way OT: forensic examination of a piece of paper?

[ryan roopnarine]

here's the thing. to say that I am being defamed is to be conservative. the defamer, however, did not think their cunning plan through. two pieces of paper are involved, both personal correspondence. this person, i would assume, wouldn't think that I make photocopies of all of my personal correspondence, so my bacon is saved in some respects. however, there was a third item that would be really helpful to have, but i don't right now. i do have the page behind it.

what i was wondering was if there is some kind of service that I could hire to read the impressions left on the page behind the third item. i press down extraordinarily hard when writing, hard enough that the cover of the notebook has begun to absorb the ink on the backing page, so copious is my ink deposition. i would think that a microscope between 25k and 100k x magnification could do it, but i don't have access to such things. maybe a really good scanner and gimp or photoshop? what the other person did is pretty serious, and maybe the state could do it for me when i cross that bridge, but i would really like to have this thing in hand now, so that i might not even have to take it to court. anyone know anything about services that could do it? costs? thanks.

[Ken35i]

Can't inks be seen under ultraviolet light? Or ink mixed with some other chemical?
Or maybe the ol' shade the page undernieth with a greylead pencil trick. And if it's not clear enough you could scan it and use photoshop to change contrast, brightness, etc to make the feint trace more clearer.

All I can think of.

Good luck though, sounds serious.

[paanta]

If you press down so hard, why not do the old charcoal trick where you rub a big flat piece of charcoal sideways across the sheet. The depressions left behind won't be colored in because the charcoal just skims across them. Or use a laser pointer at a very acute angle so that you can see the shadows caused by the depressed paper.

Scan it at high resolution first, though.

[whiskychaser]

I think they use photocopier toner in the films. Grisham is leaving CSI this week so maybe he will do a foreigner for you? Seriously though, my guess is that you want independant verification of the letter contents? If it were me, I'd start off ringing a private investigator. I employed one for business reasons some years ago and I'd be surprised it they cant help.

[ryan roopnarine]

thanks for the suggestions. i don't really want to rub anything across it, lest the assistant state attorney/my attorney/their attorney start being d*cks about it and asking me why i messed with it if i didn't know what i was doing. this document was read verbatim to someone, but i tore it out of the book, leaving only the page underneath it. was thinking along the lines of using the laser or scanning it 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch. it is a year and a half later and it is remarkable about how deeply i gouge the paper, i can still feel it pretty easily.

[Tiger]

You are going to have to do it through proper channel. Talk to them about this situation and see which way would they prefer to have it handled... their CSI division where they have all the tools or private contractor who does this work. Your lawyer would also know who to use but all party must agree to the process.

[632 Regal]

forensics will do good for you, if out of your league send it here and I will take a stab and forward anything back if you want.