Authenticity is Everything

Billie Holiday Autograph

I purchased this 78 vinyl record purportedly signed by Billie Holiday from an RACC trusted seller. I recently submitted the item to JSA for authentication, and unfortunately it did not pass.

I originally submitted it in person at a show here in CA a few weeks ago, and I was disappointed by how carelessly the item was handled during intake. When I received it back, there were fingerprints all over it. I contacted JSA immediately to report the condition, and they did expedite the review process.

Yesterday I received their letter confirming that the autograph did not pass authentication. I’m extremely disappointed and unsure what my next step should be, or if anyone here might be able to offer advice.

Prior to purchasing the item, I did my research and examined the signature characteristics—such as the looping of “Billie” and the shape of the “H” in “Holiday.” However, upon further inspection, the signature appears to have been written in ballpoint pen. Additionally, the Blue Ace label is known to be a bootleg label, and this particular pressing seems to have been released slightly before the time of her passing.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on Thursday

It appears there are two potential ink tracks, both look a bit unnatural and wobbly. I did not keep track of how often the width of the "o" is markedly thinner.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Wolfson 18 hours ago

Roger got back to me and confirmed the autograph is authentic. He’s mailing it back today along with the LOA.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva 7 hours ago

Interesting. Do you know if you will be getting any more than a one sentence opinion?

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Wolfson 6 hours ago

An LOA should suffice. If it’s authentic, I’m not sure what more needs to be said.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva 6 hours ago

If this were mine I would be curious as to why I have received two contrasting opinions from professional authenticators.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Wolfson 5 hours ago

because it doesn’t match a narrow version of her early signature just shows how little they know. Her signature varied—significantly.

JSA is the same company that, time and time again, fails to authenticate signatures that were literally witnessed in person.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin 4 hours ago

It's not rare for authenticators to disagree, Pug. Reputable TPAs generally won't call an autograph real unless they are pretty confident that it's real. Most of the ones they fail are the ones where they feel strongly that the autograph isn't real. But authenticators fail some because they are not sure, or not sure enough, that the autograph is real to give it their COA.

JSA says that they authenticate by consensus: of 5 authenticators, as I recall. That doesn't mean unanimous. To get a COA, that means that most of the authenticators either feel that the autograph is real, or are OK with the majority opinion that it is real.

And in the case of JSA, you'd need to know who all 5 of the authenticators were, and their experience in Billie's autograph, and Blues, Jazz, and Soul.