Can we assume the story of Angie talking to Rayner, and he running it by CT (btw, hope the old gent had a good 86th the other day...), is rubbish?

BH

I found it funny that CT was "of the opinion" that the ink was his father's from a fax transmission.

This may be as reliable as the discredited claim that CT keeps wild boars in his garden to keep away fans, but I have heard that CT will only correspond by fax with his publishers, hence that would be the only way that he would have seen a copy of the item.

That's a good one! I hadn't caught that myself. Very funny.

I have known Angie for many years and knew the story of it being shown to Rayner to get his opinion long before the item was sold by Daeron's, so that much is true. IIRC Rayner said that it was more than likely JRRT, but it was difficult to be entirely certain because JRRT's handwriting could vary enormously.

The book was "rediscovered" and bought for very little in a second hand bookshop I think, so not a deliberate fake made for profit anyway.