I remember well when I first heard of the minty whites.It was around the year 2,000, a couple of years after I first got on eBay and saw the same few dealers with the same insert titles over and over. Shortly after this, a major dealer called me to warn me that there was a dealer from a certain part of the country who was going to lots of dealers looking to trade or sell large quantities of those very same titles, and he said he had seen them in person, and that there was something "wrong" about them, and he wanted to let me know.
I thanked him, but at that point I still had never seen one in person (at that time I sold very little post 1970 stuff), so it was nothing tangible that I could publicly take a side on, but the info from my friend seemed awfully damning. Around a year later Dan Rickard and his friend Bob began announcing the inserts were absolutely fake, but still I had nothing tangible to contribute. But one more year later (in June of 2002, *NINE YEARS* ago) I *DID *get first-hand evidence of these being fakes, and I first joined the fray on MoPo (and it is hard to believe now that there were LOTS of major dealers defending these as absolutely real) and here is how I a couple of weeks later reported on what occurred to the then 1,942 collectors in my e-mail club: "Over the past couple of years there has been a great controversy in our hobby over certain insert posters that were constantly being offered on eBay (titles like The Godfather and Blade Runner). The inserts were always mint, and the sellers who offered them almost always re-offered the same titles over and over. After a year or more of constant selling of the same 20 or so titles, the prices on those titles had plummeted, even though many of the titles are very desirable. At the time all this was first going on, I had little to do with it, primarily because at that time I sold very very few post-1970 items. But I heard rumblings through the hobby that these inserts were reproductions, and that they had originated from upstate New York. About a year ago, there was a big discussion about these inserts on the Internet discussion group MoPo, and some dealers came to the defense of these inserts, saying that there had been a "warehouse" find, but that the posters were 100% legitimate. There was lots of back-and-forth e-mails (some of it quite heated), but there was no "meeting of the minds". Those dealers who felt they were real were unconvinced, and felt there might well have been a warehouse find. In addition to the controversy over the inserts, there also has been much discussion about many other posters that seem to have been copies, including several Star Wars posters and a Pulp Fiction poster. In the past couple of months, two very courageous Canadian collector/dealers have kept bringing the "repros being sold as original" subject issue back up on MoPo, refusing to let it die. They did not do this for personal gain, but rather because it angered them that this selling of repros as originals was causing many collectors to be cheated out of lots of money. One of them, Bob, sent many e-mails to MoPo giving his reasons why he felt SURE these various posters were repros, and the other, Dan, started a website where he tried to warn collectors about the many reprints being sold as originals (go to http://www.damnthe.com/mymovieposters/acatalog/ to view this site). A couple of months ago, something happened to bring me into this discussion. A collector sent me 8 different titles of the disputed inserts to auction for him (he had purchased them one by one from eBay from one of the dealers in question). As soon as I saw them, I knew they were odd. But I couldn't say for 100% they were bogus, just that they were troubling. But fortunately for everyone in the hobby, a separate collector had months before consigned around 1000 posters he had gotten from a friend who worked for NSS in the 1970s and 1980s, and that collection included 30 x 40s, 40 x 60s, half-sheets, one-sheets, and some inserts. Incidentally, that collection was just like every other warehouse find I have ever seen. There were good titles and bad, and around 80% were bad titles (anyone want both the A & B style 30x40s of "Slow Dancing in the Big City"?) Maybe 5% to 10% were good titles. (In the disputed inserts warehouse find, 90% of the titles were good, and that alone tells me it is very very doubtful, since over the years I have been in on a huge number of such finds and it is rare that as many as 10% of the items in any "find" are from good titles). The collector with the "straight from NSS" stuff had a Blade Runner insert and a Godfather insert, along with many other lesser titles. I took them out and laid them side by side with the disputed inserts of Blade Runner and The Godfather that had been sent to me. The comparison was striking! There are three things one looks for when comparing printed items; printing clarity, color matching, and paper matching. Here is what I saw looking side by side: Printing clarity: The Godfather looked extremely similar, no doubt because it is only one color, and easier to reproduce. The Blade Runner was clearly slightly fuzzy, especially in the credits at bottom. Result Inconclusive. Color matching: The Godfather appeared to be a perfect match, but it is a black and white poster and how hard is it to match black? The Blade Runner had very slightly different coloration, like someone tried to match the color but couldn't get a perfect match, but who really knows if the originals didn't have several print runs? Result Inconclusive. Paper Matching: The NSS copies looked like every other inserts I have ever seen from this time period. The suspect inserts were on a different kind of paper (and both were on exactly the same paper!). The paper is slightly different looking so that it appears to be a different shade of white. It is really striking when you compare them side by side (although I don't know if it would show well on a digital image). But the giant difference is in the coating! The NSS inserts have a glossy surface on the front, and a much duller finish on the back (just like every other insert I have ever seen from that period). The suspect inserts have a greater gloss on the front, and a similar gloss on the reverse (and I have never seen any insert that has a glossy finish on the back). THIS DIFFERENCE IS SOMETHING MUCH MORE "FELT" THAN SEEN. So it wouldn't do much good to put digital images on a website, which is why I didn't do so. But I had one of my employees feel both inserts, and he felt the difference was striking. I don't think anyone could not tell them apart, and they wouldn't have to look at the fronts of either poster! Result: Proof in my mind that these are fakes. The paper used is of a kind never used on any other inserts I am aware of, other than these exact disputed titles, which are from different studios and years, so presumably would have been printed at different times. Once I had been able to make this side-by-side comparison, I felt I had a "smoking gun" that needed to be presented to this club, MoPo, and the readers of Movie Collectors World (which I intend to do in MCW's next issue). So I posted most of the above information to MoPo, and added the following (I am paraphrasing what I wrote, but the meaning is unaltered): Those of you who defend these inserts are those who either own bunches of them and/or those who have sold bunches of them. Obviously, you have a huge stake in their being at least questionable. If they are declared fake, then you will both lose on the ones you currently own, but more importantly you will potentially face an angry mob of collectors (no doubt with torches) demanding their money back. I imagine that nothing I (or anyone else) can say will change THOSE dealers' minds, so I am addressing this to everyone else in the hobby. First. I ask anyone to find me even ONE insert from any non-disputed title that is on the kind of paper stock that is described above. Second, don't blur this debate into saying that all inserts from this time period are suspect or that all inserts of these titles are suspect. Let me make this perfectly clear! *I AM SAYING THAT THE ONLY SUSPECT INSERTS ARE THOSE WHICH APPARENTLY ORIGINATED FROM ONE SPECIFIC REGION (BUT ARE NOW LIKELY SPREAD ALL OVER THE GLOBE*). It is vital that all of you remember that there are many many authentic copies of these inserts. I am 100% sure that many dealers have inserts that are the real deal (even if they have some of the disputed titles) because many of these guys bought their inserts many years ago, before the fakes were created (which is why I am 100% sure they are real). But there are other dealers who I would bet have lots of fakes. If they bought them in the last few years from someone who only sold them the disputed titles, I would bet anything they are fakes. I firmly believe that once you have read what I wrote above, you yourself will be able to know for yourself if you have originals or repros (except for those who own tons of them; "there are none so blind as those who will not see"). Third, *I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO GAIN BY THIS*. Those who own tons of these (and those who reprinted them in the first place) clearly have much to gain by keeping the possibility alive they are real. But I only gain their anger, so does this not show I must passionately believe in what I am saying? And it is not just me. Dan and Bob (the two Canadian collector/dealers referred to above) have repeatedly brought this issue up, and it almost surely hurts their ability to sell posters. Greg Ferland (trydnt on eBay), who is one of the most major of poster dealers and all-around nice guy, felt a need to post to MoPo that he absolutely believes these to be fakes). Joe Burtis, manager of the MPA Gallery, one of the people in this hobby who probably knows more about posters than I do, says he is sure they are fakes. *WHY ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE SO SURE OF THEMSELVES AND WILLING TO GO ON THE RECORD? * Finally, it is important to realize that these fake inserts do not (and will not) "kill" the prices of the real ones. This is because they can be relatively easily distinguished from the originals, once you know how. Of course this won't stop novice collectors from getting cheated, which is why we all need to expose these fakes (just as Dan's fine site will not keep every new collector from buying the many other fake posters currently circulating). I have sold several *ORIGINAL *inserts of these titles in the past year and I have gotten good (pre-fake) prices for them. Of course, people know I must be selling the originals, which might not be the same for someone off the street, but it shows that the prices will be what they should be once these fakes are exposed. I also just last week auctioned 300 inserts and 300 half-sheets and prices were pretty much "through the roof". The problem is solely with the fake repro inserts, which need to be exposed, by getting the word out to every collector, and you can do your part by spreading the word! " -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 29 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) our site <http://www.emovieposter.com/> our auctions <http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
