Champion skeptic and right-up-there-with-Randi debunker of the extraordinary, Joe Nickell, has a new book ... better not let him look too closely at your Zibit!

Joe Nickell "Real or Fake: Studies in Authentication"

Will the rare autographed baseball your great-uncle gave you put your children through college? Is your grandmother's chest of drawers really a seventeenth-century antique, or merely a reproduction? A leader in forgery detection and forensic investigation, Joe Nickell reveals his secrets to detecting artifacts items in Real or Fake: Studies in Authentication. Detailing how the pros determine whether an Abraham Lincoln signature is forged or if a photograph of Emily Dickinson is genuine, Nickell provides the essential tools necessary to identify counterfeits. In this general introduction to the principles of authentication, Nickell provides readers with step-by-step explanations of the science used to detect falsified documents, photographs, and other objects. Illustrating methods used on hit shows such as Antiques Roadshow and History Detectives, Nickell recommends that aspiring investigators employ a comprehensive approach to identifying imitations. One should consider the object's provenance (the origin or derivation of an artifact), content (clues in the scene or item depicted), and material composition (what artifacts are made of), as well as the results of scientific analyses, including radiographic, spectroscopic, microscopic, and microchemical tests. Including fascinating cases drawn from Nickell's illustrious career, Real or Fake combines historical and scientific investigations to reveal reproductions and genuine objects. Nickell explains the warning signs of forgery, such as patching and unnatural pen lifts; chronicles the evolution of writing instruments, inks, and papers; shows readers how to date photographs, papers, and other materials; and traces the development of photographic processes since the mid-nineteenth century. Lavishly illustrated with examples of replicas and authentic objects inspected by Nickell, Real or Fake includes case studies of alleged artifacts including Jack the Ripper's diary, a draft of the Gettysburg Address, notes by Charles Dickens, Jefferson Davis's musket, and debris from the Titanic.

I think Joe would go along with a Higley...


Isn't that right Doug?

Joe is a good friend. He loves this stuff. Rather disappointed to have been passed up. Maybe was being protective.

I had one of these crypto zoologist debunker types in my booth at the Arizona State Fair the first year we had the Chup a while back... He came out all big eyed and declared, "That's it, that's the real thing..." Ha!

btw, Brett, check your pm...

Oh, and I have "Official" Debris from the Titanic... a smallish lump of coal taken from the boiler room and split to be sold as souvenirs at the Titanic gift shops... also purchased some replica dinnerware and of course the newspaper...maybe it will end up in me museum one day.

About the Titanic show. Saw it a few years back at the Tropicana in Vegas. It was running alongside Bodies, but we opted for the ship. One of the things they did, was re-create what it was like on the promenade deck the night of the iceberg. You walked through some doors and there you were, on the freezing deck with the ocean at the side. Pretty cool, literally... What a story.

I have a preserved chunk of the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. It will be put on display if I ever set up my Museum of Unnatural History at the Times Square Sideshow.


What?

Taking the same line as the "experts" at the Wierd 2009 shindig,,,thats why they wanted me to show a zibb !

They are like dog sh@t,,, just about everywhere.

Just so y'all know...Joe Nickle is on our side should you ever run into him...and no, he's not a crypto zoologist type. Hardly! haha.

He was kicking himself because he couldn't get over to the UK to see Kondini's Royal Tour...(me too.)

I just want to thank Joe Nickell in advance for making me a better forger.

Haha..good call.

Yes, Thanks to Joe, I now know how to create african birth certificates!

Secrets of the Sideshows by Joe Nickell

Wonderful book...great gift...and now in paperback! He dances between secrets and not giving anything too big away perfectly.

But he does give things away.

Too many skeptics, seem to think that they have a moral obligation to tell the world how things are done. I disagree. Following that logic, it'd be ok to publish detailed copies of plans for nukes.

With crooked games, fortune-telling, and mentalists who claim powers, exposure is OK in my eyes. I don't mind a con being outed. But "educating the public" doesn't cut it, when one discusses something that includes a reasonable expectation of bodily harm, like stunt performance. I'm still on the side of secrecy...not for the sake of secrets, but for responsible teaching.

I've used BON, for example, for about 25 years, as an aftershow piece. If somebody wants to learn, I've taught. I've probably taught more people, than everybody else in history combined. I figure that with all the paranoid thinking in the world, it's my personal way of throwing a monkey wrench in the works. But it's still under my eyes.

Nickell candidly discusses fire-eating, pulse-stopping, regurgitation, pincushion, blockhead, ladder of swords, glass-walking, hand-in-lead, BON, block breaking, electric act, snake handling, knife throwing, a bunch of illusions, and more.

If he was going to be there to supervise folks, when they try things, I might feel differently. But he's not. So it's either irresponsible teaching, which I consider immoral, or merely showing off that he knows things, which is just an ego trip. Neither is a good thing.