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Billie Holiday?

I would appreciate opinions on this recently acquired Billie Holiday.

Unusually, it is signed, Billie E Holiday and I have been unable to find s similarly signed item in the records. That's not worrying me particularly - in fact it's nice to have something "special". I'm pretty confident about it but is always reassuring to get the second opinion.

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on October 26, 2022 at 6:17pm

For me, this one is too close to call definitively without having the ability to examine it in person. There are many features that look typical I think. Little quibbles like the "t" in "best" and the final flourish on the "y" in "Holiday" are somewhat different than what I have seen. The ink flow is interesting. I also don't know if that's a big "E". Maybe a testing the writing instrument? Not sure.

Is this is a neatly trimmed album page? Anything on the verso? As always, the source it is coming from is a part of the picture.

Here's one that I had an image of that looks pretty close to yours.

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Permalink Reply by Findbooks on October 27, 2022 at 8:24am

I deliberately left out context. It's actually written on the inside of a Jazz-club table card where she had a residency. The card has also been signed by a couple of comtemporary musicians - not huge names unless you are a jazz fan I would think.

It's a very nice item altogether, acquired personally, provenance a bit sketchy, one of these family heirloom things but I have no reason not to believe the vendor.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 26, 2022 at 8:54pm

Findbooks, I think that your autograph is very likely genuine. Etienne posted a great exemplar with many similar characteristics, and this signed photo RR Auction sold in Nov. 2018 has even more.