I wasn't thinking of purchasing it; the "no other provenance known" already makes the item questionable, but it also seemed to me to be rather similar to some of the other sketchy signatures that have been circulating lately--same style and similar blue ink (as Stu notes). I just wanted to post it and see if you guys agreed. If this is, in fact, a fake, should someone contact the seller? What do you guys think?

This one came up on abebooks.com and is sold by The Tolkien Bookshelf. What do you guys think?

Description: A copy of the 1st edition of Gottfried Keller's, 'Werke, Band 3, Der Grune Heinrich, Fragmente Aus Der Ersten Fassung, Dramatische Fragmente'. The significant part of this book is the signature of J.R.R. Tolkien to the front endpaper. Front endpaper has previous owners name and 'The Queens College, Oxford", with the Tolkien signature below. Possibly from a former student of Tolkien's. Appears legitimate, but no other provenance known.

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Unsurprisingly, the seller never responded to my questions (must have been really sick). The auction has ended and the item sold for $256.00. I highly doubt this item is legit. It is unfortunate that these fake signatures keep cropping up.

For the record, I inquired further about this item from the seller, and he/she responded by saying, "im ill at the mo sorry." If the seller e-mails me anything else, I'll post it here. Seems a bit suspect to me.

Josh

Everyone, checkout Beren's website. There is a new Tolkien book coming out soon (edited, of course, by CT). For more info, go here: http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/8 ... en_book_Sigurd_Gudrun.php