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Authenticity is Everything
Beware: Jimi Hendrix Experience Signed 1968 Liz Shaw Datebook
In June of 2011, a major auction house sold a 1968/69 datebook containing multiple signatures, including several from the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Individual signatures and signature sets from this book were subsequently offered through various autograph dealers and auction houses. The majority of the Jimi Hendrix Experience signatures and inscriptions appear rushed and loose, but bear an overall resemblance to authentic exemplars. The cover of the book is adorned with detailed artwork credited to a Liz Shaw, giving the appearance that it was once owned by a devoted fan. However, setting these things aside and taking a closer look at the signatures together with another person has revealed a number of issues. First and foremost, authentic signatures and inscriptions closely resembling those in the book appear to have been used as templates. In addition, the signatures and inscriptions contained in the datebook show a number of inconsistencies including incorrect letter formations, stops and starts, letter separation issues, uncrossed “T”s, undotted “I”s, a lack of detail in areas, sharp angles, and one instance of a signature that appears to contain an attempt at correcting a mistake.
In 2013, another major auction house previewed a similarly signed University of Exeter diary dated 1966/67, which was withdrawn prior to the time of the auction. That book contained signatures and signature sets that clearly duplicate some of those contained in the 1968/69 datebook. Some of those signatures avoid apparent mistakes present in the datebook signatures, while others duplicate them.
This one appears to have been used twice, with one set including the "Best Wishes" inscription and the other the instrument names and "Jimi Hendrix Experience" inscription.
The set on the left appears to have missed the "N" in "Hendrix", which is written directly over the "D". The set on the right shows incorrect pen lifts between the "EN" and "DR" in "Hendrix." The pen is slightly shifted and the signature continues. I don't believe I've ever seen a clearly uncrossed "T" in "Mitch" outside of this datebook, which contains two.
Here are closer pics:
This page appears to contain a number of errors as follows:
Incorrect formation of the "O" in a clockwise direction.
A "V" that is too sharp and angular.
A pen lift and shift while forming the first "A" in "Always."
An incorrect formation of the second "A" in "Always." It appears that the formation of the top portion of this "A" was misinterpreted, and was mistakenly written in a counterclockwise direction.
A lack of letter separation between the "AN" in "And."
A stutter of the pen between the "IM" in "Jimi."
The heart is incorrectly formed.
This one appears to contain additional letter separation issues along with a change in direction during the formation of the "N" in "And." In addition, the formation of the "A" in "Stay" is incorrect.
The "A" should be formed in a single motion. Here you can see that the lower portion of the "A" has been drawn separately.
Note: The purpose of this discussion is to provide information to buyers and sellers of Jimi Hendrix Experience autographs. Please keep the scope of the discussion limited to the two books and their contents. Thanks!
Tags: 1968, Calendar, Datebook, Ewbank's, Exeter, Experience, Forgery, Hendrix, Jimi, Liz, More…
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on
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It's hard to tell which posts your replying to. You should click on "Reply" directly beneath those posts.
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Permalink Reply by Adam Russell on
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I love your Hendrix calendar pages, I'm still looking at them. Hendrix was living in a time when smoking and drinking was all over ...doctor offices, the mall, airplanes, just everywhere. Hendrix did drugs and he smoked, and nothing wrong with it although he was into real heavy drugs and it is no secret. Janis, Doors, Jefferson Airplane, The Stones, Richards was into heroin and Jaggar coke... hallucinogenic drugs were widely used. Then, shortly after these days of pot and mushrooms and acid type of drugs, studio 54 and the vibe of the 1970's and coke was widely used. We could sit here all day and point out flaws in the penmanship but the thing is these guys were high most of the time. Let's not forget that it was what killed him...drugs and alcohol. Mind altering drugs are not like alcohol...or pot, one still would be able to write while high on acid. Look at Frank Zappa or Timmothy Leary. There are no tobacco stains or oldness or even ashtray ashes or a drink of some kind spilt on it. Somehow, I suppose Hendrix doodled then, someone copied it onto these calendar pages. I say that because of the "appear to be used as templates" comment in your introduction to this article. Whatever the case, pretty cool, still.
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Permalink Reply by Gratefulphish on
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As I have said previously in this thread, this is an absolute case study by Ballroom into the alleged JHE signatures in this datebook. I have zero doubt that they are forged. The problem is getting the Emperor to believe that he really has no clothes [or in Sotheby's case, a legitimate autograph].
If PSA has already authenticated it, then Sotheby's is not going to do anything, until PSA withdraws its COA. The consignor certainly does not want to acknowledge its issues, and Sotheby's is financially motivated to see the sale proceed.
It really sucks for customers out there who have no clue about what is behind this particular item. Maybe we need to establish a "fake" or "questioned" autograph registry.
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Permalink Reply by Full Time Flipper on
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heres a very similar style Hendrix to the august 68 page Roger Epperson has seen this and doesnt think its authentic
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h fake.jpg, 132 KB
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I don't think it's related. It appears to have been copied from this authentic set:
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No doubt at all. As far as I'm aware, these pages have passed through eight different auction houses, two autograph dealers and three third-party authenticators. I'm not aware of a reversal of opinion. I don't think PSA authenticated this particular set, but they did authenticate at least three others. I should say that this didn't start with PSA. They got caught up in it.
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A couple of updates on this long running fiasco:
The elaborately framed May 1968 page sold on eBay for $25K, and was subsequently relisted.
PSA has added the awful Jan/Feb 1968 page shown in the OP to their Jimi Hendrix AutographFacts database.
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How can a company that has warned collectors about the prevalence of Hendrix forgeries and charges $250 to authenticate a Hendrix autograph present two forgeries as exceptional examples of a Hendrix autograph? It's hard to believe considering that they've selected only 16 Hendrix autographs in total for the AutographFacts database. I can understand how a mistake was made, but not how one of these pages could be added to the database after all this time.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on
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I saw this yesterday. Very sad (did I just quote...nevermind).
I dunno, but the Autograph Facts database...the Autograph Facts page for Jackie Gleason has 2/3 bad, including a long-known well-established secretarial. :(
This is a very valuable and informative thread! Thank you.
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Thanks, Eric.
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More than three years later, the Jan/Feb page from the OP supposedly sold for the full asking price of $14.5K.
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