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Posted by Larry Jordan Link: Country Music Autographs
on June 24, 2009, 7:06 pm
69.66.111.56
There is an interesting article about how the autographs of country music stars like Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Jimmie Rodgers, et al can be quite valuable. Click the link below to read it.
However, it is worth noting that quite a few of the pieces sold on eBay over the last several years purporting to include Jim's autograph were NOT his at all! The fact is, both Mary Reeves and secretary Joyce Jackson routinely signed Jim's name to everything from contracts to letters to checks. Joyce tells the story of how one time Jim was rummaging around in his desk drawer and came upon some checks that he didn't remember signing (for routine bills). He laughed when he found out Joyce had done such a good job faking his signature. Even he couldn't tell it apart from his real "John Henry"!
Mary also signed Jim's name to pay such things as utility bills when he was on the road or even out of the country. And she sometimes typed letters -- all in caps, which Jim was known to do -- to various fans and signed Jim's name to make them think the letters came from him.
Recently an item was sold on eBay which brought a couple of hundred dollars but which most definitely was NOT signed by Mary. I have hundreds of samples of her handwriting, in which she writes her own name, and the signature on the eBay item clearly was not hers. Joyce also examined the eBay offering and agreed with me.
My favorite story concerns some big-league autograph outfit that sells online all the time. They had a big essay on all of their item listings trying to impress potential buyers with the company's supposed expertise when it came to authenticating signatures. But then they listed a copy of one of Jim's 1971 albums which they claimed he had signed. Several fans told me of writing the eBay seller -- and eventually even eBay itself -- to point out this impossibility. But the item was never removed and indeed did sell as a supposedly authentic Jim Reeves signature.
One thing that is unfortunate about the article I cite is that it looks as if Reeves' signature isn't bringing as much as some of the other stars. But that is misleading. Not that many items of Patsy's or Hank Williams are still turning up. In the case of Jim, however, literally thousands of cancelled checks have been acquired by eBay sellers and various junk dealers, most of whom barely even know who Jim was. So there have been a lot of Reeves "autographs" available for some time now.
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