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Here are three signed contracts between The Doors and Elektra Records. As you can see, two of these are identical pages from an October 1968 contract. The other is a page from a February 1970 contract. Although the signatures are all clearly different, I find them to be very similar in appearance.

I'd like to point out that the other signature on each of these contracts is that of Elektra President Jac Holzman. On each of the two 1968 contracts, Holzman has signed above Lawrence Harris' printed name. Harris was also an Elektra executive at that time.

A few things that I find particularly unusual in comparing the signatures are the second "r" and second "o" in "Morrison", and the "n" in "John."

Thoughts?


Tags: autographs, contracts, doors, elektra, gotta, have, holzman, jac, jim, morrison, More…ocher2007, rock, roll, signatures

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Interesting, Mike.

 

I'm not so sure I believe your story, though.

 

Sometimes there are people out there that claim to know everything about everything. And let me give you an example of how silly it all becomes (as The Doors are my favorite group, I've got some stories).

 

Somebody on the Doors website, years and years ago, talked about paying $10,000 for a photo of Jim Morrison naked. Claimed it was the real deal, photographer lived in same building as Morrison, and never would sell these, only making 20 prints, and selling each one for $10,000. I laughed. No way the photo will ever be worth what you spent, even if it's real. A huge debate about it errupted, with people saying they could be photoshoppped, etc (Pam was in the photo naked, too...kinda like the Lennon/Yoko album).

 

I have to think there are lots of these contracts out there (well..not "lots" but enough that your buddy doesn't own EVERY ONE). It just doesn't make sense.

 

And I think I found out from one company, that Ray Manazerek SOLD them all his old checks, so they had hundreds and hundreds of them. So any contact Ray has, he may have sold for a few thousand bucks. There are so many possibilities.

 

All that being said -- The DOors, unfortunately for us hardcore fans, are THE EASIEST band in the world to forge. Contracts make it a lot tougher, though.

There are indeed other contracts out there, including one that Jim Morrison signed for an appearance on the Clay Cole Show, and another that he signed for an appearance on American Bandstand. They were offered for sale fairly recently.

 

I was aware of the photo (which is real), but didn't know that it had sold for $10K. Wow! 

If Mike is referring only to their contracts with Elektra, every one of those I've ever seen is pictured in this thread. The 1970 contract is the only one I know of that has been included in a book.

The Jim Morrison signed "Morrison Hotel" album is at $6,134 +20% in the RR sale closing tonight. Supposedly the only Morrison-signed Doors album known.

http://rrauction.com/bidtracker_detail.cfm?IN=343

It sold for about $14.5K including the buyer's premium back in '07, so the winning bid will have to be about $17K in order to match that amount after the seller's fee.

What do you think it will go for?

I'm thinking that it will sell for a bit less this time around. I was surprised by the price it sold for in '07, as signed copies of Morrison's privately published poetry books sell for less than half that amount. That may have been the result of a bidding war between two bidders. Also, there's a very nice signed copy of "The Lords and the New Creatures" in this auction, which could take some interest away from the LP. It's signed to Billy James, who played a prominent role in the Doors' history.  

It's the only known Morrison-signed album, so it's hard to compare. I think it may break $30,000. 

That's true. I've seen a total of five signed copies of "The New Creatures." Considering that it was published in an edition of only 100, I would have expected there to be more signed albums than signed copies of that book.  

I see your point. But signing books has been common for hundreds of years, and even today musicians and actors who rarely sign in public sign their books.

Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968 and John Bonham died in in 1980, yet 20 or less band-signed albums with Bonham are known.

The Doors was formed in 1965 and Morrison died in 1971. There are probably some Morrison or even entire Doors-signed signed albums out there we don't know about, but not many, if so.

Then again, the auction closes soon and the album's at a good bit less than I thought it would be at this point. We'll know where it closes in less than an hour.

$14,350, including BP, which is about $150 less than last time.

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