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Purple Rain era Prince autograph

Here is a really nice Prince, Purple Rain signed press photo that has come to be available to me.This has reportedly come VIA a Warner Bros. Pre-show VIP event held in conjunction with a major radio station in central Florida at the Lakeland Civic Center April 5, 1985 near the end of the Purple Rain tour.

The family of the then program director is considering an auction style event of dozens of items that were amassed during his tenure at the station due to the stations promotion of dozens of concerts and in studio interviews. Out of respect for the family I don't feel I should mention the station or his name.

I have to move on it pretty quickly or I will miss the opportunity. I've made up my mind but what say you?

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prince.jpg, 1.3 MB

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Permalink Reply by Carl Ryan on August 27, 2014 at 8:20pm

This one is tough. If its a fake, its leagues beyond most Prince fakes. I would have to go with asking Roger on this one. Some things look right, and others give me pause. For instance, Prince typically made his P flow into his r, thus continuing the signature in one movement. In this instance, he seemed to have completed the P and then start on the remaining part. But, Prince did occasionally do this, so it cant be ruled out on that. The R is also a little atypical compared to the examples i have, but i have seen some like this as well. This one is beyond me. I think it probably has a better shot than most of being real, but id have to ask Roger before i would buy.

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Permalink Reply by john reece on August 27, 2014 at 8:34pm

Cool

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Permalink Reply by john reece on August 27, 2014 at 8:44pm

Thank You Carl, actually your opinion is the one that I was most looking forward to hearing and I am glad that you got back to me so soon. I have tremendous faith in the source and after reading what you have to say about it I am going to go ahead and pick it up, the price is right on it and there are people in the running to buy it I am just lucky to be at the top of the list. I really appreciate your opinion as its validate my own thank you very much for your time and your Prince expertise.

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Permalink Reply by roger epperson on August 28, 2014 at 6:38am

Carl makes some good points for sure. The problems I see with it is it's missing the "hook" at the beginning of the "P", it also has a very large and abnormal loop behind the "P", it is smaller usually. Like Carl stated the "r" is not bridged which he almost always did in that era. It is also missing "Love God" above the signature and I have not seen an autograph from that era where he didn't write that.

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Permalink Reply by john reece on August 28, 2014 at 12:36pm

So its a 30 year old "characteristically good" signature with a couple of known variations, by a guy with an aversion to signing in the first place. Considering the complete lack of good Prince in the marketplace I'm going to get it. Thank you Carl and Roger

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Permalink Reply by A.B. on August 28, 2014 at 12:54pm

I don't think this is a genuine Prince autograph

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Permalink Reply by john reece on August 28, 2014 at 1:39pm

Thanks A.B......but for me that ship has sailed. Based on my own due diligence, my trust in the source and Carl and Rogers comments on having seen these variants, I've decided its a worthy risk.

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Juice on August 29, 2014 at 6:11pm

Here is a 100% authentic one from a check that I obtained from Prince's former accountant. Note the differences?

What did you pay for your photo if I may ask?

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Permalink Reply by john reece on August 29, 2014 at 6:56pm

thanks Bruce I actually looked at some of those checks when making my decision on this particular piece. It comes from a private seller, the family of a radio programmer from Orlando Florida they are considering an auction style event to sell off all of the autographs and memorabilia from his time at the station promoting concerts and in studio interviews, everything he obtained was from 79-87. My family maintained a relationship with their family since 1979 when i won a radio station promotion for the startup of the KISS Dynasty tour in Lakeland Florida I was of course a minor and had to have a parent present so I guess my mom hit it off with his wife who is now trying to raise money for ALS which brought the piece to my attention. tTey were asking 8 for it but accepted 5. I did as much research as a person can possibly do looking at dozens and dozens of authentic as well as fake signatures, I posted it here really hoping to hear from Carl Ryan who as luck would have it was the first person to respond and him confirming that he had seen, with his own eyes variants in the way the P and the R are written was enough for me to feel this was worth the risk I will be sending it to PSA for authentication and will post the results here. Thank you 4 taking the time to comment and again thank you to Carl Ryan and Roger Epperson 4 taking the time to look and comment.