Do autographs/sharpie fade over time?

[Hawaiian Bam Bam]

Hey guys,


Do autographs/sharpie fade over time? I know that it depends on how you store them and lighting conditions and all. I know that cards that i had autographed in the 1980's have all but faded. they say its because sharpies back then werent good quality. i bought into that theory , then i found some autographs that i had signed just in the past 5 years or so, with new sharpies. they have been stored in the dark, out of any light and guess what the sharpie is fading! I also know that certified autographs tend to fade over time such as the sticker and band aid autographs and certified autos from products such as fleer gotg and leaf certified series. so i was wondering do autographs or sharpie fade over time? thanks

[borisplante]

I have sharpie autographs from 15+ years ago that look the same as the day they were signed. I think it's like anything else- all depends on the pen and the ink. For example, I have a couple of baseballs that were signed in bic pen in 1985 that have not faded at all. Yet a ball I got signed 5 years ago has a signature that has almost completely disappeared. In my view, even with sharpies, it all depends on that particular pen and the ink. I dont' think you can necessarily generalize that older sharpies were worse.

[Hawaiian Bam Bam]

i only mentioned older sharpies, because i read on a forum somewhere that there was an article about older sharpies being really nbad quality and sharpie went and changed their formula to improve the sharpie.

also, here is a pretty interesting link about sharpies fading that another member on another site that i got after starting this thread that says sharpies fade over time.

http://www.sharpie.com/enus/pages/faq.aspx#Q19

thanks for your responses,i appreciate it.