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Authenticity is Everything
The Great American Blues Players Signature Study: Please Add Your Examples
Hello everyone,
I have been wanting to start a thread on this for a long time, and i figure now is as good of a time as any. I collect primary guitar players, and have been selling alot of them off recently, but one thing i continue to collect are the great old blues guitar players. Their is something about the Delta Blues traveling lifestyle that holds alot of wonder for me. These guys laid the foundation of modern music and they inspired many, if not most, of the musicians working today. Most think of Robert Johnson when they think of the great Blues players, but their are so so many others that deserve mention and tons of respect.
As anyone who has ever studied early blues signatures knows, they are incredibly difficult to authenticate or even find at times. You have guys like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, BB King just to name a few whose signature examples can readily be found. But aside from a few key players, autographs from these guys are very hard to find. And when you find one, often you really have to trust your source or do some serious research. And even then you often cant find examples.
So i thought this would be a good thread that may help future collectors out with examples we think are authentic. Please post examples of blues signatures that you like and want to share. Guys like Buddy Guy and BB King probably dont need to be posted in mass b/c their signatures are so abundant, but dont hesitate if you would like to post some.
I hope this can turn into a good database, and really the only one of its kind on the net. I have many examples from many different sources and if someone doesnt want their picture posted just leave a comment and i will delete it.
I am going to start this off with Albert King. You can find Albert King signatures from time to time, and of the 3 King's, he is the next most available after BB. Alberts signatures are typically sloppy, shaky, and can take on a few forms. Albert often write "Love You" before his signature, and his typical signature takes the form of A. King. I have also seen variations including "A.B. King". King often would not write out King fully and the formation would flow from the K almost into the g. I have seen my fair share of forgeries with Albert, but his signature can be authenticated in most instances in my opinion. Here are some examples with sources:
This is one album i used to own and recently sold on RR Auction. It came from "Mr. Bebop", of Larrys Books and Autographs. He specializes in blues signatures and this was a great example of king.
These next images came from RR Auction
The Ace of Spades album is a nice example, and the rarer A.B. King signature. The middle cut display is more atypical. This one in my eyes can go either way but is probably good. The A looks typical but the King is a little more unusual. But he did do this from time to time in his shorter signature versions. The bottom example is a typical King signature.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kris Bauwens on
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Permalink Reply by Nate on
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Thanks for uploading pics. That book is lovely, nice to see the original owner carried on into the 60s collecting others like T-Bone Walker and Sykes. Congrats.
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Permalink Reply by Carl Ryan on
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Hi Guys, here is another example of Big Bill from RR auction. I have posted this example numerous times throughout the thread b/c it contains so many important signatures in one collage. I could reference it in every post, but instead of having people jump around that need to compare signatures, i decided just to repaste it where it applies so people dont have to look for it.
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Just to add another example, here's my Broonzy (the man who brought the blues to Britain) from his early UK tour:
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Permalink Reply by Tacoma Blues on
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Next i thought we could look at examples from Booker T. Washington "Bukka White". Bukka was another amazing delta blues guitarist who tended to favor slide guitar. White, like most of the err had a shaky and often cramped signature. Bukka signatures are quite rare, and i have only seen a few, one of which i happen to own. Price can vary quite a bit but i paid 200 for my signed album, so id expect between 100 to 400 for his signature depending on item. I personally think that my LP is worth more than 200 due to rarity, but each to his own.
Both of these examples came from one of the greatest blues collectors around, Mr. Bebop of Larrys Books and Autographs. Cant say enough good things about his enormous blues collection.
Here is my signed LP
Here is another example on a similar item:
Although Booker lived into the late Seventies, his autos are rare and i have never seen one yet come up on ebay, but im sure they do occasionally.
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Hello everyone, i promise i am going to come back and add many more names to this list, but for now, i am just updating some examples. Here is new examples of Booker "Bukka" Whites autograph that i think is authentic. Also of great interest here are T Bone Walker, Lightnin Slim, and Robert Pete Williams. This comes from RR Auction
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