Joseph Cosey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joseph Cosey (1887-1950?) was a US document forger who forged handwriting from US historical figures.
Cosey was born February 1887 as Martin Coneely in Syracuse, New York. Cosey worked as a printer's apprentice before he joined the US Army 1909 but was dishonourably discharged four years later. He was later arrested several times for various crimes ranging from motorcycle theft to forged cheques and carrying a deadly weapon and used various false names. He served almost 10 years in San Quentin prison and was released late 1920s.
Around 1929 Cosey begun to forge documents based of US history. He stole a pay warrant from Benjamin Franklin from the Library of Congress to practice Franklin handwriting and sold the forgeries for small sums. He later expanded to other historical forgeries. He used old paper, brown ink and writing implements that the contemporary writer would have used. That made his documents so convincing that they fooled several experts.
Cosey forged documents and signatures of such US historical figures as George Washington, James Monroe, Button Gwinner, Mark Twain, several fake letters of Abraham Lincoln and documents like a Thomas Jefferson's supposed draft of United States Declaration of Independence. Cosey was proud that he never sold his work to amateurs.
One of the things that gave him away was that he continued to use the style the historical figure would have used in their prime, when their hands would have been shakier in the old age. Later he also began to age modern paper with chemicals.
Cosey was arrested 1937 when he sold a fake letter supposedly from Lincoln to a stamp dealer who analysed it. Cosey was arrested. He confessed and was eventually sentenced to three years in prison. He was released early when he had served less than a year. He continued to make forged documents until his death.
Several of the forgeries are probably still in circulation. Over the years Cosey's forgeries have become valuable collector's items in their own right.
