Overwriting
Definition
Tracing over an original stroke with a fresh stroke, usually to change a digit or letter. Detected by stroke thickness, hesitation, and ink-line crossing sequence.
- Definition
- Tracing over an original stroke with a fresh stroke
- Common purpose
- Changing a digit or letter
- Detection cues
- Stroke thickness, hesitation, ink-line crossing sequence
- Discipline
- Examination of alterations
Common questions
How does an examiner determine which stroke was written first at an overwritten point?+
Under magnification, the later stroke's ink typically sits on top of the earlier stroke at the crossing point, and instruments like a video spectral comparator or stereomicroscope can reveal this sequence even when the strokes look identical to the naked eye.
How is overwriting different from an obliteration?+
Overwriting adds a new stroke over the original while leaving both partially visible or discernible, whereas an obliteration attempts to fully blot out or cover the original entry so it is no longer legible without special techniques.
Related terms
- Addition (Interlineation, Insertion)
- Fresh writing squeezed between lines, in margins, after the last entry, or in blank spaces left in the original document. Often shows...
- Alteration
- Any change made to a document after its original execution, including erasure, obliteration, addition, substitution and overwriting. A material alteration changes the...
- Erasure (Chemical)
- Removal of ink by bleaching or oxidising agents such as sodium hypochlorite, chloramine T, oxalic acid, potassium permanganate or hydrogen peroxide. Leaves...
- Erasure (Mechanical)
- Physical removal of writing by rubber, knife, scalpel blade, sandpaper or eraser. Disturbs paper fibres, thins the paper, and lifts the sizing...
- ESDA
- Electrostatic Detection Apparatus; detects latent indentations in paper by charging the surface and cascading toner particles, revealing tracing stylus pressure and writing...
- IR Luminescence
- Emission of near-infrared radiation by ink dye molecules when excited by visible light; different ink formulations luminesce at different intensities, allowing differentiation...
- Obliteration
- Covering of existing writing with an opaque layer (ink, correction fluid, or correction tape) so that the underlying text is invisible in...
- VSC-8000
- Video Spectral Comparator by Foster + Freeman, the standard QD instrument in CFSL and GEQD labs, with broadband visible, UV (254, 365...