Rather than be a spectator I should report the following:
The ONLY items being faked are 1930's-1940's, Horror movie posters,
window cards, and lobby cards, including all known reissues for the
Universal horror films. This has been going on for less than 3 years
as far as we can tell and involves at least one known collector and a
west coast poster restorer. It was being done using original posters
and lobby cards of little to no value and the restorer sanded or
peeled the image off (I am not aware of the exact science to this) and
glued quality reproduction from to the old original backing. These
were meant to defraud us collectors. The people behind this have sold
other non horror posters and lobbies, but they all checked out to be
good so far. I really think it is limited to Horror ONLY, and if you
did not buy (or trade for) any horror cards or posters in the last 3
years or less, you have nothing to worry about. I myself was burned
by 2 very expensive cards which turned out to be high quality
forgeries; but my losses were small (around 20k) compared to some
friends who are out $100,000's. Most people, myself included can not
name names as directed by our attorneys, but without to much asking
around you could find this information out. It does not makes sense
to spook everyone in our hobby, especially those who DO NOT collect
horror material, just to feel important by spreading gossip. Many
serious horror collectors are taking some big hits right now, but
speaking for myself I still love the hobby and will continue to buy
all genres (even horror), just with a bit more caution in who I deal
with. This problem will sting for awhile but I think it will be under
control very soon, and the guilty parties will be brought to justice.
Anyone who feels they material that may be fake can send it to John
Davis at Poster Mountain, or Carol Tincup in Orange CA. They are the
only restoration professionals that I know of who handled and
authenticated all the posters so far and help expose this crime.
Ralph DeLuca
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