Authenticity is Everything
Marx Brothers felt tip signatures on an early 1930's vintage photo
Some of you know that I'm a big fan of The Marx Brothers and have been fortunate to acquire some nice pieces from them. I belong to an online Marx discussion group. A member sent me a scan of the photo below that is currently being offered by a U.S. auction house. They are not an autograph collector per se but simply a Marx Brothers fan. They were thinking of bidding it and they asked me my thoughts. I told them I would try to get some other opinions as well.
It's oversized and does appear to be a vintage photo.
The first problem IMHO is that the signatures are just plain sloppy. Groucho's combines his earlier "G" with his later in life top flattened "r". The Zeppo looks like there were a couple of attempts at some of the letters with starts and stops and lighter and darker shades. Harpo has that once as well on the "o" like Zeppo had on his "o".It's like whoever did them hesitated at the final "o"s on both. The Chico does not have his signing nuance.
I guess the real kicker is that the description states it was signed in the early 1930's.... and that they are in felt tip pen!
Description als states that the 1930's dedicatee's info. stamp is found on the verso (which it is). The address includes a zip code. Those weren't first used until the mid-1960's . The font on the address is also a more modern style. Guess it could have been stamped later.
This photo has apparently passed through 3 major auction houses in the last 4 years.
Any thoughts to add that I can pass on? The felt tip writing instrument ,aside from the look of the signatures themselves, has left me extremely doubtful I'm sad to say. Thanks in advance from me and my Marx friend.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by eddy on
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hmmm...it may be this guy's photo and stamp and not the actor Tom Murray that the previous auctioneer had attributed it too.
I feel each of those signatures are wrong....Harpo being the closest but still off. I'm staying that having studied each of the Brothers pretty closely over time (although I do realize that like anyone else, I'm not infallible). I really don't have a horse in this race. Just sad to see it in trying to advise a friend.
At the very least, "felt tip" should be dropped from the description...maybe it will be.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on
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I just looked at the Groucho and x-height of "ouc" and final "o" is much lower than I see on known genuine exemplars and not formed clearly like he tended to do. I'd be surprised if Groucho signed his name.
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Look at other double-weight matte celebrity photos and you'll see similarities to the ink on this one. They don't absorb much ink on fountain pens with softer tips unless the pen is pressed harder, but they will show ink accumulation where the ink stops or at corners. The ones with sharper tips cut more into the stock and are mostly darker.
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Well....let's keep an eye on it. Maybe this writing instrument info. (which is good stuff) will be seen and the "felt tip" attribution will disappear from the current auction lot listing.
My larger disappointment is in what I believe are the attempts at replicating the 4 Brothers and their signing habits. I feel confidant advising my fellow fan of that. Perhaps the others who have recently passed this on now a few times have come to feel the same. Just my two cents.
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