. Failure at this point to
detect any significant differences among the inks
compared justifies a conclusion that all inks are
consistent with being of the same formulation. This
statement is based on the finding of no significant
differences in the nondestructive tests and the che-
mical analysis. It should be noted that complete
identification of an ink is not possible, because not
all of the original ingredients in ink are present in
ink dried on paper.
. To identify the manufacturer and specific formula-
tion of questioned inks, standard inks of known
manufacture and formulation must be analyzed
simultaneous with the questioned inks using the
same procedures described above. To do this, how-
ever, requires access to a complete and comprehen-
sive collection of standard inks and an analytical
method that distinguishes each standard. The
strength of any identification is only as strong as
594 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Ink Analysis
the completeness of the standard ink reference
collection and the ability to identify its inks.
. If the ink is properly identified, it is possible to
determine from the manufacturer when that speci-
fic formulation of ink was first made. This may
determine if a document was backdated.
Although the above procedures are the most com-
monly used and have withstood the test of the courts
for the comparison and identification of inks, other
methods are available. For example, gas chromato-
graphy (GC) and GC-MS can be used to detect any
volatile organic ingredients that might be present in
the inks. HPLC can be used to detect volatile and
nonvolatile components. Electron microscopy can be
used to distinguish carbon from graphite, when these
are present in inks. Time and the amount of ink
sample available for analysis usually make the use
of these techniques impractical.
Dating of Inks
As mentioned earlier in this article, there is a huge
demand for the dating of inks on questioned docu-
ments. Any time during an investigation when there is
some question about the date of preparation of a
document, an ink dating chemist is needed. Over the
past 30 years, the ability to perform these examina-
tions has become widely known and recognized
among forensic scientists, document examiners and
attorneys throughout the world. The ink dating pro-
cedures that will be described have passed the Frye
and Daubert tests on numerous occasions and are
therefore routinely accepted in US courts. Testimony
has also been admitted using these techniques in Israel
and Australia.
First date of production method
After the ink is uniquely/positively identified, the first
date of production of that ink or certain ingredients in
the ink is determined from the manufacturer of that
specific ink formulation. If the ink was not made until
after the date of the document, then it can be con-
cluded that the document was backdated. If the ink
was available on the date of the document, then the
document could have been written on that date.
Ink tag method
If an ink tag is identified in an ink, it is possible to
determine the actual year or years when an ink was
made. Tags have been added to some ballpoint inks
by the Formulab Company since before 1970; how-
ever, the use of tags in their inks was discontinued in
June 1994. Since the tags are considered proprietary
information by Formulab, no further information
about the tags can be reported here. Formulab
should be contacted directly, if this information is
needed.
Ink dating tags are detected and identified by TLC
using a solvent system of chlorobenzene and ethyl
acetate (5:1, v/v). Standard samples of the tags should
be run simultaneously on the same TLC plate as the
questioned inks. The tags, if present, are viewed
under longwave ultraviolet light and the RF values
of the tags present in questioned inks are compared
with the RF values of the standard tags. The dates
the various tags were used must be obtained from
Formulab.
Relative age comparison methods
Dating inks by this procedure is based on the scien-
tifically proven premise that as ink ages on paper,
there are corresponding changes in the solubility
properties of the inks. Therefore, by comparing the
solubility or extraction properties of questioned inks
with known dated inks of the same formula on the
same type of paper and stored under the same condi-
tions, it becomes possible to estimate how long the
ink has been written on the document. Two or more
inks of the same formulation can be compared with-
out known dated writings to determine whether the
writings were made at the same or different times.
This is only true if the inks being compared are still
aging (drying), because after the ink has aged out
(completely dry), no differences in solubility proper-
ties are expected, even if the inks were written at
different times. Typically inks will become totally dry
(as measured by these procedures) within 6 years;
some inks become dry in less than 6 years.
When two or more matching inks are compared
without known dated writings, it is still possible to
determine the sequence in which the inks were writ-
ten. This again requires knowing that the inks are still
aging and also knowing how the inks age. For exam-
ple, some inks extract faster and more completely in
organic solvents as the ink ages; whereas, others
extract more slowly and less completely as they age.
To determine which way the ink ages, a sample of the
ink is heated at 1008C for 30 min. The rate and extent
of extraction of this heated sample into an organic
solvent is compared with an unheated sample of the
same ink to determine if the heated (totally aged)
sample extracted faster and more completely than the
unheated sample, or vice versa.
 DOCUMENT ANALYSIS/Ink Analysis 595

R-Ratio (rate of extraction) method and percent . Calculate the various R-ratios for each sample by
(extent) extraction method letting the percent of ink extracted in the weak
solvent at 10 min equal one. Then calculate the R-
. Using the syringe and plunger, remove 10±15 plugs
ratios for each time interval of 0.5, 1.5, 3 and
of ink and paper and place them into 1 dram glass
10 min. This gives a normalized curve.
vials. Cap and label the vial with the sample
. To obtain R-ratio curves, plot R-ratios vs. time of
number. Repeat for each sample to be analyzed.
extraction (Fig. 1). Since all samples are being
. Set the timer to 10 min.
compared in the same manner, it is not necessary
. Using the automatic 20 ml pipette, add 20 ml of a
to correct for volume changes caused by successive
weak solvent to the vial containing the ink sample
aliquots removed from the vials.
and start the timer immediately. (For almost all
. Compare the R-ratio curves of all inks tested of
ballpoint inks, 1-butanol is a good weak solvent.)
the same formulation. To estimate the age of the
. Stir by rotating the vial containing the ink and
questioned inks, compare the R-ratio curves of the
weak solvent immediately after adding the weak
questioned inks with known dated inks.
solvent and just before each aliquot is removed for
. Calculate the percentage or extent of ink extracted
spotting.
in the weak solvent at the various time intervals, by
. Spot 4 ml aliquots of dissolved ink in one contin-
dividing the reading for each weak solvent spot by
uous application on a TLC plate at 0.5, 1.5, 3 and
the total amount of ink extracted in the weak and
10 min intervals. Place these spots side by side at
strong solvent, then multiply by 100. Figure 2
one end of the plate approximately 1 cm apart. (It
shows the amount of ink extracted in 10 min.
may be necessary to use tweezers to remove the
pipette from the vial.) Note: If a nonballpoint ink is A simplified percent extraction procedure can be
being analyzed, it may be necessary to spot the 4 ml performed by extracting each sample for just 1 min
aliquots intermittently to prevent the spot from in the weak solvent, then after spotting this 1 min
getting too large. The spot should be no larger extract, the strong solvent is added directly to the
than 0.3 cm in diameter weak solvent remaining in the vial. Then after allow-
. Repeat the above procedures for each sample to be ing the strong solvent to extract for 15 min a second
analyzed. aliquot is spotted. This procedure produces just two
. Evaporate the solvent remaining in the vials in an spots to measure in the densitometer. Although R-
oven at 808C (about 15 min). ratios cannot be determined by this procedure, accu-
. Remove the vials from the oven and allow them to racy and reproducibility of the percent extraction
cool to room temperature.
. Using the automatic pipette, add 10 ml of a strong
solvent to each vial and allow to extract for 15 min.
(Benzyl alcohol is the solvent of choice for ball-
point inks and some nonballpoint inks. Some non-
ballpoint inks may require using ethanol:water
(1:1) or DMSO for water resistant nonballpoint
inks.)
. Spot 4 ml of the ink extracted with the strong
solvent adjacent to the weak solvent spots. (If
benzyl alcohol is used for the strong solvent, spot
in one continuous application of the pipette to the
plate. If pyridine is used, spot intermittently to keep
the spot from getting too large.)
. Repeat the above steps for each sample.
. Dry the spots on the TLC plate at 808C for about
15 min.
. Remove the plate from the oven and allow to cool
to room temperature.
. Scan the plate in the scanning TLC densitometer
along the path of the four weak solvent spots and Figure 1 R-Ratio curves (rates of extraction) for Bic black
the one strong solvent spot and read the relative ballpoint inks written in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1998. The match-
concentrations of the five spots. ing curves for the 1992 and 1994 inks means that the ink
. Repeat the scan described above for each sample. became totally dry after 4 years, because there was no change
in rate of extraction after this time.