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I am starting this in hopes people will add their real Andy Griffith autographs and the Linke "secretarial" ones for comparison.  Since the death of Andy Griffith I have noticed a growing appreciation of the man and actor.  He was much more than just "Andy Taylor" his range from comedy to drama was great.  I suspect his popularity will increase partly because of TCM showing some of his dramatic and comic performances. 

In this study if you scroll down the comments you will find links to Andy Griffith's four appearances as a "Mystery Guest" on the television game show What's My Line? in 1958, 1959,1965 and 1967.  There are captures of his signature as he signed in below also. 

With Andy Griffith autographs it is not so much the forgeries, since the value has not quite reached the level to make it worthwhile, but "secretarial" signatures that are the problem.  The "secretary" generally was Richard O. Linke a producer who worked with Griffith for many years.  It is hoped that people will submit genuine autographs from checks or other sources as well as any "fake" ones.  The more there is for comparison the better our understanding of the nuances in his signature.

For many years the "Linke" autographs were considered real much in the same way that the "Challton Heston" signatures were.  An old respected collector many years ago told me that most of the Andy Griffith autographs were suspect.  At that time it was assumed a secretary was signing.  Based on what my friend told me I never actually owned an Andy Griffith autograph until I bought checks on eBay a few years ago!  The work that Gary Wedemeyer and Frank Johnson are doing to educate people on the subject of the "Linke" autographs is very valuable.  Like most TAGS collectors they have a great passion for the subject.  I would like to thank them for their efforts.

The first is the signature of a very young Andy Griffith at age 18.  This comes from the World War II draft registration form that was signed by Andy Griffith.  I have never seen an earlier example of his signature although no doubt some exist.    The original is in the National Archives so in a way this is an Andy Griffith autograph that we all own!

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Here are a couple of Richard O. Linke autographs to compare with real Andy Griffith signatures.  The first suspect may be a bit older than the second one.  It actually is a closer example in regards to "G" but still off.  The second one I am certain is prior to 1994.  It came from what I think was a through the mail collection of TAGS actors personalized to the same person including Jack Dodson who died in 1994. 

Here is an example of one of the COAs that was hand signed by Andy Griffith in April of 1992 when he downsized and sold many of his personal mementos.   Many were books from his personal library or gifts he had received from his travels or from friends and fans.  The COAs were printed up on high quality paper and were signed by Griffith and the sale manager.  Items also included mundane items such as old blank stationary, multiple copies of photographs, and even "business cards" with Matlock printed on them.  The latter may have been "props" from the show or perhaps someone printed them up for him.  All the items had been in the Griffith home in North Hollywood, California.   Some presentation items were engraved with his name.  Some of the COAs in the description area were typed others were hand printed.   These COAs are a good way to get a genuine Griffith autograph other than a check. 

I have seen a few of these pop up from time to time on ebay. I have a question for anyone that can answer it. Does anyone know how to authenticate an item that was said to be used on the Show. A prop. I see phones, dishes .etc show up on ebay all the time. I have a guy that emails me stating he has the actual phone that was used in the courthouse. I would love to have it, but know nothing about props and how to tell if they are genuine. anyone in here know? Thanks

Hi Frank.  If the COA is from the Ellis Prop Company you need to be extremely careful.  I personally doubt any of that stuff is genuine since some the Ellis Prop Company COA's have been forged.   Props were used by various productions and especially with mundane items I doubt they would keep many records on what individual shows they were on.  I got taken by one of these and will tell that story here sometime I need to locate the COA I got with it.  I have seen old aspirin bottles on eBay that were claimed to be from Bewitched or the Munsters there is absolutely no way that could be verified.  I have seen "Barney's" chair on eBay and granted it looks just like his chair but there would have been hundreds of those made as were the candlestick phone in the office.  The man you talked probably is legitimate but I would want to know a whole lot more about the provenance.   I am not sure what prop company Danny Thomas productions used at the time.  I would think the phone would have a number on the bottom somewhere since that would be about the only way to inventory it.  So I would look into it especially before paying too much.

I don't know of any way to "beyond a shadow of a doubt" authenticate props from the show. There used to be a squad car in a car museum in Gatlinburg, TN that was said to be from the show. I asked Dick Linke (Andy's manager) about it and he said "no way". He said Ford provided them with new cars every year and the old ones were repainted and sold as used cars. It's just hard to be 100% sure. Way too many fakes out there.

One would think that if Ford was going to preserve one of the cars they would have sent it to the Henry Ford Museum.  i just do not see how you can prove props to any great satisfaction.  Even if you get it from a set designer or the prop company itself you still need to take their word for it.  it is possible some of these items are legitimate, but they would be few and far between for a show that ended close to half a century ago. Props were not special they were tools, and the time it would take to keep track of an individual item like a plate or cup.  I doubt very much a prop company would keep things for years and years. The only props that might possibly have been kept track of were the guns used on the show.  Others I suspect they just said blue willow dishes service for 8 or something like that.  Some of the stuff on eBay look like they went to some junk shop and cleaned it out.   

I know a lot of the set design Andy kept. Some of it has been donated to the museum in Mt. Airy such as the 2 signs on the courthouse doors. Andy gave those to Emmett several years back.

A few years back an auction came on eBay for the "Original" Jail cell keys from TAGS. The seller said these were the smaller versions used in the first few episodes. After seeing them on film it was determined they were too small so they went with the bigger keys. Made sense to me! I'll admit I was EXTREMELY interested. So I popped in a 1st season VHS tape and all that is EVER shown are the larger keys. The auction went for $450 for basically a $.15 flee market item. That really set my thinking on purchasing any "props" from any show or movie.

I think I remember that auction or maybe another similar for keys. I know Barney's chair was up once and I looked at it. The chair was the exact same design but looked in rough shape for something that supposedly was in a prop storage warehouse. I think any of the permanent features of the set Mr. Griffith probably did have control of and gave to his friend. It would be interesting to see a list of the "props" owned by him in the museum. I just hope that the museum is careful about accepting donations of items from eBay sales. The trouble with props is mostly they are everyday items made by the tens of thousands so obviously they are a lot out there. One thing is they sell items that I know are not in any scene but they claim they were on the set. Those I would say are all phoney at least i would like to see the documentation.  $450 seems to be the going price for "good" props like telephones etc.   If you look those selling most "props" all have their feedback set to private so unless a buyer mentions it in their feedback there is no way of know what item sold.  I do not think eBay should allow that.  Most come with COA's from the "prop" company but they show a picture of the actual COA or "letter" from the set designer.   If I was selling something like that I would want to show those if I felt they were real.   Sadly people will buy these to own something that was on the show.  I will have to hunt up what I bought with the fake COA.   I only paid maybe $36 including shipping and I use the "planter" to throw my keys in so not a complete waste.  I would just urge anyone before you buy a "prop" to really question the seller and ask for pictures of the COA or letter.  

I know that most of the items in the museum are just Andy Griffith related. Everything from albums to photos, awards to takeout chicken boxes. Anything actually from the show has been donated by the actual performers who owned them. Andy and Emmett Forrest were lifetime friends and Andy routinely gave Emmett items for the museum. George Lindsey's son has donated a suit that "Goober" wore, Francie Knotts donated the long black coat that "Barney" wore when he was the "Black rider on a white horse" in the "Divorce, Mountain Style" episode. Jean Carson's son has donated a "Daphne" dress. Hal Smith donated his "Otis" coat and hat. There are some really neat items there. It's well worth the $3 admission - and if you happen to be there on a day that Betty Lynn is there - all the better!!

I found some photos from the Museum that shows some of the great items they have.

Here are the actual Jail cell keys

Courthouse door signsBarney's ol "Salt & Pepper" suit. Betty is signing autographs in the background.The gavel Andy used in the courthouse.and one of Andy's uniform shirts

The pictures from the museum are great Gary thanks.  

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