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1930s actors

Hey, I’m new here and was given this site as a recommendation from some folks at RACC. My grandmother passed away and I have inherited her collection of signed photos from 1935-1939 as she penciled in on the back of each photo the year. There are approximately 175 photos and most are 5x7. A lot are personalized. Some are preprinted and others are probably secretarial, but I don’t know which are.

How should I go about getting these authenticated and how should I go about selling them? I collect sports and music memorabilia and only know a few of these names as I’m 30 and don’t really watch Turner Classic Movies. I know that I’m better off selling individually than selling them in bulk. Thank you so much for your help!

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Permalink Reply by goodcat on December 28, 2018 at 9:18pm

I'm sorry buddy but I remain opposed

Because I like you, I will send you exemplars and we can discuss in private

No need to hijack this thread.

How much ya wanna bet on the outcome? hahaha

A donut? LMAO

Everyone knows I love donuts

And thank you I think. I have spent a lot of time on Cagney. If Robert's is real ink, I have no doubt its authentic. Its a beautiful old sig which were his best

Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on December 29, 2018 at 10:08am

While I do not intend to make it a habit of commenting on AML anymore in this instance I will since I believe Eric is 100 percent correct in his assessment of the Gable in question. I believe this to be a secretarial and not Gable himself. He is also correct about the 5x7 often being sent out as secretarial examples. The exceptions are sometimes non A-list actors such as John Qualen and I have one that is a 5x7 but also in his hand.

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 28, 2018 at 9:51pm

I also note more ink at the end of the "G" of the OP, which is slowing down and trailing left, not right. Gable's strokes literally trail off, and to the right most often. Just noticed this - there is much to see.

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Permalink Reply by goodcat on December 29, 2018 at 11:37am

Thanks Scott for being a part of this

I'm beginning to side with the secretarial judgements after much review

Too many traits aren't matching up with authentic examples

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Permalink Reply by goodcat on December 28, 2018 at 6:48pm

Hi Robert

Can you tell us a bit about your Grandmother, meaning did she go out and meet many celebrities. Did she rub shoulders or was she a fan that wrote letters to the studio's and or the celebs themselves?

I know the ink must speak for itself but at times the story is equally important

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 28, 2018 at 6:53pm

I suspect much of this is TTM (through the mail). No story will change the Davis for example, or the Mama Harlow.

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Permalink Reply by goodcat on December 28, 2018 at 7:12pm

I don't care bout the Davis or Harlow at this time

And after looking at many Gable signatures, I still think it could be authentic.

The angles and certain points are correct to his real hand

I'm actually still on the fence but leaning into the authentic yard more than secretarial. Hopefully we hear from others

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 28, 2018 at 7:19pm

Can you post some known exemplars that support what you are saying? I am not seeing it at all.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Hollingsworth on December 28, 2018 at 7:15pm

So my grandmother was pretty well off during the 20s and the depression. They were German Jewish migrants. Her family owned several textile mills. She was the only daughter and the youngest by a good few years so she was spoiled rotten. Most of the photos were a result of her writing to movie stars back then. It is my understanding that there was a magazine or something that provided some of these addresses. She did do a good bit of traveling around the country after her mother died especially out west. We had some reels that were filmed at monument valley from when she went there as a teenager.

One of my aunts is pretty good at ciphering many of these actors photos. She did keep a lot of the ones that she liked like Boris Karloff and Bella Lugosi lol. But I ended up with a large amount of them. I do have a book of signed pages at my parents house from people that she met on trips with family as well. Im a sports memorabilia collector and love that there is a Dizzy Dean Autograph in the book. I think his may have come from meeting him on a train ride when she was headed to summer school at Northwestern in Illinois from Newcomb in New Orleans.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Hollingsworth on December 28, 2018 at 7:19pm

The Gable is penciled 1937 on the back of that helps any.

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on December 28, 2018 at 7:22pm

Back in the day, most in person autographs were obtained on album pages. Autograph books were plentiful and when actors could be found on studio grounds or in public most people used them.

Most signed photos were through the mail requests.

As for the Gable, most photos he signed are personalized. I would be hard pressed to find one example where he used the word "Gratefully" in the salutation. I guess it would be possible although not likely.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 28, 2018 at 7:29pm

+1 the very format of these, signed 5x7's...most all IP back then would be album pages, not photos. TTM 5x7 often secretarial. The newspaper thing mentioned is typical. The little preprint postcards and the 5x7's were free (hence the usual secretarials), the 8x10's were not always one or the other and the 11x14 were almost always handsigned by the celebrity and cost 25C.