by Joelle Steele

I love comparing faces and ears to authenticate identities of people in photographs. Most of the photos I receive come from auction houses and museums. The faces look like the person they think it is, and they send exemplars for comparison. Some are matches and some aren’t. There are also photos from get-rich-quick collectors that continue to cross my desk again and again, and I don’t analyze them anymore.

I used to get about 30 requests per month to examine photos believed to be Abraham Lincoln, Jesse and Frank James, and Billy the Kid. Not a single one even remotely resembled the person they were purported to be. Now, it seems like it would be simple to just email the owner of the photo and say, sorry but that’s not Billy the Kid or Lincoln or whoever. But no. Not simple at all. Why? Because the owners of these photos are so sure that I’m wrong and it really is Lincoln and they’re sure it’s him because it came from an album belonging to someone Lincoln knew and see how he has the mole on the face and look at the beard, etc. Same thing with Billy and the James brothers. In every single case, the face they send me does not bear even the slightest resemblance to the person they think it is.

Some people just can’t seem to take no for an answer. They want to keep pleading their case for why it has to be Billy or Abe when he was much younger. I had one man send me several photos of men he was sure were all Jesse James. Each time he sent me a photo I told him it wasn’t a match, but he just kept on sending me more would-be Jesse photos. Again, none resembling Jesse.

Finally, in 2021, I had to put an end to this constant bombardment of would-be Lincoln, Billy, and Jesse photos. I love analyzing and comparing faces. But I don’t like wasting my time with these particular wanna be photos.