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Frank Sinatra SP?

Here is a 'signed' photograph of Frank Sinatra in fountain pen that is coming up soon at auction.  I'm interested in what members think.   For comparison, I'm also attaching an album page that Bonhams sold at one point.  I personally don't believe the photo signature is real.  To me at least, the photo signature looks like a flawed attempt (nice placement on the drum though!).

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 6, 2024 at 12:43pm

That doesn't look like Brando's hand to me.

Permalink Reply by Eddy on March 6, 2024 at 8:28am

note:  I have amended this reply due to an earlier typo.

Fair point regarding the source of the Sinatra photo.   

This collection has been spread wide and far for several years now.  I don't think most of those who have handled it have been doing so without malice as it seems to have been slowly distributed from an origin source and spread out on consignment or otherwise internationally.

Here's another heavy hitter from it in that favored blue fountain pen. Again, close...but not quite there:

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 6, 2024 at 8:31am

Interesting. Both the poor forgeries are dedicated "To Peter" and the unusually successful OP is not.

Permalink Reply by Eddy on March 6, 2024 at 8:40am

Possibly it was judged before applying the signature that there wasn't enough room on the drumhead for a dedication?

Permalink Reply by Eddy on March 6, 2024 at 8:38am

Here's another one in another nice blue:

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 6, 2024 at 8:50am

The "Armstrong" shows strange signs of bleeding, and all of them appear quite fresh now, with context. The dedications of the "Hitchcock" and "Armstrong" indicate probably the same hand. The baseline of "Peter" - the second "e" being thinner and higher and the connector to the previous "t" more vertical, the rising  "t" having the crossover point at the same height as the two "e's"...

Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on March 6, 2024 at 8:46am

the photo looks good to me

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 6, 2024 at 8:57am

That is my feeling as well. There is just too much there.  The "Brando" and "Hitchcock" are of considerably less quality and I am not convinced this blue is the same; the pen is not. Then there is the lack of dedication shared by the others shown FWIW. There is also an attempt to make the ink appear a bit faded looking closely now and this is not seen on the OP.

Permalink Reply by Eddy on March 6, 2024 at 9:22am

It's a badly tainted well.  I guess I'm very jaded because I was taken in by an uninscribed piece from this collection a few years back.  It was a high dollar one like these (although consigned at the time to a different venue).   Like some of these, it looked pretty good.  I had to really do some work to secure a return on it once I began diving a bit deeper and tracing the pattern of the sourcing.

Permalink Reply by Eddy on March 6, 2024 at 9:29am

Some of them were also 'signed' "To Pierre":

(fancier in I guess French than the English "Peter")

Permalink Reply by Eddy on March 6, 2024 at 9:33am

..and a fair number (like the Sinatra) executed uninscribed:

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 6, 2024 at 9:57am

The lack of a dedication is circumstantial. What is interesting is none of these, the "Swanson", the "Brando", they are in no way anywhere as successful, if that is the right word, as the Sinatra. The last name is particularly impressive in execution.

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