REA Gary Cooper

[JimStinson]

Originally Posted by shelly

What is enough proof to take down a questionable piece.


Gary Cooper’s daughter, Maria Cooper-Janis, responded to our inquiry and said, “I, of course, have seen that photograph in our family archives, (and) have several shots of Gary Cooper and Babe Ruth at some moment, but none of them are autographed and the picture you refer to was never in our possession.”


Would you buy that piece now?

Well there you go ! when I was asked about that photo , I suggested contacting Gary Coopers daughter and even posted her name ....BEFORE I even looked at the autograph. Which I was almost certain anyone would have done before authenticating a photo of that magnitute and historical importance. You mean they didn't ???? I'm shocked !!!!
_______________________
jim@stinsonsports.com

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

Well there you go ! when I was asked about that photo , I suggested contacting Gary Coopers daughter and even posted her name ....BEFORE I even looked at the autograph. Which I was almost certain anyone would have done before authenticating a photo of that magnitute and historical importance. You mean they didn't ???? I'm shocked !!!!
_______________________
jim@stinsonsports.com

there is an old story of a guy who goes to an old church in europe and sees a skull sitting there, and the person in charge says it is john the baptists skull.

the man then walks to a church a few miles down the road and goes inside and sees a skull again. he asks the caretaker about it and this guy too says that it is john the baptists skull.

the man says "but i was just at the previous church and they said their skull was john the baptists skull also! What gives?"

the caretaker then said "well, their skull is john the baptists skull as an adult, we have his skull as a young boy."

it parallels the tpa's seemingly refusal to do even the lightest work to check out some of these artifacts or in this case autographs.

[prewarsports]

I have an autograph of Willie Heston on ebay (and another in my personal collection). I was contacted by his grand daughter who told me it was fake because Willie REFUSED to sign anything "Willie" because she told me he HATED that name because he was teased about it since it can be another name for a Penis (true story). I respectfully told he in a nice way that I knew more about her Grand Fathers autographs than she did having collected early Football autographs and owning or handling at least 20 Hestons in the last 10 years and she was like 8-10 years old when he died. She refused to believe me and said she was going to contact authorities and all that. SO, I dug into my files and asked some friends for help and provided 5 different examples of handwritten letters completely in his hand in which he signed his name "Willie". Having completely proven her wrong, she just disappeared, never even bothered to apologize for questioning my ethics.

Moral of the story (and I have at least 5 -10 other similar stories over the years) FAMILY USUALLY DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT, especially when you are talking about children or grand-children. I would absolutely trust a spouse's word on something (my wife knows me better than I know myself) but be careful taking the word of "family" as gospel in the collecting world.

Rhys

[Leon]

Originally Posted by prewarsports

I have an autograph of Willie Heston on ebay (and another in my personal collection). I was contacted by his grand daughter who told me it was fake because Willie REFUSED to sign anything "Willie" because she told me he HATED that name because he was teased about it since it can be another name for a Penis (true story). I respectfully told he in a nice way that I knew more about her Grand Fathers autographs than she did having collected early Football autographs and owning or handling at least 20 Hestons in the last 10 years and she was like 8-10 years old when he died. She refused to believe me and said she was going to contact authorities and all that. SO, I dug into my files and asked some friends for help and provided 5 different examples of handwritten letters completely in his hand in which he signed his name "Willie". Having completely proven her wrong, she just disappeared, never even bothered to apologize for questioning my ethics.

Moral of the story (and I have at least 5 -10 other similar stories over the years) FAMILY USUALLY DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT, especially when you are talking about children or grand-children. I would absolutely trust a spouse's word on something (my wife knows me better than I know myself) but be careful taking the word of "family" as gospel in the collecting world.

Rhys

Nice message Rhys..

[shelly]

Originally Posted by Leon

Nice message Rhys..

I will stay with the Coopers daughter's story. I will also stay with Rons opinion that the signiture is bad. Daughter top authenticator win win.


Leon stick with the card side.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by shelly

I will stay with the Coopers daughter's story. I will also stay with Rons opinion that the signiture is bad. Daughter top authenticator win win.


Leon stick with the card side.

I am going with Rhys's personal and definitive experience on this one. To each their own. And yes, if it were a card I could tell you if it is fake or not. Not so with autographs unless you got it in person or saw it in person.

[shelly]

Originally Posted by Leon

I am going with Rhys's personal and definitive experience on this one. To each their own. And yes, if it were a card I could tell you if it is fake or not. Not so with autographs unless you got it in person or saw it in person.

Just having fun. Your to serious.

[Runscott]

This is crazy.

Note to auction houses: DO NOT check provenance on items like this. What if the family told you it is a forgery? Then you would be forced to state in your description that the family says it's impossible that Ruth could have signed this, but sometimes family members have bad memories, so they could be wrong.

Holy cow.