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My sister was a "stewardess" for National Airlines in the late 1960's. Ray Charles was on one of her flights and signed an "Occupied" seat card and gave it to her. I have the card. What would be its worth? While researching online, one source listed $400...but I'm not sure...can add a picture.

Rebecca 

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Would be great if you could post a pic of it...

yes; - would love to see it

posted below

It's probably worth a lot more, but authenticity is hard to establish. Most are secretarials signed by Vernon Troupe. Post it...I'd be very interested in buying it myself, as would others here if we could be comfortable with it's authenticity.

Although i dont know if this is true or not, i have heard that there is only one verified Ray Charles autograph that is known, and supposedly that was signed for a theme park owner who was a friend. I have heard that Charles did not sign autographs, period. Did he sign?, i am sure he did sign autographs from time to time, so if yours is authentic, then its worth a great deal of money. One of the problems, as others have touched on, though, is that to my knowledge only one Charles autograph is widely known to be authentic. so it may make authentication difficult. Its been a long time since i researched Ray Charles though, so maybe there are more autograph examples out there now. Good luck, and i hope its authentic, is it will be worth a great deal of money

posted below

Rebecca,

I'm sorry, but that's not Ray Charles' autograph. It looks like it may be his assistant's, Vernon Troupe.

Maybe that's why my sister gave it to me...lol. So Ray Charles would have his assistant sign his name and it's worth exactly squat? BTW thank you so much for your help!

Another thing to keep in mind is that Charles was blind, and as we see with most other blind musician autographs, the signature normally isnt pretty. From my own collecting i used to have several autographs from blind people including  Jose Feliciano and Jeff Healey.. And there signatures are never pretty, and more what you would expect of someone signing who cant see. Many blind musicians simply sign with an "X" nowadays. When looking for signs of authenticity in a blind musicians signature, typically you will never see cursive, and if you do, it will not be pretty or neat, and a steady base line will almost always be absent. The signature example you have, in my opinion, isnt signed by a blind musician. Who signed it, i dont know, i imagine Steve is right, as he is much more knowledgeable, but i agree with the others. I dont think its authentic

Hi, I've personally met Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder and they have better signatures than most people alive. Ray signed by photo "Best Wishes Ray Charles" and it looked great. Stevie has assistance with his hand to locate the turf with our records but his signature is also very legible. I can get a photo on here if interested. Personally, I feel this signature is 100% authentic. 

Could you post the one you said was from a backstage setting in the reply you deleted please?

Thanks

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