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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 24, 2021 at 6:16pm

I guess so. I  collected these items for just $1450. 1928 8x10 SP (signed 1935), late 1930's Penragram Pictures 8x10 DRACULA Still and an 11 X 14 personal portrait C. 1928 - owned by Lugosi and stolen by his agent in the 4'0s.

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Permalink Reply by David Lewis on March 27, 2021 at 4:11pm

Eric, I think you spent most of that money on the outstanding 11x14 photo. Not so much on the Dracula photo, and the rest on the signed 8x10…..Now had the signed 8x10 photo been in character as Dracula, or the 11x14 been in character as Dracula…….$7 to $10 thousand plus…..Only my thoughts, depending on the  which Dracula photo.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 29, 2021 at 11:35am

Actually, the SP from Kramer/Brucato was about half the total cost. It hung in a NY Italian restaurant for decades and it is double weight and mint. 

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 24, 2021 at 10:55pm

Even though this is not a Wolfman photo I thought I'd strike while the iron is hot and get your opinions on it. I bought it almost as much for the image as the autograph but obviously I hope it's real. When did LCJ stop using the Jr.? 

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Permalink Reply by David Lewis on March 26, 2021 at 2:40pm

a pug called eva, I love the vintage Mummy photo, not a fan of the signature. In my humble opinion the signature has odd shapes and characteristics, I was hoping to find an exemplar with a "Hi", but nothing solid. I do not know the time period he dropped the Jr….I think he kept it at least thru the war years.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 26, 2021 at 11:13pm

Hi David, thanks for your comments. I'm certainly no expert in LCJ's autograph. When I bought mine I just did the usual thing and Googled other examples. I agree that mine does seem more "flowery" than most other examples. What parts of mine bother you most? I did find another "Hi" example on the PSA site Entertainment - Lon Chaney Jr. - Images | PSA AutographFacts™ (psac.... Here it is, along with another flowery but later example.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 26, 2021 at 11:32pm

Here's another later "Hi" example from what looks like a reputable dealer:

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Permalink Reply by David Lewis on March 27, 2021 at 4:35pm

a pug called eva, I will get back to you….just remember none of the last 3 from you are signed Jr., a different time period. I remember seeing a lot of "luck" signatures in the early 80's, but I think I only have 1 exemplar of that one in my library….Another item you can check for is the period after Jr…..he did not use a period after Jr. on his late 30's early 40's drivers license…..I think most important……Again only my opinion, I wasn't there the day he signed any of this.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 29, 2021 at 7:06am

Hi David, I am very open to opinions. I can see that "my" LCJ is not completely in line with any other examples but there seem to be very few 1940s examples around and mine is certainly very close to some. I cannot believe it is a fake - given the apparent age of the ink, the dedication to a magazine and the quality of the vintage, stamped still (would someone use a still that is probably worth $300+ to fake an autograph?) - but it could be secretarial I guess. That begs the question as to whether LCJ used a secretary for signing and whether there are other secretarial examples to be found.

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on March 29, 2021 at 8:42am

Hi a pug called eva.  You are definitely right about the age of the signature.  However, keep in mind that at that time when this was signed, the still was simply a press photo sent out by the studio to be used in the trade as advertising and it's only value was for the one time use. Tons of these went out for publicity purposes and then were either returned to the studio (ideally) or simply pitched.  

I will pass along something that Tom Kramer of Golden Age Autographs shared with me. He said that for some reason these vintage signed photos that were dedicated to Spanish speaking magazines are usually not real. Tom said that he had seen many examples of them with these kind of dedications in Spanish....usually in parenthesis like here.  I once had offered him one of them and, while he said the signature looked close like in your Mummy photo, he steered clear of any of the dedicated Spanish magazine photos.  

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 29, 2021 at 10:57am

Hi Etienne, thanks for your comments. I know that these photos were just used as advertising material at the time and that a lot of photos dedicated to magazines were signed by secretaries. What I haven't been able to find are examples of Lon Chaney Jr. secretarial signatures.  If this one is secretarial the secretary must have had a lot of practice. You'd think that there would be some other examples of his or her work around.

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on March 29, 2021 at 11:04am

Sure, I understand what you are seeking as far as secretarial examples.  I wasn't commenting on the look of the autograph so much as the mysterious and dubious reality of these photos inscribed to the Spanish speaking magazines. I once saw a James Dean which was quite close but had this quotation marked magazine dedication.

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