[Polarik]

The printout was embossed. Very easy to do with even a straight pin, ballpoint pen, or a regular engraver.

They used the exact same "Seal" fpor both sides.

[palmer]

The printout was embossed. Very easy to do with even a straight pin, ballpoint pen, or a regular engraver.

Thanks for the answer (finally!). A regular engraver would be the only plausible scenario, there's no way somebody is going to get all the lines in the correct places and of the same depth by hand. But looking at your two pictures in the other thread, the engravers used were clearly different.

That brings up a new question which is whether the dept always used the same engraver or not. If it was always the same, then your case is solid.

[palmer]

Your authentic certificate has the seal like the DeCosta certificate on your site ( http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn227/Polarik/doc_decosta_pat_birth.jpg) which was issued in 2002. The factcheck certificate was issued in 2007. They could have used a different seal between those two dates, or they might not. If you have an authentic certificate from 2007, it would be very beneficial.