Actress Claire Foy doesn't sign autographs with blue ink, "I don't do blue." What's your guess as to why?

[Centurion]

Some have said blue is easier to forge, at least in the old days . . . no idea how that works. Another said an autograph is worth more when it's in another color other than black.

[Misfit]

No idea. I know when I came to fountain pens from ballpoints, which were mainly blue and black ink for school, all the inks I wanted to try were any of them except black and blue. Though I do really like turquoise. 
 

Years later, I did buy a couple black inks, more blue inks that aren’t turquoise. 

[dftr]

That's what people speculates

https://people.com/claire-foy-says-she-cant-sign-in-blue-ink-8417812

 

I haven't watched her show so I didn't know who she is.  With all the tricks of scanning/photoshop I would imagine that it doesn't matter which color is inked...  I haven't heard of other celebrities/athletes being picky about a color... 

[Karmachanic]

My guess is because she doesn't do blue.

[Mark from Yorkshire]

Maybe she likes a bit of colour in her life just not blue

[Runnin_Ute]

A lot of athletes/celebrities use Sharpies to sign autographs. Especially on surfaces thatmight not be friendly to other types of pens. (balls, photos, magazines/programs, etc.)

[inkstainedruth]

I would think that black would be WAAAY easier to replicate/fake than blue.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Doc Dan]

She's just trying to be a trend setter and this adds to her brand. Nothing mysterious. Those who want to be social influencers come up with weird stuff all of the time.

[I-am-not-really-here]

I'd suggest using violet ink since that is one color digital sensors can have difficulty seeing correctly.

[Olya]

With my research I have concluded that apparently plenty of famous people won't sign stuff in blue, it seems to be coming from a myth, like "blue is easier to forge", which makes no sense. The argument even goes into copiers and stuff (and even mentions this isn't valid with modern copiers), but old copiers couldn't copy blue well (hence blue editing pens), whereas black always copied well, so that argument makes no sense.

 

And even a passable forger won't care about ink colour. Some people even believe that if they use a different signature for fans than their real ones, that forgeries would be invalid, which is untrue, because a signature is a signature.

(It was a TV bit where they had famous people at a premiere sign stuff, but it was actually a hidden contract (for test purposes) and some of them were like "oh doesn't matter! that's not my real real signature, it's my autograph signature!" and the lawyer was like "doesn't matter, it's still your signature" and the morale of that test was simply "no matter who you are, always be careful WHAT you sign", ink colour was never even mentioned, because it doesn't matter at all).

 

As we all know too well, myths live forever and are hard to kill, no matter how dumb or untrue.

[dftr]

Just curious do actors like tom cruise sign contracts w their real names but use their hollywood name for autographs.  So a contract signed tom cruise would be invalid.  Btw the only time ive seen celebrities signstuff they had their own pen or sharpie. Sharpie for pictures. But they use the pen for books/ cards. 

[Olya]

26 minutes ago, dftr said:

Just curious do actors like tom cruise sign contracts w their real names but use their hollywood name for autographs.  So a contract signed tom cruise would be invalid.  Btw the only time ive seen celebrities signstuff they had their own pen or sharpie. Sharpie for pictures. But they use the pen for books/ cards. 

Good question, this had me thinking for a bit.

 

I think to remember that in that bit it was said that even aliases were legally valid, because it's still your alias and esp as famous person it's known it's you (even if the real legal name is unknown to the public, but the public knows you under the alias, so they know who they signed with and know whom to sue if it comes to it).

 

If one person's contract weren't valid, because they used an alias, then you could go on and sign any kind of contract, eg a for a credit card, go on a shopping spree and when the law catches up with you, say "oh, this isn't your name, you're off the hook!" Even historically (eons ago) this didn't work (for a more recent historic example see Cassie Chadwick).

 

Back to today a good example is the author Robert Galbraith. Even his publishers didn't know who he was, so it is safe to assume that he signed his contract with them as Robert Galbraith. Years later it was revealed it was actually JK Rowling.

 

Ergo, sign in any colour with any name, you are on the hook!

 

Edit: But so far I focused on Europe and North America, other places could well handle things differently.

[dftr]

31 minutes ago, Olya said:

Good question, this had me thinking for a bit.

 

I think to remember that in that bit it was said that even aliases were legally valid, because it's still your alias and esp as famous person it's known it's you (even if the real legal name is unknown to the public, but the public knows you under the alias, so they know who they signed with and know whom to sue if it comes to it).

 

If one person's contract weren't valid, because they used an alias, then you could go on and sign any kind of contract, eg a for a credit card, go on a shopping spree and when the law catches up with you, say "oh, this isn't your name, you're off the hook!" Even historically (eons ago) this didn't work (for a more recent historic example see Cassie Chadwick).

 

Back to today a good example is the author Robert Galbraith. Even his publishers didn't know who he was, so it is safe to assume that he signed his contract with them as Robert Galbraith. Years later it was revealed it was actually JK Rowling.

 

Ergo, sign in any colour with any name, you are on the hook!

 

Edit: But so far I focused on Europe and North America, other places could well handle things differently.

Wow that's a great story. I always assumed JK was a pen-name?  I wonder if there are any Harry Potter books w/ Robert Galbraith as the author... that'd be a neat souvenir!

[Olya]

35 minutes ago, dftr said:

Wow that's a great story. I always assumed JK was a pen-name?  I wonder if there are any Harry Potter books w/ Robert Galbraith as the author... that'd be a neat souvenir!

"JK Rowling" is half a pen name!! She wanted to publish under her real name "Joanne Rowling", but the publishers didn't like that, because Harry Potter's target audience was primary school boys and they thought boys wouldn't want to read a book by a woman and told her to use her initials. "J Rowling" they thought didn't sound good so Joanne suggested the "K" (as per her granny's name, as she doesn't have a middle name) and so they settled on "JK Rowling".

 

She also had the story in mind and knew it wouldn't remain a story for elemetary school kids, but kept that to herself till the third or so book!

 

Pen names are a funny thing, men sometimes write under female aliases, because they write romance novels and those sell better with women's names. In Germany writers use English pen names, because English author names sell better than domestic (depending on genre).

 

"Don't judge a book by its cover... but also not by its author's name!"

[Graywolf503]

A large company that I worked for in the past required us to use blue ink when we signed legal documents. This is mostly for patents that we were signing off on. They had had an issue with black ink in the past and not being able to tell the original from copies. After that little episode we were required to use blue ink pens for the official documents.

[inkstainedruth]

13 hours ago, Olya said:

With my research I have concluded that apparently plenty of famous people won't sign stuff in blue, it seems to be coming from a myth, like "blue is easier to forge", which makes no sense. The argument even goes into copiers and stuff (and even mentions this isn't valid with modern copiers), but old copiers couldn't copy blue well (hence blue editing pens), whereas black always copied well, so that argument makes no sense.

That was my thinking as well.  The last place I worked before getting married (back in the early 1980s) had a really high-end scanner/printer (delivered a week or two after I started working there) that you could actually program to pick up "non-repro blue" if needed.  But that was a hugely expensive piece of equipment, where they had to bring it in to the art department via a forklift (after breaking the plate glass window in the art department -- the thing was too big and heavy to bring up the stairs to the second floor...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[nanahcub]

I don't 'do' blue either. I was put off of it when at school, and EVERYONE wrote in blue. Being a pretentious kid, I wanted to be different, so never used blue. Still don't. It annoys me that blue is the standard default colour for pretty well all pens. Buy a ball pen - it will come with a blue refill. Buy a fountain pen, it will come with two blue cartridges included. Pen makers assumes that everyone wants blue. I don't like using blue. A lot of offices don't' like blue - it doesn't photocopy as clearly as black.  In exams, (at least in UK schools) students are only allowed to use black - Submit a GCSE or A-Level paper in blue, and there is a high chance that it won't be marked. It must be black. But buy a decent pen, and it will come with a blue refill, with no options on what colour. Buy a Lamy Safari, it will come with blue cartridges. Buy a Kaweco Sport it will come with a blue cartridge. Buy a Parker, it will come with blue cartridges. etc etc.

 

 

[Penguincollector]

2 hours ago, nanahcub said:

Buy a fountain pen, it will come with two blue cartridges included.

  This is funny to me, because my Namiki came with a bottle of black ink, and I would have preferred a blue one. 

[XYZZY]

5 hours ago, nanahcub said:

I don't 'do' blue either. I was put off of it when at school, and EVERYONE wrote in blue. Being a pretentious kid, I wanted to be different, so never used blue. Still don't. It annoys me that blue is the standard default colour for pretty well all pens. Buy a ball pen - it will come with a blue refill. Buy a fountain pen, it will come with two blue cartridges included. Pen makers assumes that everyone wants blue. I don't like using blue. A lot of offices don't' like blue - it doesn't photocopy as clearly as black.  In exams, (at least in UK schools) students are only allowed to use black - Submit a GCSE or A-Level paper in blue, and there is a high chance that it won't be marked. It must be black. But buy a decent pen, and it will come with a blue refill, with no options on what colour. Buy a Lamy Safari, it will come with blue cartridges. Buy a Kaweco Sport it will come with a blue cartridge. Buy a Parker, it will come with blue cartridges. etc etc.

 

 

Usually when I buy a pen it comes with a black cartridge.  While I would prefer blue, I wouldn’t use the cartridge regardless. 

[Centurion]

22 hours ago, nanahcub said:

I don't 'do' blue either. I was put off of it when at school, and EVERYONE wrote in blue. Being a pretentious kid, I wanted to be different, so never used blue. Still don't. It annoys me that blue is the standard default colour for pretty well all pens. Buy a ball pen - it will come with a blue refill. Buy a fountain pen, it will come with two blue cartridges included. Pen makers assumes that everyone wants blue. I don't like using blue. A lot of offices don't' like blue - it doesn't photocopy as clearly as black.  In exams, (at least in UK schools) students are only allowed to use black - Submit a GCSE or A-Level paper in blue, and there is a high chance that it won't be marked. It must be black. But buy a decent pen, and it will come with a blue refill, with no options on what colour. Buy a Lamy Safari, it will come with blue cartridges. Buy a Kaweco Sport it will come with a blue cartridge. Buy a Parker, it will come with blue cartridges. etc etc.

 

 

I've been frustrated that the standard rollerball color is black. Always wondered why rollerballs came with black while other pens, especially ballpoints, came in the box with blue. Interesting that in the UK they're requiring black. In the US I feel blue or black is fine, while other colors are considered not as professional or formal. At least with blue you can have fun with it, kon peki, is not IMO a formal professional blue, while I suppose professional enough that no one would reject it.