How Did That Happen?

https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/51881162/download.mp3

The traditional function of a signature is to permanently affix to a document a person’s uniquely personal, undeniable self-identification as physical evidence of that person’s personal witness and certification of the content of all, or a specified part, of the document.

The reason a signature exists is important. It’s another thing that ties civilization together and provides order to society but its origin is not linear. 

The First Signatures

The Sumerians invented the earliest signature which wasn’t a signature at all. It was a seal. Typically, these seals were attached to a small round cylinder about one inch in length and would be pressed into wet clay.

The Sumerians are one of the earliest known civilizations. They existed about 5,000 years ago. Sumer is in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia which is present day Iraq.

Recently, what is considered the oldest signature in history was sold at auction and it was said to have come from this place and time.

This “signature” has been interpreted by experts as spelling “Kushim.” Since very few were literate in ancient Sumeria, this individual was likely a government scribe and the object itself a record kept for administration purposes. 

It has been generally accepted that Kushim spells a personal name, but some have speculated that it is an official title. The signature Kushim is believed to be the earliest example of an autograph. 

The Daily Mail reports that the name “Kushim is known from 17 other tablets and in some of those addressed as ‘Sanga’ or temple administrator.”

The clay tablet reads “29,086 measures barley 37 months Kushim.” It appears to be a receipt for barley that was the main ingredient in Sumerian beer. This clay tablet is another illustrative example of how writing emerged from practical needs.

There are several markings on the object that seem to show how beer was produced at a temple in Mesopotamia in 3100 BC. Some images appear to show grains and jars and the process of brewing. 

The tablet apparently depicts or details the entire process, from the building of the brewery to the transportation of the beverage in jars.

Signatures on written transactions have been customary in Jewish communities since about the second century and among Muslims since the Hegira (the migration of Muhammad and his followers to Medina) in 622

One popular way to create these impressions was to press a signet ring into beeswax.  Signet rings themselves were also used as validation: A king might, for example, dispatch a herald bearing an oral message to a foreign power, and give him the royal signet ring so that the message’s recipient would be confident of its origin.

Stamps/Japanese Hankos

Hanko/inkan (used interchangeably) is a carved stamp that can be used in any situation where an individual, or an individual on behalf of a company, might otherwise use a signature or initials. 

Signing contracts, doing your banking (at a bank) or receiving a parcel are just three such cases’

Hanko’s came over to Japan from China via the Silk Road about 2000 years ago. They originated in Mesopotamia but were made a little differently then.

The first evidence of writing in Japan was of a hanko that dates back to 57 CE. It was made of solid gold and was given to the ruler of Nakoku (a state which was located in and around modern-day Fukuoka City), by Emperor Guangwu of Han. The seal is known as ‘King of Na gold seal’.

The idea of Stamps as signatures dates back to 5500 BCE in the Middle East where it was used as personal symbols engraved on stones, clay, wood and shells. 

It all began when cattle farmers wanted to brand their livestock. People soon followed suit using the same method to identify their personal property. Hanko eventually found its way to Europe then to Asia.

There are 3 types of hankos:

The jitsu-in – which would be used in the signing of a contract, like setting up a company or buying a house. This seal must be registered with the local government.

Next is the Ginko-In. These are only for financial transactions. These hanks must be registered with financial institutions like banks.

The last is called Mitome-in. This is for everyday things like receiving packages. This is not registered anywhere.

Hankos are still in use today to denote authorship and ownership. DocuSign has also teamed up with Shachihata, Inc. to develop the eHanko.

Other ways to seal an agreement

Other, more casual agreements were also made in physical form. Cutting off a lock of hair and giving it to someone else was one way to seal a contract.  Around the 13th century, agreements were sometimes marked with a slap, or some other traumatic act. The theory was that both parties would remember not only the injury but the accord that was reached on its infliction. 

The Keeper of The Seal

The title keeper of the seals or equivalent is used in several contexts, denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the great seal of a given country. This position exists in countries all over the world from Canada, to New Zealand and even America. The Secretary of State in America is considered the “keeper of the seal”

Signatures in Europe

During the Middle-Ages, people could append marks or symbols on contracts and letters. Most of the time, these symbols were simple crosses, mere pictographs.

In the Medieval period during the time of Charles the Great and the 500 or so years that followed, most people (and even most Kings) were illiterate, and so the signature was more-or-less conceived as a picture or “sign” that represented the approval of a person.

The arrangement that you see in the center of Charles’ signature was very common through out the Middle Ages: the first and last part was written by a scribe, and the middle “royal sign” was drawn by the King himself.  

The signature was essentially an artistic arrangement of letters that usually happened to include the letters that made up his name.

It is not until the second half of the 11th century that we have knowledge of a document signed in the Latin alphabet. This signature was from Spanish military leader El Cid who made a donation to the Cathedral of Valencia.

Though individuality and legibility seem as if they ought to be essential traits of a signature, that’s never really been the case.  Starting in the 9th and 10th centuries, scribes validated documents using the sign of the cross.  This practice may account for the custom among illiterates of signing an “x” in place of their name. 

In the Medieval Period, painters considered themselves craftsmen and weren’t particularly interested in posterity. Signatures had a down-to-earth role, such as mason’s marks (you can still see them on old stonework in Europe), which allowed masons to be paid for their work. 

Around the Renaissance, artists’ signatures started to be more common, such as the engraved signature of the now-famous Michel-Angelo on La Pietà, today housed in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.

By contrast, among the literate gentility, a signature was not meant to be easily discerned—an intricate and illegible signature, rather than a printed one, suggested an education in handwriting.

The 1677 Statute of Frauds stipulated that contracts must exist in writing and bear a signature.

The statute of frauds is a legal concept that requires certain types of contracts to be executed in writing. The statute covers contracts for the sale of land, agreements involving goods worth over $500, and contracts lasting one year or more.

There are 6 types of contracts that are honored by the statute of frauds: marriage, one-year, land, executor, goods, and suretyship contracts

The development of the printing press—as well as, on a smaller scale, a craze in the 1860s and ‘70s for owning a custom rubber stamp bearing a facsimile of your signature—forced courts in both Britain and the United States to decide whether printing or stamping your name constituted signing.

These are the signatures of Barack Obama (1961 -), Anne Boleyn (1501-1536), and Charles The Great (742-814).

In 1869  the case of Howley v. Whipple in New Hampshire established that an agreement made by telegram constituted a signed contract.  Long before the use of computers and captcha signatures, businesses were using the dotted communications of Morse code and the telegram to sign contracts; furthermore, courts were implementing laws to protect these documents.  These were actually considered the first electronic signatures.

In that case it was declared that “It makes no difference whether operator writes with a steel pen an inch long attached to an ordinary penholder, or whether his pen be a copper wire a thousand miles long. Nor does it make any difference that in one case common record ink is used, while in another case a more subtle fluid, known as electricity, performs the same office

E-Signatures

US Congress adopted the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) in 2000. provides a general rule of validity for electronic records and signatures for transactions in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce.

Most Famous Autographs

• George Washington’s Acts of Congress: $9.8 Million
• Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: $3.7 Million
• John Lennon’s Murderer Signed LP: $525,000 (album signed by Mark David Chapman by Lennon hours before he was murdered.
• Babe Ruth’s Baseball: $388,375
• Jimi Hendrix’s Contract: $200,000
• Joe DiMaggio & Marilyn Monroe’s Baseball: $191,200
• Albert Einstein’s Photo: $75,000
• Jimmy Page’s Guitar: $73,000
• Jesse James’s Photo: $52,000
• John F. Kennedy’s Newspaper: $39,000 (he signed a newspaper on the day he died)

Work Cited

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/03/when-did-we-start-signing-our-names-to-authenticate-documents.html

Signature

https://sectigo.com/resource-library/different-types-of-e-signatures

https://www.docusign.com/blog/quill-stylus-history-signature-celebration-national-esign-day

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/statute-of-frauds.asp

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/signed-sumerian-tablet-0014138

https://tokyocheapo.com/shopping-2/hanko-japanese-personal-seals/

https://gregstevens.com/2012/10/30/what-would-your-medieval-signature-be/

https://blog.thegrizzlylabs.com/2020/11/history-of-signatures.html