Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ricky H on March 29, 2013 at 3:13am

i dont think its authentic, seems to perfect for me. the M's dont look bad but the rest of "monroe" just doesnt look right. just my opinion

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Permalink Reply by Fab on March 30, 2013 at 3:30am

Thank you Ricky for your opinion :)

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Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on March 30, 2013 at 3:35am

Not genuine from me

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Permalink Reply by Pauline Berry on July 18, 2013 at 4:08am

Bruce, I think its real, especially when I looked at it up close. The pen pressure is right, firmer in the right places like the first stalk in the M of Marilyn. From about 1954 to 1958, as her signature was different to this before and after these dates.

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Permalink Reply by Ricky H on July 18, 2013 at 4:26am

thats a great point Pauline, it is clearly her early signature style from the 50s time period but if you look closely  at "Monroe," the "onroe" seems very slow and drawn out which makes be believe it is not authentic though both "M"s look good. im on the fence about it but leaning towards not authentic. 

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Permalink Reply by Pauline Berry on July 18, 2013 at 3:31pm

I totally agree with William here re the ink taking to the glossy surface and that it is the name only.

On the other hand I have yet to see a really great forgery. That I know of.

I like that the secretarials made no attempt to imitate Monroe's actual hand, not to my knowledge anyway. 

So, the fact that its on what looks to be a genuine old photo taken between 1950-52 does help the case, so its right for how she has signed here. The are worth something in their own right and become worth less with a bad forgery on it. Not that this is a bad forgery. To me there is only a tiniest bit of doubt as to its authenticity, say 1%. Its a risk to waste a lovely old photo like this, its probably real.

I would like to know if anyone has ever heard that Monroe's signature was ever auto-penned? This is the only other explanation I could think of.

I am fascinated with Monroe's hand-writing, so many variations!

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Permalink Reply by Pauline Berry on July 18, 2013 at 5:01pm

The earlier the photo and signature, the more likely to be genuine. She really tried to sign as many photos to fans in the early days. It was important to her, but probably became more overwhelming from 1954 onwards, and of course, she left Fox in 54/55 so the genuine signed photos from Fox stopped then. 

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Permalink Reply by Pauline Berry on July 18, 2013 at 8:18pm

Same William! I have some doozies I would love your opinion on :-)