Open letter to STAT and Christopher Morales

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Posted By: <b>Bill Panagopulos</b><p>Further to the list I posted yesterday of non-baseball signatures, I did a little more research today and made a few more phone calls. <br /><br />Here are some more of the MANY non-sports personalities that Christopher Morales has recently certified as authentic through "in person forensic examination":<br /> <br />The Doors, Janis Joplin, Traveling Wilburys, Pink Floyd (with Syd Barrett), Lynyrd Skynyrd, Queen, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, AC/DC (with Bon Scott), U2, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Beach Boys, The Mamas and Papas, Leslie Howard, Amelia Earhart, Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy, Emmett Dalton, Herman Melville, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dillinger, Howard Hughes, Judy Garland, Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, James Dean, The Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy, The 3 Stooges, Lon Chaney, Greta Garbo, Humphrey Bogart, etc., ad nauseum.<br /><br />Many of the rock ‘signed’ items Mr. Morales has ‘authenticated’ are album covers signed on the front, the most desirable items by far. According to the recognized experts in the rock autograph world, many of whom have been in the field for over twenty years, some of these signed albums are INCREDIBLY RARE! Indeed, some of these experts have NEVER SEEN some of these signed albums before in their entire careers. I have obtained a consensus from five experts and am able to set forth below the absolute rarest signed rock LP's in existence, based on the total number of authentic examples that have appeared at auction and which have changed hands privately over the last thirty years: <br /><br />The Doors (with Jim Morrison) – less than five<br />The Who (with Keith Moon) – no more than five<br />Led Zeppelin (with John Bonham) – no more than five<br />The Allman Brothers (with Duane Allman) – less than five<br />Lynyrd Skynyrd (with deceased members) – less than five, more likely about three<br />Jimi Hendrix – no more than five (believe it or not!)<br />Janis Joplin – less than five<br />The Beatles U.S. issue LP covers – no more than ten<br />Traveling Wilburys (with Roy Orbison) – two<br />Pink Floyd (with Syd Barrett) – no known examples<br />AC/DC (with Bon Scott) - no more than three <br /><br />Mr. Morales, how many signed album covers with these artists have you certified as "authentic"? The people who have been in the business for a quarter century have seen scores of examples of the above albums enter the market accompanied by your certifications. Some of these albums are being sold on the web, and in high-rent galleries with glossy catalogs, in multiple quantities, for an awful lot of money. Yet, like the baseball material you have certified for C.C, your rock and Hollywood material also usually sells for a fraction of what most authentic examples fetch. We wonder where your clients are finding these incredibly rare and important collectibles that have never been on the market before, in such quantities...<br /><br />Do you have six exemplars of Syd Barrett's signature? I personally have none, zilch, zero - and I would never even think about selling a Pink Floyd signed album without having real experts with a pile of exemplars check it out. Do you have exemplars of Bon Scott from AC/DC? I don't have a single one - wouldn't even know where to find one. How did you find enough examples to competently work from? Again, I wouldn't ever offer a signed album without rock solid provenance and a flock of experts giving me the green light.<br />. <br />Mr. Morales - in light of everything that's been said above, and in light of your silence on the dozens of allegations that have been made here, I would consider whether I should return to G.W.U....and get a degree in optometry. <br /><br />