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Marilyn Monroe signed flamingo hotel menu Las Vegas real ? fake ?

Does anybody think this Marilyn signature looks real?
The menus from the mid 1950's
It's certified by GFA and AAU
it's being sold by antiquities of California for
850.00 sounds like a good price but i am hesitant.

Tags: Marilyn, Monroe, menu, signed

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 10, 2017 at 10:24pm

That Pearlie Mae/Pearl Bailey image inside the menu seems not to have been used until about 1958 or so. Imagery from the years before this shows a different photo of Bailey. The drawing of the building as seen under the Pearlie Mae "ad" also seems to have not been in use until 1957/58 - there was an earlier image of the building in use in 1954 that shows the tower in a different way.

Las Vegas History

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Permalink Reply by Robert Chase on April 11, 2017 at 6:50am

Eric, good investigative work

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 11, 2017 at 8:46am

Thanks Robert. It is interesting finding different ways to assign a date between the graphics and the sales tax. If we pretend the signature had legs, they would weaken quickly I suppose as one gets further away from 1953 or so. With the sales tax it appears a minimum date would be mid 1955; graphics now suggesting 1957. Pauline can speak to that from another angle as well - what would a 1957 Monroe look like compared to this.

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Permalink Reply by Don Webster on April 11, 2017 at 11:49am

This very same menu (at least the cover is the same -- no Monroe) was offered on eBay last month by a seller out of Texas. They asked 25 dollars for it. It did not sell. They had it listed as a 1960s menu...

You can locate that particular item by typing "Flamingo menu" in the eBay search and then ticking the completed listings box. It's right there...

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 11, 2017 at 1:58pm

Yes, saw that, but I don't know how they dated it to the 1960's. Prices perhaps? There is a better example on Pinterest, and one was at Etsy.

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Permalink Reply by Pauline Berry on April 12, 2017 at 4:07pm

This is a likely 1957 signature:

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-giA0zRU1D_0/WC-svfsnLnI/AAAAAAAADiw/qZVv...

Then she was filming "Some Like It Hot" in 1958, here is most of the cast including her sig on this signing:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8BmT88ibj6k/UfOqhQ4kX2I/AAAAAAAAAgk/8iSmY...

She was filming in San Diego and Hollywood. I can't find anytime she was near Vegas in this time frame.

I wonder if this is the same menu Don saw for sale? it didn't sell so they thought they would "upgrade" it's value?

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 12, 2017 at 4:15pm

Thanks Pauline. From what I was reading that looks more or less as I thought it would. You blog is excellent and the 2 other studies also very useful. Thank you.

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Permalink Reply by Pauline Berry on April 12, 2017 at 4:21pm

I need to re-organize that Monroe signature blog and put them into a more strict chronological order, a bit of a task. I also have a collection of fake signatures, but the blog isn't currently published, I think I will add this Flamingo one to it before I do so, it resembles the other dodgy signatures I have collected. It is among the better fakes I have seen though. More confident.

I just edited the previous post above as I found a typo on the date.

Below is a bad sig on a real cheque from the MM Estate.

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fakeautorealchq.jpg, 97 KB

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Permalink Reply by Robert Chase on April 12, 2017 at 4:36pm

Hello Pauline, I thought the same thing, that maybe they recently applied a Monroe signature to the menu. I compared the two and the wear appears to be different, unless they did a very carefull makeover. They can darken handling wear creases and add wear to make it look different. I did notice some wear that looks similar but I can't see the images well enough.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 12, 2017 at 4:43pm

Yes, I also think so. What struck me right off was the odd placement considering the space available inside, the contrast and amount of ink - fluid, but not a light hand. It would be interesting to see the ink closer, and the paper, but I don't see this being anything other that what it is.