unique traceable ink/pens

[Gregory]

I'd like to be able to sign my (carefully authored) prints with a unique traceable pen so that my originals can be verified and unauthorised copies exposed.

does anybody know if pens are available with unique identifiers in each of them?

[Jonathan Wienke]

Nope. Any such thing can be faked by anyone capable of performing the analysis on the ink to verify authenticity.

[Gary Brown]

I recall seeing articles about a scheme using DNA for authentication, where they make ink containing your DNA, and later you can distinguish an authentic signature from a counterfeit by having them test the ink.

But I don't remember the companies, and I had the impression it was mainly for expensive collectable things that tend to be counterfeited a lot (sports memorabilia, etc.).

[Kenneth Sky]

Why not prick your finger tip, as diabetics do, and leave a fingerprint ?- absolutely foolproof.

[mikeseb]

Why not prick your finger tip, as diabetics do, and leave a fingerprint ?- absolutely foolproof.
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Talk about sweating blood for your art!

Interesting question.

I guess your fingerprint in your own blood would be convincing. Except that the dried blood would have to be scraped off for analysis, possibly damaging the print in the process.

An inked fingerprint could be faked if the counterfeiters had access to an original work with that print on it.

This is all too James Bond for me. I WISH anyone wanted my stuff that badly!

[Jonathan Wienke]

A blood sample on the print would be verifiably unique, but the verification would require destructive testing of at least a portion of the sample. Perhaps you could put a drop of blood on an attached Certificate of Authenticity to avoid having to damage the print itself.

[Gregory]

Perhaps you could put a drop of blood on an attached Certificate of Authenticity to avoid having to damage the print itself.
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or place the blood print in the white edge of the image or on the back?

or a pen that can write with blood? (we're getting into serious sci-fi now, aren't we?)

[Wayland]

How about something like this.... Smartwater

[photographist]

... or a pen that can write with blood? (we're getting into serious sci-fi now, aren't we?)
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And to think we've been worrying about the printer's head clotting up!