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Posted By: Corey R. Shanus

Well David A, you caught me on that one!! I should have been a bit more precise in my words. Yes, all LOA's are opinions (excluding the instance you mention where the signature was witnessed by the person writing the LOA, in which case it would be a statement of fact). The point I was trying to make is that there are opinions and there are opinions. A LOA that is based not only on signature/handwriting analysis but also on, say, strong provenance and chemical analysis of the ink and paper, means a great deal more than one based solely on signature/hanwriting analysis. Or, to put it another way, if black is the color of a statement of fact, then the shade of gray of such a LOA could be such a dark charcol as to, for all PRACTICAL purposes, be the equivalent of a statement of fact. Such LOA's to me if coming from a reputable knowledgable source would sufficiently shrink the leap of faith that the item is good to a level where I would be comfortable acquiring the item. If, in contrast, the LOA is based solely on handwriting/signature analysis (with no provenance, no chemical analysis and no other corroborating evidence), then I would not be comfortable acquiring the piece, regardless who the LOA came from.