Our Commitment to Independence and Impartiality

RM Real is a third-party authentication firm that does not engage in purchasing, selling or trading autographed memorabilia on any level. We are 100% committed to remaining completely independent and impartial in our evaluation of the items we are tasked to review. Our sole interest is determining a signature’s authenticity.

Our Process and Commitment to Excellence

RM Real will only issue our exclusive Certificate of Authenticity to items that have been reviewed in person by our president, Michael Ciravolo. Under no circumstances will we perform authentication examinations via digital files because an item cannot be properly examined by reviewing an image of a signature on a computer screen.

All signatures examined are compared against those contained in RM Real’s extensive exemplar file, which contains the known writings and signatures of countless celebrities, athletes and historical figures. This exemplar file is frequently updated, as signatures and handwriting change throughout a person’s life.

When reviewing a signature, we examine for several factors prior to issuing our Certificate of Authenticity. These factors include, but are not limited to, letter shape and formation, pen lifts and hesitation, blunt starts and stops, speed and pen pressure, tracing, patching, slant, angle and flow of the signature, letter spacing and sizing, and ink age.

RM Real uses several tools when examining a signature’s authenticity, including microscopes and magnifiers, a lighted LED Magnification-Visor, a document scanner, which measures handwriting up to 600 dots per inch (dpi). These tools allow us to view signatures in greater detail, revealing the subtle traits of letter formation, slant and flow, among other things. Our most advanced tool is the ProScope, which is used by many law enforcement and forensic labs. The ProScope is a state-of-the-art high-powered lighted digital microscope that has the ability to stream true pixels at higher resolutions. What a ProScope can do is actually get inside a signature and test for traits like feathering, tracing, overlapping and many other factors that help us determine the authenticity of a signature. With this incredible tool, we can examine a signature up to 400 times what can be seen with the naked eye.

Our Certificates of Authenticity

After a thorough examination, each item RM Real deems authentic will receive our exclusive Certificate of Authenticity. This document will bear the RM Real counterfeit-proof authentication hologram that includes a matching number on both the Certificate and the item itself. Each Certificate will also bear the live signature of our president, Michael Ciravolo, certifying that he has examined the signatures personally.

If you have an item in your possession that has received a Certificate of Authenticity from RM Real, you can feel confident the item has undergone a rigorous examination, and in the expert opinion of this organization, the signature on your item is authentic. If you would like to look up your Certificate in our online registry, please visit our Look Up Certificate page.

Our Rejection Letter

If after a thorough examination, an item does not meet the quality standards to receive a Certificate of Authenticity from RM Real, a Rejection Letter will be issued explaining why the item was not deemed authentic. This letter will include a photo of the item submitted, as well as a list of signature characteristics that resulted in our expert’s opinion. The rejection letter will include a unique number, which will be permanently indexed in RM Real’s online database, and will bear the live signature of our president, Michael Ciravolo.