Rare Autographs: What’s in a Name

Perhaps I’m naive, but when I see an autographed record I always assume that it is legitimate and not a fraud. It seems kind of weird to me that someone would try to copy the autograph of a jazz artist to try to inflate the value of the record when, in many cases, the autograph actually devalues the record, another oddity that I will never understand. I was watching this record on eBay: Thelonious Monk, Work, Prestige 7169. This was a yellow label pressing and an “original” in the sense that it was the first pressing of this record, which is a reissue of an earlier record. Normally it would be worth about $50 or so, but this one happens to have signatures on it from both Monk and Sonny Rollins. To me, this is a gem, assuming the autographs are legitimate, which I do. I tend not to collect autographs, although something like this is tempting, so I passed the listing on to one of our loyal readers who does collect autographs. I see from the geography of the winning bidder that our friend did not bid for this. The start price was $500 and there was one bidder. Don-Lucky — what happened? Seems like a good price for this one.

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2 comments

  • It’s been about two years since the “Nautiluso” fraud case, so maybe I shouldn’t be so naive, no? As far as I can tell, there were never any arrests or follow ups on that case. If anyone has any updated information after all this time, please share. Thanks.

  • Al,for me it’s never about trying to inflate the’value’of a record.When a musician signs an lp that I love it’s like them saying-“I made it and you dug it. And I dig THAT!” And everytime I play that session,they’re saying,keep swingin’-or as Jimmy Heath said in signing The Quota for me,”thanks for your ears”.

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