On the other, there is no provenance whatsoever, and more often than not, when an autograph seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Here is how I typically break an autograph down when the reasonable doubt outweighs provenance:

Negatives:
-No provenance.
-The signatures are all oversized as compared with many known original examples.
- They all appear to be written with the same amount of pressure.
-The slants and graphology in general varies somewhat from other known examples. (But really not enough to be a major “tell” of a possible forgery in this case, as signature and autograph variations are commonplace with most artists)
-Each signature is overly clean-cut, and perhaps a little too perfect. Miles seems to be an amalgamation of two signature eras, The tail end of Monk’s is too clean, and Coltrane’s seems a bit off.
-They are on the front cover… It is generally quite rare to get signatures of this vintage on the LP cover for one reason. They usually smudged off. If they were signed in Ink with a fountain pen, there is not a single smudge or fading… The lines would often have more transitions in tone and ink delivery and sharpness, which makes me think that this was signed with a permanent marker of some sort…
Note: For any of you who have ever tried to get a signature on a laminated or semi-gloss LP cover, it is no easy task without the help of today’s permanent Sharpie markers. It can easily be rubbed off by anyone who attempts to touch it, let alone rest their palm on it to sign one after another as in this case. Fine line permanent markers were not readily used or commercially available for the average consumer until the late 60’s early 70’s, and they would still smudge on this type of non-porous surface… Other types, such as ball point pens were available by the late 40’s to early 50’s but generally too expensive for the average consumer and would usually show signs of indentation on the surface to get them to leave a mark on a glossy surface and were not as bold.)

Positives:
- Coltrane was around until 1967, Monk was around until 1982, Miles until 1991. The fact that this one was issued post 1959 makes it possible for someone to get all three of these Jazz heavy-weights signatures at one time on a single LP.
- If they had in fact used an early permanent marker and were very careful, I suspect it would be possible for someone to get these autographs as shown.

Conclusion:
-The negatives outweigh the positives unfortunately and I would probably deem this one much too risky an investment at it’s current price point, but it is certainly one of those “dream” display pieces if it were in fact proven real. At the end of the day, unless we had some realy great provenance like a photo of it being signed, you can only know for sure if you were there to get this one in person…

ELPEES:

Concerto Amsterdam

Utrechtsestraat 52-60
Amsterdam,The Netherlands
Tel: +31-206235228
Large shop. Also CDs(large collection!) /DVDs/books: New LPs audiophile, japanese pressings, second-hand jazz/rock/punk/pop/classical. Good store, some collector’s items.

Record-Palace
Weteringschans 33-A
1017 RV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
+31 20 6223904
Only secondhand and japanese/audiophile: Large store with rock/pop/jazz and collector’s items

RecordFriend
http://www.recordfriend.com
secondhand and new. Everyting from classical to punk and soul and jazz.
Sint Antonies-breestraat 64
1011 HB Amsterdam
+31-651643022

sWaxwell Records
Gasthuismolensteeg 6
1016 AN Amsterdam, The Netherlands
+31-206271600
Small shop only second-hand LPs. Pop/disco/soul/jazz. Lots of collector’s items in jazz and soul/disco

FLESCH Records
Noorderkerkstraat 16
1015 NB Amsterdam, The Netherlands
+31-206228185
Beautiful small shop with beautiful second-hand LPs. Avant garde/european/jazz/classical. Jazz collector’s items and maybe the largest collection of rare collector’s items regarding classical music in Europe. Knows almost anything on record/label history (and also sells biological fruit from his own land and restored hi-fi gear from the 50?s and 60?s) thursday till saturday

RECORDMANIA
Ferdinand- Bolstraat 30
1072 LT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
+31-206209912
Only second hand large store with rock/pop/jazz/latin/classical: Some collector’s items

Amstel Antiques
(Amstel Antiek)
Secondhand classical,jazz,60′s and 70′s music.
really large quantity of lp’s. Not so manny collector’s irems
Amstel 110
1017 AD Amsterdam

Second Life Music
Prinsengracht 366
Amsterdam
small shop, but sometimes really rare collectors items!
(opposite the former Public Library)
Open all week from 1 to 6
Selling and buying!

Swingmaster
Kruitlaan 21
9711 TW Groningen, The Netherlands
+31 50 3124020
This one is not in Amsterdam but in the city of Groningen (northern part of Holland) but they have a large collection of blues and jazz collector’s items. Specializes in old jazz and blues, also 78?s

De Zwarte Schijf (the black disc)
Hogestraat 13
4001 ET Tiel, The Netherlands
http://www.zwarteschijf.nl
Tel: +31 344-635333
This one is also not in Amsterdam but in the centre of Holland. They have about 50,000 78-RPM discs, jazz and classical

This summer I´ll visit Armsterdam. Could you be so kind to tell me the records stores where I can find jazz on vinyl?

Thank’s