Farrah Fawcett Autographs - What's Real? What's Fake?

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Permalink Reply by DB on September 24, 2010 at 11:30pm

Comment by Todd Mueller on September 21, 2010 at 2:38am

I will include her contract to me and a personal letter she wrote me about signing playboy photographs. She claimed she never truly signed them until my signing with her and demanded extra for them. When I suggested she had she wanted to know where my evidence was. I pointed her to R&R's exemplars. She was livid and stated she was going to sue R&R for the forgeries as she didn't sign any of them, Cathy Amsterdam, her assistant of nearly 30 years did but many were authenticated by PSA, JSA etc. I pre-empted that and contacted Bob Eaton immediately. Luckily he deleted all his previous sales immediately for I am absolutely convinced she was ready to sue. This prevented a lot of trouble and I later was fortunate to assist Farrah in a Prayer chain etc and still have contact with her agent who arranged this deal and is currently in the NY Times sueing Ryan O'Neal and Alana Stewart for copyright infringement related to; "Farrah's Story". I have all the details.

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Permalink Reply by Bobby Livingston on September 25, 2010 at 4:57am

I want to confirm that Todd contacted RR Auction to let us know there may be problems with the Farrah's we were representing and we pulled them from our monthly auction based on his concerns. Please remember that RR Auction has a lifetime money back guarantee and anyone may re-submit their Farrah's they bought from us for a review. There was some internal debate at the time as to wether Farrah did in fact sign some Playboy photo's prior to negotiating for Todd's private signing. Regardless, we choose to be conservative in these matters and we were grateful that Todd let us know.

This is a question for the lawyers in the room. If Farrah used a secretary like Cathy Amsterdam to produce the autographs in question, what would be Farrah's case in this matter?

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Permalink Reply by Bobby Livingston on September 29, 2010 at 3:11pm

Hey Todd,

Would you please let me know which Farrah poses were the 18 controversial Playboy items that we had? I want to start tracking them down if possible.

Thanks,
BL

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Permalink Reply by Todd Mueller on September 29, 2010 at 3:21pm

Bobby- I don't keep track of what you sell. I pointed Farrah to your site under Past Items to show her that her higher price because she rarely/never signed them (Playboy images)as she claimed was not accurate. Her response upon seeing the site was anger, than threats. I appropriately took this information to Bob personally and he wiped out the images. I didn't print them out, It wasn't my issue. I recall one selling for $1,600 plus which was insane and kinda backfired until she stated it was bad. If this is really a serious concern now, and not three years ago surely you have all the buyers email addresses but that wasn't the point. I think the point was made clear. It was never about judging your material or calling it out. It was about showing Farrah her statements about rarely/never signing the images was not accurate, until she showed it was.

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Permalink Reply by Todd Mueller on September 29, 2010 at 3:29pm

If your serious you should probably look at all the playboy photos that were sold. Farrah would not sign anything showing upper or lower nudity for us, at the end of her life for money. She stated she wouldn't sign them for free nor allow her secretaries to sign these images either. The Playboy photos she did sign, and for me, did not depict lower or upper nudity. I recall many that showed both forms of nudity. I had one myself prior to my signing that came from an in person source we both trust and I ended up giving a refund on that one, simply because of Farrah's words, threats and actions. My comments based off Farrah's and her actions was in no way directed at you for a cause of action on your part. It was simply part of the story that shed new light into what is authentic and what may not have been.

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Permalink Reply by Bobby Livingston on September 29, 2010 at 3:44pm

Todd,

Thanks, this is very helpful information! This gives me a lot to go on. As you may not be aware, I have only been with RR Auction for two years, just prior to your deal with Farrah.

BL

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Permalink Reply by DB on September 29, 2010 at 4:15pm

What BL - is this a disclaimer ;-) only two years.

I said it before and i will say it again, "this is the first recall of sold items that I have ever seen by an auction house". There is nothing better IMHO of a place that stands up to be counted and rectify a situation potentially gone wrong.

and like her ltr says, she did sign on occassion.

This reminds me of the Mark Hamil scenarios and I'll bet the classics of the westerns.... I would love (but couldn't afford a John Wayne) one of Sgt Striker. P.S. I take Gifts!

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Permalink Reply by Randy Perry on April 11, 2012 at 3:05pm

Todd I strongly believe this signed Playboy item to be real and valid. This item was sent into her authentic Official website several years before Farrah passed. She charged $50.00 per item to have it signed. What are your thoughts Todd? As I trust you an expert on Farrah signatures more than anyone else. 

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Permalink Reply by DB on September 24, 2010 at 11:31pm

Comment by Markus Brandes on September 21, 2010 at 2:45am @ Farrah Fawcett

Luciano Tedde & Rolf Ramseier published a small study regarding Fawcett's secretarial autograph for the International Autograph Society many years ago.

Vintage autographs are rather scarce and close to never she signed as Farrah Fawcett Majors. In the 70s she signed mainly as "Farrah". Since the 90s she send out secretarial autographs either as "Farrah or Farrah Fawcett. In-Person she wrote mainly both names. A In-Person hunter from Vienna reported that at the Openball as well as an autograph hour she unlikely signed autographs. The first samples show In-Person autographs from 1999, 2001, 1989, 1984 and 1987. The next autographs are secretarial examples received from through the mail between 1994-1999.

The difference to the originals are

- the centre dash in the "F" is always over the "rr" and in the second name always over the "w".
- the "a" in the first and second name is rather oval and slightly left adjusting.

Secretarial:
- The center dash in the "F" is done over the whole first name
- the "a" in the first and second name is rather round

I hope I had been able to describe it well enough in English but would suggest to invent Rolf Ramseier (www.rrautogramme.com) as well as Luciano Tedde for a deeper discussion as I believe they are very knowledge in this field.

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Permalink Reply by DB on September 24, 2010 at 11:35pm

now this post is refreshing - how often do you hear of a major auction house offering a recall?

Comment by Bobby Livingston on September 21, 2010 at 4:31am Todd,

You have been a long time friend of R&R and we encourage anyone who may have purchased a Farrah autograph from www.rrauction.com to resubmit it to us for review. RR is committed to cleaning up the hobby, as all of you have asked us to help achieve.


BL

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Permalink Reply by DB on September 24, 2010 at 11:43pm

Here are some real ones from the files and courtesy of Reznikoff & Mueller and the classic secretarial one. Can u Figure out which is which?

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Permalink Reply by DB on September 24, 2010 at 11:46pm

Comment by john reznikoff on September 21, 2010 at 2:20am Good morning DB,
I split the Farrah deal with TM. I almost never buy modern entertainment autographs because i feel that they are almost impossible to authenticate in many cases. But, my affection for Farrah and the documentation of these particular photos told me it was a good deal. That has proven to be true, especially since her passing. I sell two or three a week on eBay for about $100 and here is a link to an authentic one from her last signing http://cgi.ebay.com/Farrah-Fawcett-Iconic-Pose-8-x-10-Signed-Photo-.... notice the signature is less deliberate and has more character than the secretarial examples. I always feel funny offering Farrah in between Great Abraham Lincoln and George Washington letters. She will never make Mount Rushmore but she is an icon!

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