Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig is an English actor most famous for his role as James Bond. In his earlier career he generally played dramatic and supporting roles. By the early 2000’s he was playing lead roles, most notably in Layer Cake. In 2006 he played the sixth James Bond in the series reboot Casino Royale. His third Bond film Skyfall became the most successful English film of all time.

Talented, ruggedly handsome and fearless in his choice of roles, Craig is both respected and idolised throughout the world. At the end of the day though, it is his role as Bond that has made his autograph so in demand. Like all previous Bond actors’ signatures, a Daniel Craig autograph will never lose value. Every time a new film in the series is released it renews interest in the franchise and in the associated memorabilia. As far as investments go, a Daniel Craig autograph is a good bet.

Availability Craig is a prolific signer at film premieres and ‘working’ public appearances. When not working or with his family Craig generally refuses to sign anything. He has a reputation as being understandably hostile to autograph hounds. Craig used to sign through the mail but it is rare for him to do so now. The exception to this is when autograph requests are sent to a venue where he is performing a play. He will often sign on these occasions. Craig did a private signing with Celebrity Authentics in 2013; much stock is still available. Craig also signed a series of Rittenhouse autographed James Bond cards. Craig is generally happy to sign for charities and so from time to time, signed items specific to a charity (Eg. Thank you for supporting Wamcare) will pop up. His ‘initials’ autograph is fairly common, however, a neat ‘full’ autograph is extremely rare.

His Autograph Daniel Craig’s autograph has changed significantly over the years. Before he appeared in James Bond he had a fairly neat full autograph in which all the letters were readable. Once he was cast as Bond his autograph became increasingly short and rushed. Nowadays, he only signs his initials DC or a very messy ‘Daniel.’

Early Craig autographs are desirable as they have some character to them. Unlike many big name celebrities, Craig signed extensively through the mail in the early days and so there are many dedicated photos floating around with a (albeit messy) version of his full signature. These tend to be authentic and so can be a good option if you are looking to purchase Craig’s autograph. I would generally steer clear of the ‘initials’ autograph as they are easily and regularly faked. These scrawled signatures are also somewhat underwhelming as they give little away of his personality.

If you are unconfident in your ability to spot an authentic Craig autograph you can easily find for sale a Rittenhouse James Bond autograph card. Though expensive, these come with the guarantee of authenticity. The downside to these autographed cards is they feature only a scrawled version of his autograph. Another option for a guaranteed authentic autograph comes from Celebrity Authentics. Craig did a signing with this company in late 2013 and there are still many items for sale from the day. Unfortunately, Craig once again signed only a scrawled signature. This to me is a little disappointing considering the favourable conditions in which he signed and the fact that he was well aware his fans would be paying significant sums of money for the items. You really get the sense he hates signing his name! Most common forgeries

I wanted to add a little more information here to help people determine whether or not a Craig autograph is likely to be authentic. This has come as a result of me noticing a recent forgery trend. Aside from the normal forgeries (in particular the DC initials forgeries) there has been a huge number of ‘full’ Daniel Craig autographs appearing lately.

They tend to look like this:

This is an authentic autograph. Craig most commonly signed this way when replying through the mail during the Casino Royale era (around 2005-2007.)

It is extremely unlikely that you will find any examples of him signing this way on photos or items that came after Casino Royale.

Craig would almost always dedicate these signatures to a particular person; in fact, I am yet to come across one that is not dedicated or features some extra handwriting.

Now this image above is one of the very first to pop up in Google images when ‘Daniel Craig autograph’ is searched for. This means that for a potential forger, this is likely the version of Craig’s autograph that they will find in their research and due to clarity of the picture, it is also likely to be the one they will attempt to copy.

Now here is where it gets interesting… When studying this particular example, you’ll note that the ‘a’ in Daniel is particularly large. This is not a usual characteristic of Craig’s autograph. It is, however, a characteristic of this one, easily searchable example. Notice too that the dot from the ‘i’ in Daniel is almost above the ‘L’. Once again, not a normal characteristic of Craig’s autograph, but rather one of this example. So logically, seeing as these two things are ‘oddities,’ it would be unlikely that they would feature regularly in other autographed photos that appear for sale… unless of course the autographs on these photographs had been copied from this google images example.

Let’s recap the main points here:

1. Craig no longer signs this way at all. 2. This ‘full’ autograph only appears on Casino Royale images signed through the mail during (roughly) the 2005-2007 period. It does not appear on Quantum of Solace or Skyfall pictures. 3. It always features a dedication of some sort. 4. The overly large A and the dot appearing above the L are oddities and not normal. 5. This image is one of the first that appears in a google search for ‘Daniel Craig autograph.’

Now have a look at these:

These are all fairly obvious forgeries. You’ll note that not only are they clearly copied from the google images example but they also present a range of different problems. For legal reasons, I cannot post pictures of the entire images but three of these autographs appear on Skyfall pictures. None of them are dedicated and they all seem to feature the two ‘oddities’ discussed above. The first two autographs are offered by the same seller and are almost exact facsimiles of each other: Craig never signs with even close to this precision and he is almost always in a rush. The third is just a bad forgery and the final has been signed by ‘Dail’ on a Skyfall image.

One has to wonder where many of these come from and there is a rather sad answer. A very well- known European seller who previously had a fairly good reputation appears to have discovered there is much profit to be made from selling forgeries. It appears that this seller has an almost a limitless supply of rare autographs. Unfortunately the autographs received from this seller rarely match the pictured autograph that a buyer thought they were receiving. It also doesn’t help that this seller is a rather good forger. I have little doubt that the first two autographs above originated with this European seller. It appears he sells stock to other reputable dealers who then unknowingly sell them on. This is not just hunch, one of the above autographs was a dual signed item and the second autograph was a clear forgery in the style of the forgeries regularly manufactured by this seller.

So what does one do about all this? Well, you stay away from any of these ‘full’ signatures unless they:

1. Appear on a Casino Royale image. 2. Feature a dedication. 3. Appear messy. 4. Do not feature the ‘oddities’ mentioned on the previous page.

Autograph Study

This is an early 2000’s example of Craig’s full autograph. This was signed during press for Layer Cake and so just before he took on the role of James Bond. This is about the neatest example you will find of his autograph. You’ll note that not only are all the letters defined but it looks decidedly unrushed. Craig’s earlier autographs had a rounded quality to the letters as can be seen in both the D and A in Daniel. There is also a break between the n and i. Craig no longer signs this way and as such this is the neatest, rarest and most valuable version of his signature.

This autograph is from the early days of Bond. It bears some similarities to the above autograph but you’ll notice the D is formed differently. The letters look less rounded and harsher. The letters and also not individually defined and it has clearly been signed in a hurry. In the early days when Craig would sometimes respond to autograph requests through the mail, this is the type of autograph he would send out. This, like the autograph above, is referred to as his ‘full’ autograph.

This is a 2009 example of an in-person autograph signed when Craig was not mobbed by people. You’ll note that it has only passing similarities to both the above earlier autographs. The D has remained, though the rest of the autograph is rushed and shows little definition of letters. His first and last names are signed in one movement. Craig rarely signs this way at all anymore.

This authentic item was obtained by The Signature Library.

In 2013 Craig did a signing session with Celebrity Authentics. All of the autographs were signed like this. Aside from the D, little remains of his original signature. I am surprised that given he signed seated, in a non-rushed environment and for money, he did not produce nicer, fuller signatures. It goes to prove that Craig simply does not sign his full name anymore.

This authentic item was obtained by: www.celebrityauthentics.com

Here is an example of the infamous DC ‘initials’ autograph. The majority of the time now, this is how Craig signs. Many of these signatures that pop up for sale come from various premieres or stage door signings after theatre performances. Signed in one motion these loosely resemble a D and C.