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Re: Tolkien Signed Book

Subject: Re: Tolkien Signed Book
by Urulókë on 2009/1/27 11:59:31

I had the same thought.

There is bound to be the occasional questionable signature through any channel (auction houses, dealer, eBay), and to his credit the Tolkien Bookshelf does a good job bringing a large number of signed items to market at reasonable prices. In order to get lower prices on signed Tolkien items, you have to be willing to accept less provenance or a complete lack of it.

That is a risk that David seems to be willing to take, too - carrying items with lack of provenance runs the risk of getting his reputation tarnished when something is "identified" as a fake. (It is a whole separate topic to discuss when something that a handful of experts calls a fake, when there are likely other experts out there who think it is real.) To David's enduring credit, he has pulled from sale every item that has reached "fake" consensus that I know of.

This one at a cursory level looks pretty good to me. Looks like a fountain pen rather than a ball-point, and nothing obviously wrong with it.