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Authenticity is Everything
Bernie Taupin signed book.. should I cut?
apologies if this does not belong here. I figured I'd ask in this thread since Taupin is just as much a part of Eltons music as Elton is..
I recently acquired a book signed by Bernie "The One Who Writes The Words". It is my 2nd Taupin autograph. The other being a JSA authenticated check. One of these will go into a collection im constantly putting together for my daughter. The other is for me to keep. Im thinking about cutting the signature out of the book and matting with an Elton signature since im most likely keeping the book for myself. I have a small collection of signed books but 90% of the books in my collection, I cut the autographs out. Im not a fan of having an autograph hidden inside a book ill only read once. The books I collect for my daughter are remaining uncut as to let her make her own decision in the future.
Im wondering if there is a good reason not to cut out this signature? If I decide to sell my collection on 30 years for retirement money or whatever, will I regret not having this signature in the book?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on
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I am reminded I did a cut one time. High value yes. Regrets, yes. I had a chance to get a UNICEF poster from The Diary of Ann Frank signed by Audrey Hepburn in 1990/91 at the afterparty in NYC. I was lucky enough to have wine with her at a table for two. Anyway, I mistakenly thought "this poster is loo large - cutting the sig out would make it an easier sale and easier to transport". The poster is worth far more than the cut I made. It's lost its tie in to her UNICEF work and a date and every other bit io information such as the director, Michael Tilson-Thomas who also sign I believe. I made one of a few into one of many instead. I took a Giraffe and turned it ino a shrew.
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Permalink Reply by Jason H on
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Wow, wine with Audrey Hepburn.. that must have been amazing! Im sorry to hear about your regret. I do feel this might not exactly be comparable to that situation though. Everything I have cut so far doesn't have a value on its own over $20 aside from maybe the Renegades book but its worth came from the autographs included since it is a deluxe version only available signed. I doubt anything else on its own will increase in value over time either.
Your poster cut reminds me of a cut I wanted to attempt, but my wife has talked me out of it (so far)... i was able to purchase 2, 11x17 posters signed by Sia last year. Ill post a few pictures from eBay, examples of my before and after plan.. anyways, at least one of these posters will never be put on the wall. They will essentially be rolled up for life. I wanted to cut and mat one similar to the picture I will post below. Wife forbids me from doing it though. I may eventually wear her down since we have 2. Of course one will eventually be thrown into my daughters collection. And now they sit in our closet, out of our view. We are big fans of hers and its a shame
I get where you are coming from with this. If the book was rare by itself, I would absolutely never cut the signature. Don't beat yourself up over the Hepburn. You will always have a great memory of the event. I have my share of regrets over the years as well which is why I truly value this conversation with you. Just curious, do you still have the Hepburn cut? I'm not familiar with the poster you mentioned but would it be possible to hunt down a photo of this poster, print a smaller version of it and mat the cut autograph with that photo? In my head, it seems like a great idea.
Here are the examples of the Sia cut I had planned. I really think, if done correctly, a cut can be turned into an amazing item. I would have chosen a different picture to mat with it though
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Is that her normal signing angle? The blue also ruins it for me because one can see it was cut from a larger photo of someone. This is exactly what I avoid. When was it signed? On what? Why was it cut down? Sharp eyes will recognize the cut as a magazine cover. I can't see cutting that out - she was on the cover of Rolling Stone with a big stoty about her and she signed it - now it's a not so attractive too tight cut floating around like a balloon without a string.
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Permalink Reply by Stepeanut on
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Again, I agree with Eric. Matting the signature vertically would look weird.
I don’t like your proposed solution for this autograph at all, Jason. Not only because the cut removes all context, as Eric has already argued so eloquently regarding your Taupin book, but also aesthetically.
Another thing to consider: despite the magazine’s reduced importance in recent years, to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone is still a massive deal in most artists’ careers. The brand is iconic. In some cases, the cover shoot goes on to become a career-defining moment in and of itself. If I were you, I’d be looking to frame the entire magazine, non-destructively, to keep the signature where it belongs and to preserve the magazine for the future. If that is not possible, then the only cut I would even consider would be to carefully remove the entire front cover and frame that up as-is. No additional imagery required; the magazine cover says it all.
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we've gone off track. I was comparing a cut from an 11x17 reproduction poster of a magazine cover signed by Sia vs Eric's Hepburn poster cut.. the point I was attempting to make is that a poster cut is a completely different type of cut compared to a book cut.. the Sia is not an actual magazine cover.
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No, it's an official 11x17 poster, yes? I've seen several posters signed verically. in the same spot.
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I see.
I wouldn’t have cut the poster at all, but, if the damage is done already, that’s too bad. I still don’t like the weird, vertical matte, or that pseudo-Beatles cartoon image paired with it.
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I dont like it either.. this is just an example of what someone else did which i found quick on ebay. Its not mine. Just something I was contemplating on doing before we decided against it. I would have chosen a different photo as well..
Both of our posters are still intact. We went off track because of Eric's regret over cutting a poster and I wanted to make sure to point out that there is a difference usually to cutting a poster vs cutting a book.
Since Eric brought up regret over cutting a poster. I felt it was important for anyone who is contemplating on cutting a book signature, to know that there is a difference. Posters can still turn out nice if cut and matted correctly. But again, we decided against this.
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Top one is JSA authenticated original 11x17 poster signed. The bottom picture is taken from someone else who decided to mat theirs in a similar way i was contemplating doing.. These came from Warner music store in Australia. Its her signature but I havent seen anything else of hers signed top to bottom in this way.. I waited 7 months for this preorder to ship. Lost hope they would show up. I did not know what the signature would look like before receiving..
I agree about the blue inside the cut. Its ultimately why I have not cut ours yet.. my feelings about cutting this are completely different than cutting the Bernie book. The part of me that still wants to do it is instantly squashed by my wife's disapproval. This is why i compare it to the cut of your Hepburn poster. Unless your cut is completely 1 color background and not signed in a "busy" area.
Anyways, I know this is getting a little off track but I did want to point out the differences of a clean cut from an autographed book vs a cut from a poster. Bernies cut would look much better than the Sia example
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My Hepburn cut was black steel tipped ink alone against pure white on thick poster stock.
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OK gotcha.. i apologize for the confusion then. It could be similar to a book cut
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Permalink Reply by crazyrabbits23 on
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As someone who currently has an item (a signed book) that will be going on Goldin and faced a question regarding this (someone wanted to buy intending to cut the autos out of the book), I'm of the opinion that in most cases, it is NEVER worth cutting a signature out of a signed book unless there is a severe extenuating circumstance - i.e. the book is so damaged that the only recourse is to cut it out to salvage it.
I ended up doing that with an Atwood book I bought from the U.K. -- I was given a replacement copy, but I ended up salvaging the original water-damaged page by clipping it out and drying it out. It's not worth anything now but a mild curiosity/ephemera as part of a larger collection.
I'd rather have the satisfaction of knowing Taupin held the book in his hand when he signed it (nevermind the additional writing he made, as per other posts made about it in this topic, which is valuable in and of itself) versus cutting the sig out and taking your chances on authentication with no additional context (because with signed books, there's a good change there's additional info/ephemera tied into it).
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