Joseph Cosey is the favorite alias of notorious forger Martin Coneely.
16 Facts About Joseph Cosey
1.
2.
Joseph Cosey was very skilled at mimicking the handwriting of historical American figures.
3.
Joseph Cosey was born Martin Coneely on February 18,1887, in Syracuse, New York.
4.
Joseph Cosey was the son of Irish Catholic immigrant Robert Coneely, a "cabinetmaker by trade", and Sarah Bease of Virginia.
5.
Joseph Cosey did very well in elementary and high school, but left home at the age of 17 after quarreling with his father.
6.
Joseph Cosey was caught and sentenced several times for various crimes, including motorcycle theft, forging checks and using fake delivery receipts to steal $30,000 in negotiable bonds.
7.
Joseph Cosey served around ten years in various prisons, including San Quentin, and was released in the late 1920s.
8.
Joseph Cosey forged signatures, entire letters and manuscripts of such historical figures as George Washington, James Monroe, Button Gwinnett, and Mark Twain.
9.
Joseph Cosey used old paper, brown ink and writing implements that the contemporary writer would have used - this made his documents so convincing that they fooled several experts.
10.
Joseph Cosey rarely victimized amateur collectors, often stating "I take pleasure in fooling the professionals".
11.
Joseph Cosey was so prolific and good that, in 1934, the New York Public Library set up the Cosey Collection to both alert the public and remove his work from circulation.
12.
Later forgeries were easier to spot; Joseph Cosey began to use modern chemicals to age modern paper.
13.
Joseph Cosey was arrested in 1937 after selling a fake letter to a stamp dealer.
14.
Joseph Cosey confessed his crimes and was eventually sentenced to three years in prison.
15.
Joseph Cosey was released in less than a year, and continued to make forgeries into the 1940s.
16.
Several forgeries produced by Joseph Cosey are most likely still in circulation.