Mike in Mystic wrote:
Where I work we have literally dozens of Thomas Moser pieces, and each one
is signed and dated on the bottom by the person that assembled it. It looks
to me like they used a fine-point sharpie or similar pen. All of the pieces
are cherry, if that means much. Most of them are about 5-6 years old and
the writing looks great - all on the undersides of chair seats/table tops
etc.

Just remember that Sharpie ink is not 100% alcohol proof. If shellac is
applied directly over the ink, it may blur it. It would probably help
if a light dusting of shellac or lacquer was the first coat over the ink.