Verification: The Supremes autographs

[marybrewster]

Saw this while browsing eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-SUPREMES-signed-LP-cover-ONLY-by-DIANA-ROSS-Florence-Ballard-MARY-WILSON-/370635395219?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item564b975093

Authentic: yes or no?

[jeff9nyc]

Absolutely not authentic.

[R. Mark Desjardins]

Mary;
As you know, anything signed by all the three original Supremes is much sought after. Some years back I purchased two Supremes vinyl record albums, and two souvenir tour booklets. The albums came with a "note of authenticity," but who really can be relied on to be a real "authority" in matters such as this?

What I can say, is that the signatures on all four items appear to be very similiar, so I can be pretty sure they are real. A pal of mine, who ran the Supremes Fan Club in Canada back in the 60's obtained this signed 45 rpm record depicted below, in person from The Supremes. He kindly let me take this picture, so I had something to go on when comparing the items I had purchased. Florence never signed her last name. Diana's "D" is very distinctive. Mary often signed "Supremes" alongside her name.

One constant is that the signatures were often quite boldly written. I don't see that on this album jacket. If the item offered on eBay was truly an originally signed item, I think that the owner would have taken much better care to protect the record jacket and have made an effort to save the vinyl record.

If someone had the "More Hits By The Supremes" record, it would have been easy to try to duplicate the group's signature style. Something just doesn't jibe here. Hopefully nobody gets taken in on this offering. Just my thoughts.

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[theboyfromxtown]

They are nothing like the autographs that I have

[jobeterob]

I'll go for a "no" on this as well.

[randy_russi]

No, not real. Notice all three are signed with the same pen and all three look like the
same person signed them.

[jillfoster]

No, not real. Notice all three are signed with the same pen and all three look like the
same person signed them.


I never buy the same pen argument... For instance, my vinyl copy of Black Magic is signed by both Martha and Lois with the same pen... Martha's sliver paint pen. She keeps one in her purse, because she has two albums, "Black Magic" and "The Rest Of My Life" which have very dark covers and black pen don't show up on. So she signed it, then gave me the pen to go have Lois sign it, I had brought a silver sharpie with me, but for whatever reason silver sharpies won't mark on vinyl album jackets! Every other color will, but not silver. Luckily, Martha is a prepared woman! LOL I will say about the 45 scanned above, I'm only familiar with Mary's signature... and my Touch album with Mary's signature, the "M" is identical to yours... so Mary's looks right to me.

[marybrewster]

To me the signatures look so SMALL. Everything I've seen in the past seems to be 10x larger than this. Almost like someone tried too hard to copy the "More Hots" album, as R. mark suggested.

I just hope no one gets duped into buying this, thinking it's the real deal.

[Glenpwood]

All I can say is if those signatures are real, it's nice to see Mary and Florence get top billing over Diana on it....;)

[jeff9nyc]

I'm only familiar with Mary's signature... and my Touch album with Mary's signature, the "M" is identical to yours... so Mary's looks right to me.
Nah...they're not real Jill. All the same handwriting and look nothing like the real thing.

[BigAl]

Sheesh...those bogus autographs couldn't fool anyone. They bear no resemblance to any of the three ladies' handwriting. The autographs on the Tamla-Motown single, however, are the real thing. Whenever the gals would sign something for me that did not have a photo on it, the first one to get the item would write "Supremes," sign her first name only, and then pass it on to the next lady who would sign her own first name, and finally to the third who would do the same. It looks like Mary was handed the single first in this case so she was the one who wrote "Supremes." Often one of the others would do the honors, depending on who got it first. I suppose they didn't sign last names to avoid any possibility of later forgeries on actual documents.

[marv2]

That is not Mary's signature on that album.

[marv2]

On that 45 record, those are Florence's and Diane's signatures. Mary's still does not look like hers on that record because of the way the "M" is written. Now she may have changed how she writes a bit since then, I am not sure though.

[jeff9nyc]

On that 45 record, those are Florence's and Diane's signatures. Mary's still does not look like hers on that record because of the way the "M" is written. Now she may have changed how she writes a bit since then, I am not sure though.
Marv...that's Mary's signature for sure. I have several things that she signed "Supremes" on too. I'd bet the house on it. They all look authentic on the 45.

[marv2]

Marv...that's Mary's signature for sure. I have several things that she signed "Supremes" on too. I'd bet the house on it. They all look authentic on the 45.

Jeff, I believe you. I am not arguing about the 45 because it is a little hard for me to be 100% certain because it is difficult for me to see it from that angle. But the signature on that album are totally bogus. I have Mary's signature also.

[jeff9nyc]

Jeff, I believe you. I am not arguing about the 45 because it is a little hard for me to be 100% certain because it is difficult for me to see it from that angle. But the signature on that album are totally bogus. I have Mary's signature also.
Absolutely!

[marybrewster]

SOLD for $99.99.

[R. Mark Desjardins]

I hope the person who bought The Supremes "autographed" signed album at least gets some satisfaction in their purchase. We can be pretty sure it is fake. As for the single, my friend, Eric Pressman operated The Supremes Fan Club in Montreal during the period 1965 to 1968. He was invited to Detroit and given a tour of Hitsville. Eric produced the coolest "Fan Club Letters" and he gave me a set of originals and copes a few years back as a present. He obtained the autographs during a Supremes concert he attended in upstate New York in person, so they are absolutely real. We saw The Supremes together as teenagers in Montreal at Expo 67 at their opening show and closing show. Florence had been replaced by Cindy at that time. They did six shows, two an evening over three evenings at the Expo Theatre. Imagine my excitement at seeing Diana Ross in Toronto with Eric in 2010. That was 43 years later! Diana looked even better than she did back in the day.5347


P.S. I got the year of the photo dated wrong. It was May 2010. I'm sure some members on this site will point that out to me. What a show it was!

[chidrummer]

Here's a later autograph from Ms. Wilson obtained by me during her book tour for the original pressing of Dreamgirls. Hopefully it'll give you some idea of what her signature looks like.

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[marv2]

Here's a later autograph from Ms. Wilson obtained by me during her book tour for the original pressing of Dreamgirls. Hopefully it'll give you some idea of what her signature looks like.

5349

Great job Chi Drummer! That's how she signed my book on her stop in Detroit in Oct. '86.