The current situation involving fake movie posters and lobbies began
to come to light several months ago, when I received a Frankenstein
title card and a Dracula window card from a well known auction house.
The window card looked good to me but the Frankenstein title card
screamed out that something was wrong. The front of the card, which
had a great deal of restoration just did not match the card's back.
The notion that the front was a restored mechanical reproduction
married with a genuine, vintage lobby card back came to mind.
I sent the Frankenstein TC to Carol Tincup who concurred that the card
was most probably a fake.
To say that this situation was disturbing was an understatement. I
never thought I'd see the day when fake horror paper could and would
be passed off to unsuspecting collectors as the real McCoys. A real
game changer.
I immediately placed a phone call to the auction house that sold me
the Frankenstein TC in question. They took my suspicions seriously
and could not be more professional. That phone call began a chain of
events that led to the first lawsuit against Kerry Haggard.
By the way, the Dracula window card was also a fake. But boy, did it
look good.
I have seen analysis done on the fakes and have no doubt that reliable
ways to weed out the fakes will be available to collectors very, very
soon.
I am reminded of a book entitled "The Billionaire's Vinegar." The
similarities between the scandal involving millions of dollars in fake
vintage wine and the scandal involving fake vintage posters is pretty
startling.
Stephen Fishler
PS - Does anyone have a real Frankenstein title card and Dracula
window card that they can sell me?
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