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.
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”.