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Jim Morrison signed photo on cover of RR Auctions catalog

The following JDM signed item is up for sale in RR's May 19 auction. It is only the second known signed photo by Jim and is indeed a Jim-era print. It is featured on the cover of the catalog and comes with an Epperson COA.This item bothers me a lot. It's been said before (which is true) that if you sat down and signed your own name 100 times, they would all look slightly to even completely different. The sig as a whole and letters will vary a lot. Obviously no 2 would be exactly alike so i don't want to hear that as an excuse on this particular signature.

Let's start with the pink elephant on the picture. The "i" is dotted with a small circle. I have now 102 authentic JDM exemplars in my personal files and not one of them has a dotted "i" on which he signed since Ray and Jim met on the beach and formed The Doors. Jim Did dot his"i" though 3 times. All 3 are from his 61' senior yearbooks which he signed for a classmate.All 3 as you see are with dotted i's, and exactly that an i with a dot above it. RR's "i" is topped off not dotted but with a small circle. Never saw that before. (also notice that in the yearbooks, Jim's sig is continuous throughout versus the sig we are all used to seeing which is broken down into JM-ORR-I-SON).

The last loop of the M is a tad to high isn't it? very unusual as all the loops of his "M's" are almost always the same height. The first"O" is completely off. It starts high and is an open "O". 99% of his first "O" tucks into itself before transitioning into the first "R". RR's "ORR" looks identical to a Morrison sig on Roger's website which he states is a forgery. (shown below)

.To me the most suspicious portion of the RR sig is the "SON" which is completely uncharacteristic of him. The "S" looks like an 8. The "O" which follows the "S" is awful and take a look at how the "O" transitions into the "N" with that "downward loop" versus the way he normally did it which is transitioning up or a small horizontal line into the "N". This to me is a tell because all the forgers do this and get that part wrong.

I think Roger is one of the best in the business and have a lot of respect for him and for what he has done to help our hobby. But i just can't see how RR's item is genuine.I couldn't bid on it with confidence. It just has way too many anomalies. Many authentic Jim sigs have that occasional letter that looks totally wrong, but it's still authentic. How many things did i list on RR's sig that just don't look right.

Opinions please.

Best, Jack...

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Permalink Reply by JackGotLucky on April 24, 2016 at 6:34pm

Since the Doors were formed, like i said there are about 100 or so known authentic JDM exemplars. Show me one, just one where he dots his "i". other than the RR photo. Jack...

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on April 25, 2016 at 11:16am

It is indeed on a vintage Doors-era promotional photo that seems to be pretty rare. There are letters that look spot on, particularly the “J” and second “R”, and others that look unusual, especially the second “O.” It isn’t what I expect to see. I wouldn’t say that the loop of the second “M” is too high. It is indeed when you get to the “ISON” portion that it really starts to look odd. I agree that the shape of the “S” and transition from the “O” to the “N” is unusual, as is the circular dot over the “I”. It’s rare to see the “I” in “Morrison dotted, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a circular dot such as this. I have seen a crescent a shaped dot over the “I” when he signed “Jim.”

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Permalink Reply by Don Webster on April 25, 2016 at 11:26am

The 64 dollar question Ballroom is....

Would you purchase this ???

Enquiring minds want to know...

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on April 25, 2016 at 11:42am

I'm not sure, Don. I'm not yet confident about it one way or the other. It's an oddity.

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Permalink Reply by Don Webster on April 25, 2016 at 11:52am

I thank you for your candor...

Because it's not a "slam dunk"...I understand your hesitation...

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on April 25, 2016 at 12:19pm

Sure. At this point, I would lean more toward it being authentic, but I agree that it's no slam dunk.

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Permalink Reply by Paul on April 25, 2016 at 2:28pm

This morrison doesn't look like any others that you guy's have posted before, i know we have established that, but are there any forgeries like this that anyone has seen before?

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Permalink Reply by JackGotLucky on April 25, 2016 at 2:43pm

I would say no Paulie. That's what makes this particular Jim sig such a puzzle. You have the "J" and especially the second "R" which is textbook Morrison. But then on the flip side the sig has that downward loop transition from the second "O" to the "N" that is done in a way that i have never seen Jim do. Also, an "i" which has a circle above it. It has both no-brainer positives and red flags.