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18. In Phipson on Evidence, 9th Edition at page 544 occurs the following passage:

The rule requiring-production of the attesting witnesses provided their names are known holds, although the document is lost or destroyed...where both the documents is lost and the attesting witness is dead, proof of handwriting by someone who remembers having seen the document, although admissible is not indispensable.

Again at page 570 it is pointed out:

The party tendering secondary evidence must prove the existence and execution of the document directly if possible, or presumptively where not.