As noted in recent articles (see Profiles in History Pledges More Transparency; Open Q&A On Website Regarding Provenance, Authenticity, Other Questions and Profiles in History Pledges More Transparency: Update & Response to “What We Are Currently Working On”), Profiles in History’s General Manager, Fong Sam, has written about embracing what they call “the concept of auctions as peer review” with regards to “verifying provenance” of material listed for public sale in their auction catalogs on his haxbee.com site. With their upcoming sale, The Dreier Collection, Part 1, a few principals in our art market have raised questions with me privately with regards to one of the items listed for auction, Lot 106 GEORGE REEVES “SUPERMAN” CAPE FROM THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. Since the suggested resource on the Profiles in History website has yet to be created, I thought I would publish those questions raised with me in this article as part of the public “peer review” process with Profiles in History.
Additionally, the Profiles in History auction description for this lot includes reference to “a letter of authenticity from Western Costume Company dated 1975”, which relates to an issue raised in past articles on the Original Prop Blog, and, coincidentally, yet another example of one of these letters has recently surfaced in an unrelated private auction listing on eBay.
The issue about the number of Western Costume letters of authentication – all dated December 29, 1975 – was discussed in an article on this site two years ago, on June 28, 2010:
As noted in that article, I began tracking auction and sale items with such letters going back to 2008 (see “Signature House Entertainment Memorabilia Auctions – Questions, Observations”).
As shown in my 2010 article, below is my side-by-side comparison which includes photos of five different letters attached to five different George Reeve wardrobe pieces. All five letters appear on “Western Costume Co” letterhead (or copies thereof), are dated 12/29/75, and include signatures of “Vice-President” Robert Niewoehner:
Included in the compilation is one letter from a prior Profiles in History auction for a George Reeves Superman cape, which may be the same cape offered for sale in the upcoming auction as Lot 106, but would ask for clarification from Fong on that question.
Below are my transcriptions from these letters:
Antiquities Las Vegas – Superman “S” Shield:
The Superman S shield shown to me today, December 29, is one of the original S emblems from the Television program “Superman” with Mr. George Reeves. The S appears [obscured] from the front of the costume tunics made by Western Costume Company during the run of that series.
eBay Auction (Past) – Superman “S” Shield:
The Superman S shield shown to me today, December 29, is one of the original S emblems from the Television program “Superman” with Mr. George Reeves. The S appears to be from the front of the costume tunics made by Western Costume Company during the run of that series.
Antiquities Las Vegas – Superman Cape:
The Geroge Reeves Superman cape shown to me today, is one of the original items made by Western Costume Company during the run of that series. The cape is a raw sild with red color. also red and yellow S shield sewn on reverse side.
eBay Auction (Current in 2010) – Superman Cape:
The costumes shown to me on December 29, 1975 are the, or at least, part of the original costumes made by Western Costume Company for George Reeves as “Superman” for the television series of “Superman”.
The red silk material and costume patterns sold to Mr. Hambrick were used to make the Superman costumes for George Reeves.
Profiles in History – Superman Cape:
The costumes shown to me on December 29, 1975 are the, or at least, part of the original costumes made by Western Costume Company for George Reeves as “Superman” for the television series of “Superman”.
Also in the prior article, I had transcribed the body of each letter in these examples, and also compared the signature from the Antiquities example with a past eBay auction example; as noted at the time, in comparing the letters directly, one of the Antiquities examples and an older eBay auction from a few years ago both include letters in which the content of the letters as well as the unusual spacing and layout match up, though they feature unique signatures:
At the time of the past article, I also made a direct comparison between the letter attached to the cape that was up for auction on eBay at the time and the one attached to a cape sold at auction by Profiles in History in April 2007. Both letters share flaws/marks which would suggest one may be a copy of the other, or both are copies from a shared source. More, the Profiles in History example lacked the second paragraph printed in the example attached to the eBay auction at the time, which stated: “The red silk material and costume patterns sold to Mr. Hambrick were used to make the Superman costumes for George Reeves“. Matching marks/flaws are identified with yellow boxes, and the added paragraph in the eBay example is highlighted in yellow:
Again, in the original article cited, I noted that the signatures in the above two examples line up exactly, using the typed text as a guide and alternating 50% overlay transparencies in Photoshop – the example found in the letter attached to the eBay auction at the time had a thicker signature:
In both transparency comparisons, the areas in which the signature is in both examples appears darker; the areas in which writing is in just one of the two examples appears lighter.
Updating this past analysis, below is an archive to a new eBay auction listing for a “1952 screen worn Superman “S” George Reeves Pre-color TV” emblem (see eBay Auction #330744474869):
Below is the description from the eBay auction listing:
1952 screen worn Superman “S” George Reeves Pre-color TV. Purchased to display in a commercial building that has since sold. Professorially framed in museum glass.
Extremely rare. This “S” was worn by the original Superman (George Reeves) in his earliest role as “The man of steel” circa 1952. The chocolate and grey Superman suit was replaced by the red and blue suit when the TV series was aired in color in 1954, the 1st year RCA introduced the color TV.
Top collector piece for a myriad of reasons and extremely rare. 1st time offered for sale from our family.
I have been told the letter is hard to read and I am not computer friendly so here is what it says:
Lot number 213 with items: Superman emblem brown and cape brown. Are from the childrens television program ,Superman from the 1950’s. The two items created by us for the program are believed to have been used by Mr. George Reeves in his role of the the title character. Emblem is a wool felt and cape a raw silk for black and white filming contrast.
The above is true and correct.
Sincerley,
Robert Niewoehner
Vice-President
Western Costume Co.I also have additional authenticity from one of the largest collectors in the nation – Cesars Palace (Antiquities).
The photo of the letter included in this auction is so low resolution (much lower than the accompanying photos of the actual items offered for sale) that no analysis can be performed – below is the image at it’s native resolution as hosted by eBay:
Current Profiles in History Auction – Lot 106
Below is the description from the current Profiles in History auction [click HERE for auction catalog page archive]:
106. GEORGE REEVES “SUPERMAN” CAPE FROM THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. (NBC-TV, 1952-1958) “It’s a bird, It’s a plane…” For many Baby Boomers and younger fans all over the world, there is only one authentic “Man of Steel”…George Reeves as “Superman.” This original red cloth cape from the early 1950s TV Superman series comes with a notarized copy of a letter of authenticity from Western Costume Company dated in 1975. The red cloth Superman patch is a vintage 1970s replica created by Western Costume to complete the cape. A fantastic original costume piece from the classic TV Superman. $4,000 – $6,000
Below is the description from the past Profiles in History auction (Hollywood Auction 27, April 5, 2007 – Sold for $4,000) [click HERE for auction catalog page archive]:
521. George Reeves cape from The Adventures of Superman. (NBC-TV, 1952-58) “It’s a bird. It’s a plane….” For many Baby Boomers and younger fans all over the world, there is only one authentic “Man of Steel” …George Reeves as “Superman”. This original red cloth cape from the early 1950s TV Superman series comes with a certificate of authenticity from Western Costume Company. The red cloth Superman patch is a vintage 1970s replica created by Western Costume to complete the cape, as the original letter sold separately in an auction lot circa 1991. A fantastic original costume piece from the classic Superman, George Reeves. Comes with an 8 in. x 10 in. black and white photo signed by Noel Neill, who played “Lois Lane”. $4,000 – $6,000
I have been in direct communications with an expert on the George Reeves Superman series going back to 2009, who has been very helpful to the Original Prop Blog during this time period, as well as auction houses who have contacted me for assistance with requests for authentication of such material (pro bono). He has offered the following comments with regards to the Superman costume currently up for auction by Profiles in History as part of their “peer review” efforts. He wishes to remain anonymous at this time. I have no expertise in this area myself, so the following is published with the intent of raising questions about a piece offered for sale to the public, with the intent of initiating a public and respectful dialogue with hopes of bringing information to light with regards to provenance and authentication.
Below are the original images from the 2007 Profiles in History auction:
Below are my source’s comments, in original form, free of any edits:
All of the costumes for that TV series were made by Western Costume and the capes were always sewn onto the hem of the collar of the tunic, at the shoulder. For that reason, I have never heard of any capes being sold separately from the tunics, other than forgeries. If someone was in possession of an authentic cape, they certainly would not separate it from the tunic, or remove the emblem from the cape, as this would diminish the overall value and provenance. Also, the costumes were delivered to the production company at the start of each season as complete sets. There were no “spare” capes.
The cape is the easiest part of the costume to replicate, as the original ones were made from silk, unlike the remainder of the costume, which was made from a wool, sweater-like material. That red silk material is available today at any fabric store. “Screen-worn” cape swatches appear for sale on EBay from time to time and these originated primarily from three sources. These are absolutely impossible to authenticate.
The story about Western Costume re-creating the emblem does not ring true. It is a horribly disproportionate “replica” of the original emblems. One would think that the original costume maker could do better than that. I’ve seen some very authentic-looking replicas for sale on EBay over the last fifteen years.
And both you and I are familiar with those supposed Western Costume letters of authenticity. Whitney Ellsworth, the producer of the last five seasons of the show, donated at least three complete costumes to Cal State Fullerton, on the condition that they be preserved for the ages, and he included with those costumes the original Western Costume letter from Dec 1975, in order to establish the authenticity of the items. Unfortunately, the university did not honor his wishes – the costumes were not properly looked after. Some of the items were lost and what remained fell into the hands of a private collector and the letter has been duplicated and edited ever since then to help sell numerous forgeries.
On a lighter note – the three pictures accompanying the cape for sale on the auction page you sent me are from three different 1953 black and white episodes – and the costumes were made from brown and grey material instead of red and blue for purposes of enhanced resolution on film. Not a good way to promote the sale of a red cape. The red and blue costumes were used from 1954 – 1957.
Hope this helps – feel free to cite me as a confidential source.
Additionally, the description for the current Profiles in History auction states, “This original red cloth cape from the early 1950s TV Superman series comes with a notarized copy of a letter of authenticity from Western Costume Company dated in 1975”, but the photo of the letter from the 2007 auction does not appear to be notarized.
Jason DeBord