I am aware that standard arguments about using originals hinge on pressure applied. Since a marker was used I'm not sure whether these arguments apply.
I have often said that! (I guess great minds do think alike.)
I do wonder how many or what percent of individuals that could emulate the handwriting appearance present in the RN (I don't personally know). One interesting experiment, would be to take known convicted child molesters-pedophiles in jail, and possibly cat home burglars, and ask them to consciously try to imitate as closely as they can, look at some samples of PR's handwriting, but not the actual hand written RN itself, and a text of the RN, and then try to write it out as closely as they can, and then present this and PR exemplars to the "experts" to see what they think, and whether, under the circumstances, they still identify PR over these other attempts.
That sounds worth a try. But how would you go about it? I mean, it's not like the prisoners would be going anywhere. But they still have rights. If they refuse, that's the end of it. What then?
I'd like to think a professional and convicted forger would have better things to forge in his spare time, like wills, contracts, checks, than bogus RN notes.
I guess you'd have to ask someone at the DOJ.
What do these various experts say about one another's conclusions?
That's an interesting story in and of itself! Indeed, it goes to the heart of the politicking I've been mentioning.
My own opinion is that PR and RN do look alike. What I don't know is how well a pedophile/cat burglar could, working with some samples of PR's handwriting, also produce a similar effort.
And we may never know.
So, hypothetically speaking, let's say that 70% of convicted pedophiles can look at Patsy's Xmas greeting card and letters present among her personal effects in 1996, written in her handwriting, and working with a printed text of the RN, could make an RN that convinces the experts it's a much better match than PR's police submitted and dictated examples. How much confidence would you have then, as opposed to say 1%?
Voynich, I realize you're sincere about this. But so am I when I say that I think ol' Yogi has it down: "making predictions is hard, especially about the future."